The articles below are from various newspapers. The Hungarian Lobby (HungLobbz@aol.com)can provide many others:
EARTH ISLAND JOURNAL
Dutch Interview About the Danube
BACKGROUND:
1977 – Moscow for military reasons forced her two satellites to sign contract
1989 – The last communist government of Hungary stops construction
1992 – The first democratic government of Hungary cancels the contract
1992 – Czechoslovakia blocks the river and diverts it onto her own territory
1993 – In The Hague Hungary initiates the first environmental lawsuit
1997 – The Court rules that both the diversion of the Danube and the cancellation of the contract were illegal and the parties should negotiate to reach an agreement.
2000 – There is still no agreement, so our reporter asked the editor of the Environmental Engineers’ Handbook of the USA to fill us in on the latest:
EDWIN VAN SCHIE: Why should the world care about Gabcikovo?
BÉLA LIPTÁK: The region which the diversion endangered, the Szigetköz is Europe’s only inland sea delta, that of the ancient Pannon Sea. The 400 unique species that evolved from salt to freshwater creatures are not the property any one nation, but that of mankind.
EVS: What makes you to think that it is your job to care about this?
BL: My handbook and Dr. Szalai got me involved.
EVS: How?
BL: Well, Dr. Szalai at the Hungarian National Academy of Science headed the Danube committee. He foresaw the forthcoming environmental disaster, but was powerless to oppose the Soviet pressure. He had a copy of my handbook, noted the accent marks on my Hungarian name, felt that I might be able to help and called me. Shortly after that phone call he died and even on his deathbed he was asking his daughters to: “Get Lipták involved!”
EVS: Who helped you in the preparation of the Compromise Plan (CP)?
BL: I have spent over a decade in developing the CP. During these years I have integrated ideas from such Slovak scientists as Jaromir Sibl or Juraj Holcik, from Hungarian engineers and scientists like János Szentágothai or István Németh and from Americans, such as Debbie Moore, who is the representative of the United States in the World Commission on Dams.
EVS: Why would UN Secretary General Koofi Annan care about the CP?
BL: Because the underlying principle of the CP is applicable to all the rivers of this planet. Because the CP eliminates the conflict between the interests of agriculture and the power industry, which want to raise the water levels in our rivers and the health and nature protection interests, which want to keep our riverbeds OPEN.
EVS: How can the level be raised without blocking the riverbed by a dam?
BL: By restricting the riverbed. In my handbook you can read about the sizing of artificial straits. They leave the riverbed open while raising the water level. In case of the Danube, the strait would be built at Dunakiliti and would increase the level by about 30 meters, so that the water could still flow to the 720 MW turbines at Gabcikovo, while the river stays open and no polluted reservoir is created at Bratislava.
EVS: I understand you met the president of Hungary and handed to him both the CP and a copy of the lawsuit being initiated at the Constitutional Court of Hungary.
BL: Dr. Ferenc Mádl, on the 8th of September, in New York City accepted these documents. I explained to him, that the lawsuit is being initiated not against the Government of Hungary, but to force the return of this deadlocked case to the International Court in The Hage. I also asked the President to propose the Dunakiliti strait as a pilot project for the World Bank supported World Commission on Dams (headed by Professor Kader Asmal) and to ask the UN Secretary General Koofi Annan to support this compromise plan, which could solve many river conflict around the world.
AVS: Thanks. Could you give use some web page addresses for those who want to learn more about the CP?
BL: You are welcome to visit.
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WASHINGTON TIMES:
Major Environmental Demonstration in Washington
(Weekend of April 1 and 2, 2000)
Four times during the past two months, Central Europe has suffered environmental disasters on the scale of the Chernobil accident. All originated in Romania.
On January 30, 2000, a cyanide spill from a Romanian-Australian mining operation released massive amounts of cyanide and heavy metal byproducts from the Aurul gold mine in Romania into the Tisza, the second largest river of Hungary. The Tisza carried the toxic material into the Danube, which is winding its way through Vojvodina in Serbia, Romania and Bulgaria into the Black Sea. The cyanide killed over 1,000 tons of fish and most of all other life forms in the Tisza and caused untold environmental and economic damage in the lower Danube basin. The heavy metals poisoned the groundwater and are traveling up the food chain, threatening the lives of not only the remaining five pairs of giant osprey in the world famous Hortobagy nature reserve park, but also the drinking water supplies of two million people.
Less than six weeks later, on March 10, 2000, heavy rain and melting snow burst a dam at the Baia Borsa lead and zinc mine in Northern Romania, 115 miles from the Hungarian border. Some 20,000 tons of heavy metal sludge were released into a tributary of the Viso river, which then carried it, once again, into the Tisza. The river, once called the "Blonde Tisza, has turned black. Four days later, on March 14, another heavy metal spill occurred at Baia Borsa. A fourth spill occurred just this week.
This weekend’s environmental demonstration in Washington, in front of the Romanian Embassy (1607 23rd Street on Sheridan Circle) from 11 AM to 2 PM is organized by the NGO COALITION TO SAVE OUR RIVERS and it has the following goals:
It wants to focus attention on the need for developing an infrastructure of international regulations and safety enforcement mechanisms, which must accompany the globalized operation of the multi-national firms as they expand their operations around the planet. The demonstration will also focus on the responsibility of such existing institutions as the United Nations, the World Bank, the International Court and the European Union. It will point out the need for these institutions to assist such post-Communists states as Romania to adopt acceptable environmental safety standards in their industrial operations and to provide funds for the restoration of the environment of the damaged downstream states, such as that of Hungary.
The giant osprey with its 5 or 6 foot wingspread of the Hortobagy is not only the property of a nation it is the treasure of all mankind. We must not wait until all of our rivers are dead, until all fish are murdered to realize that money is not edible. We must jointly protect life on this planet and the time to start developing the legal and financial infrastructure for doing that is right now.
Béla G. Lipták, P.E.
The writer is editor of the Environmental Engineers’ Handbook and a former adjunct professor of Yale University
March 30, 2000
Stamford, CT
T:203-357-7614
An environmental disaster knows no borders. Clouds of dust generated by a massive volcanic outbreak in the Philippines or in Mexico may filter out sunshine halfway around the world. That cannot be prevented. But these two
catastrophic events in Romania did not need to happen. They occurred as the direct result of the Romanian government's cavalier attitude about
environmental issues. Romania, as well as other countries that fail to act immediately to forestall disasters, which could be prevented, must be compelled by the world community to do so. The existing body of international law, including environmental treaties must be enforced without delay and strengthened where necessary.
We invite all organizations and individuals who care about the preservation of our environment to show their support and join us at a demonstration in front of the Romanian Embassy in Washington, DC
On both the 1st and the 2nd of April we will meet at 10 AM on DuPont Circle. (We will pick up live fish in the supermarket or plastic ones in the toy store) and with the fish and our home made signs we will walk on Massachussetts Avenue to the Romanian Embassy (1607 23rd Street). We extend a special invitation to all Americans whose roots are in the region directly affected by the two recent disaster — Romania, Transylvania, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Vojvodina, Bulgaria, Moldova, Ukraine, as well as the European Union.
We all share the same environment, let us take a stand to save it!
NGO COALITION TO SAVE OUR RIVERS
(For further information and details concerning the program of the demonstration on each day, the speakers' names, the times and addresses from which charter busses and car-pools leave from the various eastern cities, for news releases, etc. you can contact Robert Imreh (rimreh@earthlink.net) or visit
For in depth information concerning the Danube, please call our NGO Coalition at 203-357-7614 or send a fax to 203-325-3922.)
Signed: GIVE YOUR OWN OR YOUR ORGANZATION’S NAME AND ADDRESS
5) Speakers
While the chief organizers: Robert Imreh (rimreh@earthlink.net) and the HunorNet team are providing the sound amplification system and they with the help of Gabriella Taylor (Health9Net@aol.com) are inviting both NGO and political leaders to speak, they MUST ALSO HAVE YOUR HELP! Please do contact your own political and/or NGO leaders and invite them to take part either in person or by addressing our demonstration in writing, so that their proclamation letters can be read during our news conference. You can use the announcement (above, in paragraph 4) when you are writing to them and you can use the NGO and media E-mail addresses below, in paragraph 6) to either reach the NGO leaders or to publish their proclamations.
Save the Blue Danube
by Bela Liptak
In September 1997, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague issued a ruling on the world's first international environmental lawsuit. The ICJ (a.k.a. the World Court) found it was illegal for Slovakia to reroute the Danube River into a Slovakian canal in 1992 as part of a multi-billion dollar Danube hydroelectric development project.
The ICJ ordered Hungary and Slovakia to settle their dispute regarding the project's future and financing. If they don't settle, the ICJ will impose its own settlement. The danger is that Hungary and Slovakia will reach an out-of-court settlement.
When the lawsuit started, Hungary was ruled by a progressive, environmentally sensitive government. But that party lost the elections in 1994 to the MSZP, the former Communist Party. The new government in Hungary favors the project's construction.
Environmental stakes in this case are high: The wetlands involved are the remains of the only inland delta in Europe. This delta has survived since the last Ice Age, when the Pannon Sea filled the Carpathian Basin. Some 400 unique species have survived from that time. Today, in the Szigetkoz ("the region of a thousand islands" in Hungarian), not a single island remains. Since the rerouting, there is no water.
If things are left to the two negotiating parties, construction will destroy this beautiful and unique wetland. The only hope for this historic stretch of the Danube is that the out-of-court settlement does not take place, and the case is returned to the ICJ for final ruling. The international environmental community can help achieve that goal.
Nine international and human rights NGOs have prepared a detailed solution that would satisfy the desires of all parties. This Compromise Plan would return the Danube to its natural course and provide for a seismic redesign and winter shipping canal at the Gabcikovo Dam.
Hungary would regain its border river, the Szigetkoz wetlands and drinking water supplies. Slovakia would receive all the electricity generated at Gabcikovo Dam during high water conditions. The European Community would benefit from reliable year-'round shipping through both the Gabcikovo canal and through the restored Danube riverbed.
The US, by supporting World Bank financing on a similar scale as is taking place today in the Danube Delta of the Black Sea, would demonstrate that a just and non-violent international solution is feasible and a permanent solution possible, with an investment equivalent to the cost of a few weeks' peace-keeping in Bosnia.
Our job is convincing MSZP deputies to change their votes by appealing to their decency, pride and common sense. Solidarity from foreign environmentalists will help a great deal. For more details on the Compromise Plan to save the Danube, visit our website at:
Bela Liptak [84 Old N. Stamford Road, Stamford, CT 06905-3961, (203) 357-7614,
