EPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
information Resources
Management
(34D4)
EPA/220/N-94-027i
Sep/0ct1994
INTERNATIONAL
UPDATE
INFOTERRA GOPHER
The INFOTERRA Network now has its own gopher! The
gopher is managed by the Central European Environmental
Data Request Facility (CEDAR) in Vienna, Austria.
CEDAR is the Regional Service Centre for INFOTERRA
sites in Central and Eastern Europe. The INFOTERRA
Gopher may be accessed via the EPA Public Access
Server (gopher.epa.gov) through the following steps:
EPA Public Access Gopher Client
OtnerEnvironmental Information
OtherEnvironmental Gophers
Central European Environmental Data
Request Facility
INFOTERRA: United Nations
Environment Programme
Currently, the main menu of the INFOTERRA gopher has
these options:
1. About INFOTERRA
How to subscribe to the INFOTERRA
subscription list
INFOTERRA subscription list archives/
Databases/
Monthly list of environmental meetings -
WordPerfect/UUcode
The Environment in Print 1994
Glossary of terms used with Environmental
Impact Assessment
UNEP INFOTERRA Thesaurus of
Environmental Terms
UNEP Staff E-mail Address Directory
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
The Databases option (#4) includes the following
selections:
1. Description of the INFOTERRA Interna-
tional Experts Database
2. Search the INFOTERRA International
Experts Database
3. Search for INFOTERRA National Focal
Points by country
4. Search the UN Environment Programme
Global 500 Award Winners
5. Books in Print of the United Nations
Systems/
INFOTERRA/USA National Focal Point
6. Directory of UN Databases & Info Services
-DUNDIS
The Environment in Print 1994 (#6) is the complete listing
of UNEP publications including summary, price and
availability information for each document.
To subscribe to the INFOTERRA subscription list (#2):
send e-mail to listproc@pan.cedar.univie.ac.at
leave the subject line blank
• send the message: subscribe INFOTERRA "your
name"
To post a message to the list send email to
infpterra@pan.cedar.univie.ac.at.
You may also access CEDAR and the INFOTERRA gopher
via Ecogopher (ecosys.drdr.virginia.edu) under the
Exploration option.
Happy surfing!
NEW BOOKS
The following titles may be checked out from the Interna-
tional Collection at the Headquarters Library:
Global Environmental Politics. Porter,Gareth and
Janet Welsh Brown. San Francisco: Westview Press.
1991. INTL HC79 E5P6691991,
Qfoba! Network: Computers In a Sustainable
Society. Young, John E. Washington, DC:
WorldWatch Institute. 1993. INTL TKS10S.SY681993.
The Greening of industrial Ecosystems. Allenby,
Braden R. and Deanna J. Richards, Editors.
Washington, DC: National Academy of Sciences.
1994. flvTt GE1Q5G741994.
Women and Children First: Environment, Poverty,
and Sustainable Development. Steady, Filomina
Chioma, Editor. Rochester, Vermont: Schenkman
Books Ltd. 1992. INTLHQ1240 W6451993.
Women, the Environment and Sustainable Develop-
ment: Towards a Theoretical Synthesis. Braidotti,
Rosi et al., Editors. London: Zed Books Ltd. 1994.
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Journal Articles of Interest
"The Environmental Challenge," Kirwin, Joe. Earth
Island Journal. (Summer 1994), p. 29.
Apartheid has left a legacy of environmental degradation
that includes severe airand waterpollution and extensive
soil erosion and desertification. These problems are
largely the result of coal and wood being burned forfuel,
acid run-off from mismanaged coal mines, and people
forced to eke out a living on marginal land to which they
were forcibly removed. Now, many whites fear that
environmental issues will be ignored by a black govern-
ment trying to raise living standards in the black home-
lands. However, there is a growing green movement in the
country, and some industries have begun to develop
programs to deal with pollution.
"The Nile 2002: The Vision Toward Cooperation in
the Nile Basin," Shady, Aly M., Adam, Ahmad M., and
Mohamed, K. Waterlnternational. (June 1994),
pp. 77-81.
The Nile 2002 conference series started in February 1993
in Aswan, Egypt and was followed by the second in
Khartoum, Sudan in January 1994. The main theme of
both conferences was comprehensive water resources
development of the Nile Basin. Forty-two papers were
presented at the conference in Khartoum. These papers
emphasized the need forcooperation among the co-basin
countries and assistance from external support agencies
and internal organizations. Institutional aspects, modali-
ties and cooperation principles are discussed.
"GATT Threatens US Environment," Nader, Ralph.
Earth Island Journal. (Summer 1994), pp. 30-31.
Naderargues that the WoridTrade Organization (WTO),
established during the latest GATT negotiations, is an
autocratic regime that, if approved, would have the power
to force the US to change federal, state and local laws or
else face economic sanctions. Laws at risk include those
covering environmental protection, food safety and work-
place safety, mainly because the WTO would be heavily
influenced by large multinational corporations while greatly
reducing citizen involvement. The WTO demands that all
standards be the "least trade restrictive", so bans on
dangerous products such as certain pesticides or
destructive practices such as drifmet tuna fishing that
kills dolphins, would automatically be threatened. Details
about howthe WTO would operate are provided.
"U.S. Log Import Rule Poses Threats to U.S. and
Exporting Countries." Pesticide Action Network
Updates Service (PANUPSl June 29.1994.
The USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
(APHIS) has proposed a rule to allow the importation of
unmanufactured wood products from foreign temperate
forests. Leading experts and the EPA say this could lead
to the devastation of U.S. Western forests by imported
pests and massive pesticide-based insect eradication
programs, since the rule would require exporting countries
to use large quantities of dangerous pesticides on the
wood (including methyl bromide, an ozone-depleting chemi-
calthat will be banned formanufacture and sale in the U.S.
in 2002). Assessments prepared by the Forest Service
expressed concern that pests would not be completely
eliminated despite such heavy pesticide application.
EPA also expressed concerns, stressing that the use of
methyl bromide is not consistent with the Montreal
Protocol and the Clean Air Act. Importation of foreign
timberis being promoted by sawmill owners in the Pacific
Northwest who seek cheap replacements for logs no
longer available from public lands, despite Forest Service
figures showing that overtwo billion board feet of North-
west timber are exported annually. *To subscribe to
PANUPS, send a message to: panna@igc.apc.org
(this is a non-automated address, i.e. a person, not a
computer will read your message).
"The World Bank Now Fifty But How Fit?," French,
Hilary F. WorldWatch. (July/August 1994), pp. 10-18.
Fifty years ago, the World Bank and the International
Monetary Fund were created out of the Breton Woods
Conference. Todate, the World Bankis the single largest
source of development lending (US$22 billion in 1992).
However, the World Bank has attracted heavy criticism for
funding environmentally destructive projects that displace
people and contaminate natural resources. Despite a
proliferation of policies and the creation of a vice-presi-
dency for Environmentally Sustainable Development, the
World Bank will need to prove its willingness to change.
For copies of these articles visit INFOTERRA in the
Headquarters Library, call (202) 260-5927, or e-mail
libra ry.infoterra.
UNEP
(202) 260-5917
Head Ubrarian
Elizabeth Behrendt (202) 260-5638
Reference Librarian
Kerith McFadden (202) 260-3638
ESza McLeod (202) 260-5927
JNFOTERRA/EP3 Ubrarian
Lara Wiggert (202)260-9357
INFOTERRA is contractor
operated and managed by
the Office of Information
Resources Management (OIRM),
Information Management and
Services Division (tMSD),
Information Sharing Branch.
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