United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Information Resources
Management
(PM-211A)
220N92002
INTERNATION
UPDATE
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INFOTERRA MEETING IN SOUTHERN
AFRICA
I attended a meeting of the National Focal Points (NFPs) of the
Southern African Subregional INFOTERRA Network (SASIN) in
Maseru, Lesotho in early May 1992. In addition to Lesotho and the US,
the countries represented included Malawi, Zimbabwe, Zambia,
Tanzania, Botswana, Swaziland, Mozambique, and Ireland.
In 1990 EPA established a companionship program with Botswana
under the sponsorship of the United Nations Environment Programme
to improve the Botswana NFP's ability to collect, organize, and
disseminate environmental information. As a result the Botswana NFP
was designated as the Regional Service Centre (RSC) for the southern
African region. RSCs act as central nodes to make more effective use
of facilities and equipment, and to support the operations of the
INFOTERRA National Focal Points within the region.
The SASIN meeting provided an update on the progress of the network.
INFOTERRA services have markedly improved. One of the
contributions each NFP makes to the network is to identify
environmental experts in its country who agree to provide information
free or at a minimal fee to international requesters. The number of
these registered sources has increased overall, and the number of
queries for information handled and received by the NFPs has increased
for the most part.
Some of the conclusions reached by the participants included the need
for governmental and non-governmental support, and for development
of individual document delivery capabilities. They also stressed the
importance of promotion and outreach through vehicles such as national
environmental seminars.
If you are interested in learning more about this meeting or about
INFOTERRA's companionship programs, contact me at (202) 260-1522
or by fax at (202) 260-3923.
—Emma J. McNamara
Staff Changes
LOOK WHO'S NEW
INFOTERRA welcomes several
new faces to the staff. They will
continue to provide
environmental information
services to EPA staff and the
international community,
Reference Librarians
Elizabeth Behrendt (contractor)
is a new reference librarian for
INFOTERRA. She recently
received her M.S.L.S. from the
University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill. While in North
Carolina she was an intern at the
EPA'sERCandOAQPS
libraries. She can be reached at
(202) 260-5927.
Mary Weysnt (contractor) is a
temporary summer librarian
helping the staff respond to the
many information requests we
receive. Mary can be reached at
(202)260-3638.
Please feel free to contact the
new staff members or cafl
Emma J. McNamara,
INFOTERRA Manager, at
(202) 260-1522 for more
information.
INFOTERRA/USA National Focal Point
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Recent Journal Articles of Interest
Bhatte, Neeloo, et ah "AcidRftin faAsia."
Environmental Management.
16 (Jaly/Aagust :1992); 541-62.
"The Growing frtflitence of
NGO& in the Developing World" Environment.
34 (June 1992); 12-20+.
"Environmental Groups Protest Danube Dam
System" JPRS Reports Environmental Issues.
(5 May 1992); 53. [From Magyar Nemzet
9 Marsh 1992:3],
Haddon,Matt 'Mating Green Labels Stick" [The
European Commission introduces a labelling system
for consumer goods Indicating environmentally safe
produetsj. New Scientist. 134 (20 June 1902): 23-4.
Leslie, David M. "Beyond the Danube Delta: Forest
Conservation and Research Opportunities"
Conservation Biology. 6 (June 1992): 165-7.
Stephen, P. and Roberto A. Sanchez.
"New Directions in Mexican Environmental Policy"
Environmental Management
i6 (July/Aagust 1992): 465-74.
"Qtt Companies Sponsor Environment Projects."
JPRS Reports Environmental Issues (5 May
1992); 7. [From Financial Guardian
(24 February 1992);2].
Price, Martin F. "The Evolution of Global
Environmental Change—Issues and Research
Programmes" Environment and Development.
42 (No. 166): 171-82.
Zentinefle, Bernardo. "Forests, Trees, and People"
ES&T. 26 (June 1992): 1096-9, .
New Sources
INFOTERRA recently acquired
the following documents. They
can be found in the
International Collection
Section. For more information
call INFOTERRA at
(202)260-5917.
International Environmental
Law. Alexandra Kiss and Dinah
Shelton. Transnational Publishers,
1991. RefK3585.4X35741991
This guide to the nature of
international law includes chapters on
the history, sources, and regulations
of international environmental law.
Global Change and the Human
Prospect: Issues in Population,
Science, Technology and Equity.
Sigma XI Scientific Research Society,
1992. QC981.8.G56
This source is a compilation of papers
presented at the Sigma Xi Forum in
November 1991. Each paper
addresses "topics with broad
implications for the human family in
the 21st century and beyond." The
focus of the conference was to
explore the global change issue from
the perspective of three questions:
•What kind of world do we have?
•What kind of world do we want?
•What must we do to get there?
Included are papers about the impact
that UNCED and UNESCO have had
on improving the world in which we
live.
Greenhouse Earth. Annika
Nilson. John Wiley & Sons, 1992.
QC912.3N551992
The author tries to analyze for the
reader how large a problem climate
change is and how much scientists
really know about its consequences.
Nilson describes several scientific
reports to give the layperson a picture
of the different factors that scientists
consider in their scenarios of future
climate change. The reports
presented include the 1990 report of
the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change and the SCOPE92
report from the Scientific Committee
on Problems of the Environment.
Head Librarian
Carol Stiles
Reference Librarian^
ESzabetrt Behrendt
Mary Weyant
Technicians
Elizabeth Bailey
Chris Hotben ;
(202)260-5917
(202)260-5927
(202)260*3638
(202)260-9357
(202)260-5638
INFOTERRA is contractor
operated and managed by the
Office of Information
Resources Management
(OIRM), Information
Management and Services
Division (IMSD), Information
Sharing Branch.
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