Maand: januari 2023

Bron: enrd.ec.europa.eu België: 2023-01-27 13: 30: 01 , ENRD News [ad_1] The meeting report of the 23rd National Rural Networks Meeting (20 - 21 September 2022) is now available on the event page in English. On the same page you can find a synthesis of the session on CAP networks & innovation, as well as a summary of the field trips, presentations, videos and pictures of the day. The ENRD Contact Point, jointly with the Dutch Rural Network, organised the 23rd National Rural Networks meeting in the Netherlands as part of the International Conference: It’s time to fly. The aims of the meeting were to identify and discuss the role of the CAP networks in supporting green architecture of the CAP. It provided an opportunity to explore different approaches how can NSUs strengthen innovation support working with advisors, researchers, and practitioners on preparing innovative projects and to provide an update on rural networking activities carried out by the EU networks’ Support Units. A working session on specific networking activities, including the Rural Inspiration Awards Cluster vote took place too. Read the highlights report to find out more about this event. [ad_2] Lees dit artikel en meer van enrd.ec.europa.eu

Bron: www.eea.europa.eu België: 2023-01-26 11: 00: 44 , News [ad_1] The EEA report ’Investigating Europe′s secondary raw material markets’ presents a set of criteria to analyse the functioning of markets for secondary, recycled raw materials. Improving markets for recycled raw materials is key to delivering a circular economy in the EU, reducing the need to extract natural resources and avoiding the associated environmental impacts. Applying the assessment criteria on eight common secondary material markets, the EEA report concludes that only three of those — aluminium, paper and glass — are functioning well. These markets provide credible and continuous information to market stakeholders, they are international and open, and the recycled materials have a significant market share, compared with primary materials, the EEA report notes. The five secondary raw material markets that are not functioning well include wood, plastics, biowaste, aggregates from construction and demolition waste, and textiles. According to the EEA analysis, the main problems in these markets are their small size compared with primary materials, weak demand, and lack of common specifications, which reduces the quality of materials for industrial use. In addition, some materials face specific challenges, such as competing demand for energy use in the case of wood. Besides acknowledging the need for more information to enable a proper monitoring and assessment of the markets’ development, the EEA report presents several options to overcome market barriers for recycled raw materials. These include incentives to design products that are easier to recycle, strengthening recycling targets, increasing recycled content in new products, establishing technical standards for recycled materials and using taxes to level price competition with primary raw materials. Location field [ad_2] Lees dit artikel en meer van www.eea.europa.eu

Bron: www.eea.europa.eu België: 2023-01-19 11:00:40 , News [ad_1] Land-based sources account for a massive 80% of marine litter in Europe, and approximately 85% of it is plastic, according to the EEA web report ‘From source to sea — The untold story of marine litter‘. Packaging and small plastic items make up nearly 80% of this plastic waste. The new EEA report is the first Europe-wide study of its kind taking a holistic look at how this litter is created and ends up in our European seas via our rivers. The report offers ten recommendations to boost knowledge to complement already stepped-up action by the European Union through the EU’s Zero Pollution action plan, the Circular Economy action plan (including the Plastics Strategy), the Marine Strategy Framework Directive and Single-Use Plastic Directive. Plastic waste still growing Despite these measures, data shows that plastic waste generation is growing faster than economic growth. Continuous increase in plastic waste generation is still exerting too much pressure on European coasts and seas. And that the European Union is currently not on track to meet its policy goals of significantly reducing waste in its shift to a circular economy, which aims to massively reduce the amount of plastics and packaging that are currently thrown out. Between 2011 and 2020, plastic waste generated in the EU’s 27 Member States per person increased by 22%, as did the amount of mismanaged plastic waste. Most used and discarded plastic items are either recycled, incinerated, or stored in waste facilities, but due to limits in waste management capacity, a portion still makes its way into our seas and oceans, making it the primary source of marine litter. This uncollected waste is taken to our coasts via Europe’s many rivers. The outcome is that 75% of assessed marine areas are polluted. This is a huge problem because of plastic’s impact on marine life and on human health via the food chain. In some cases, the persistent nature of plastic means that it can last up to 500 years in the environment. What we need to know to act To achieve Europe’s green goals, and specifically, waste prevention, reduction and management goals, a full understanding of marine litter is needed — from source to sea. We also need to decouple waste generation from economic growth. Efforts in Europe to improve waste collection and management have made some headway in reducing the share of mismanaged small non-packaging plastic items (PPSI) waste. To find solutions, EU legislation is moving to a more integrated approach based on monitoring which could be supported by improved data gathering and analysis on land and rivers. Most marine litter is generated on land, and the reliability of waste management data are limited and plastic litter transported via rivers remains understudied. The recommendations focus on better use of existing and emerging data sources to better monitor problem areas, which can help develop targeted measures. Old-fashioned clean-ups and physical monitoring by volunteer citizen scientists are also invaluable. Technology also plays an increasingly important... Lees meer

Bron: www.eea.europa.eu België: 2023-01-18 11: 00: 00 , News [ad_1] European soils are under increasing pressure due to soil sealing, pollution, intensive agriculture and climate change. At the same time, there are management options to improve soil functions and health, including to sequester carbon, increase biodiversity and prevent erosion. The EEA's ‘Soil monitoring report’ presents a comprehensive set of common indicators to assess soil health as well as risk-based thresholds to inform protection and restauration needs and soil-related policies in Europe. The selected indicators address soil organic carbon, nutrients, acidification, pollution, biodiversity, erosion, compaction and sealing. For each indicator, the EEA report identifies thresholds beyond which soil functioning, for example for water purification or food production, is negatively affected. These thresholds can be regarded as critical tipping points for soil health and action points to safeguard soils. The EEA assessment supports the EU soil strategy for 2030, which is an integral element of the European Green Deal with the overall aim of ensuring healthy soil ecosystems and sustainable use of EU soils. Location field [ad_2] Lees dit artikel en meer van www.eea.europa.eu