Overview of news items 2010
Here you will find the news items of current year listed in chronological order.
Payments to farmers improve the quality of rural areas, when awarded under strict conditions
Reform of the Common Agricultural Policy offers options for remunerating farmers for taking measures that benefit agricultural nature, landscape, water quality, adaptation to climate change, and environmental quality of nature areas.
21-12-2010
The PBL at the climate summit in Cancun
Analyses by the PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency are supporting the Dutch delegation at the climate negotiations in Cancun. In addition, the PBL also gives presentations and participates in a number of side events.
07-12-2010
Choices in climate policy important for Dutch air quality
Several indicative climate policy packages for 2020 have been found to result in mainly favourable co-impacts on Dutch air quality. The extent of their contribution to air quality does depend on the specific measures in the climate package.
30-11-2010
UNEP report: Gap of 5 gigatonnes between Copenhagen Agreement and 2 °C target
It is estimated that, in order to have a likely chance (over 66%) of limiting global mean temperature increase to 2 °C, annual greenhouse gas emissions need to stay around 44 gigatonnes, by 2020.
23-11-2010
Policies to reduce acidification in the Netherlands justified
In the past, no unnecessary policy measures have been taken to reduce acidification (acid rain). Although the severity of acidification has declined because of policy implementation, acidification issues have certainly not been solved, yet. These are the main findings of a study that looks back on 30 years of acidification issues in the Netherlands.
08-11-2010
What is the economic value of biodiversity?
The economic value of biodiversity is an important subject at the meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, in Nagoya. Monday 25 October was dedicated to discussing the international study on The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB). According to Pavan Sukhdev, Study Leader of the TEEB: economic invisibility of nature is a problem that should be solved.
29-10-2010
Continuing biodiversity loss predicted, but could be slowed
A new analysis of several major global studies of future species shifts and losses foresees inevitable continuing decline of biodiversity during the 21st century. However, it offers new hope that it could be slowed if emerging policy choices are pursued.
29-10-2010
Producers hold the key to halt biodiversity loss
Dutch demand for products from tropical regions is influential in the rapid decline of local plant and animal species (biodiversity) in those regions. These are not only products such as palm oil, coffee, wood, or soy for animal feed, but also meat and fish, all delivered to us via trade chains. Some of these products are consumed directly, while others are used in the production of export goods. Examples of such exported end products are wood products and meat (with imported animal feed used in the production of the latter).
19-10-2010
Less risk of intestinal cancer justifies nitrate policy on drinking water
Research has shown that of the annual number of cases of intestinal cancer in Europe, around 3% can be attributed to nitrate in drinking water. For the Netherlands the annual figure is 2% or 100 additional cases. This would mean that health benefits of nitrate policy probably outweigh the related additional costs in agriculture and in the production of drinking water. This estimation, however, is relatively uncertain because reliable epidemiological research is lacking.
06-10-2010
Global ecosystems heavily under pressure; the PBL identifies new strategies for the COP10 in Nagoya
The mere protection of valuable nature areas, although still necessary, will not be sufficient for reducing global biodiversity loss in the coming decades. To strongly reduce the rate of biodiversity loss, structural changes in consumption and production are needed. A reduction in meat consumption would be of great benefit. In addition, changes are needed especially in agriculture, forestry, fishery and in the supply of energy.
05-10-2010
Increasing the adaptive capacity of ecosystems can make them climate-proof
Nature areas in the Netherlands are vulnerable to the consequences of climate change. Under implementation of the current nature policy, sustainable conservation of all plant- and animal species in all areas will not be feasible. Nature policy could be more effective when aimed at increasing nature's adaptive capacity.
30-09-2010
Integration of Ecosystem Goods and Services into international policies as opportunity to reduce poverty
This study shows how local delivery of ecosystem goods and services (EGS) is closely linked to international policies on development cooperation, trade, climate change and reform of international financial institutions. Integrating or mainstreaming EGS considerations into these policies provides significant opportunities to contribute to reducing poverty while simultaneously improving the quality of local EGS.
05-08-2010
More particulate matter from sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and ammonia than previously assumed
13-07-2010
Key findings of IPCC on regional climate-change impacts found to be robust
PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency has found no errors that would undermine the main conclusions in the 2007 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on possible future regional impacts of climate change. However, in some instances the foundations for the summary statements should have been made more transparent. The PBL believes that the IPCC should invest more in quality control in order to prevent mistakes and shortcomings, to the extent possible.
05-07-2010
Serious indirect effects of some biofuels on global biodiversity and greenhouse gas emissions
Many biofuels that are presently sold on the European transport market need agricultural land for their production. Effects from indirect land-use change (ILUC) have a negative impact, not only on greenhouse gases as has been reported earlier, but also on global biodiversity. The overall emission reductions for biofuels based on energy crops can be low or even negative. These are some of the conclusions from a series of brief reports published by the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL) on the issue of indirect effects of bio-energy.
31-05-2010
‘Copenhagen’ target is coming closer
The Copenhagen Accord has proven beneficial to the efforts of achieving the target of limiting global warming to two degrees Celsius. Since the climate conference was held, countries have pledged to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. These pledges could realise up to 70 per cent of the greenhouse gas reduction that is needed. However, the risk of the actual reductions being less, is substantial.
28-05-2010
The land use effects of biofuels lead to biodiversity loss
The objective of using biofuels is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In the long term, this can reduce the negative impact of climate change on biodiversity. Several biofuels are grown in existing agricultural areas. This will indirectly lead to loss of natural area on the short term through transfer of current production to other world regions. Assessing the balance between short-term losses and long-term gains for biodiversity shows that it may take decades to centuries before losses are compensated for by long-term gains.
27-05-2010
Models of limited value to determine indirect land use change (ILUC) factors for biofuels
Biofuels have the potential to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. Besides direct emissions from the production chain emissions from indirect land use change (ILUC) can reduce this potential. Therefore, the possibility to include an ILUC-emission factor in the EU sustainability criteria is investigated. Integral global models can be used to explore these emissions. However, the complexity of the system and its related assumptions introduce significant differences in the results of different models. Moreover, the ILUC-emission of biofuels vary in time due to a changing context.
25-05-2010
CPB and PBL have analyzed election platforms
20-05-2010
By-products of biofuels reduce indirect land-use change
The cultivation of energy crops on arable land may lead to the displacement of food crops and to indirect land-use change (ILUC) with biodiversity loss and extra greenhouse gas emissions. Some of the energy crops for biofuels deliver feed as by-products, reducing the land use for feed production elsewhere, and thereby substantially reducing these negative indirect effects.
02-04-2010
Agricultural intensification may restrict indirect effects of bio-energy
Agricultural intensification has the potential to reduce indirect land-use change from biofuels. If such intensification is realised only by applying more fertiliser, this may lead to substantial indirect greenhouse gas emissions. Improvement of fertiliser-use efficiency is essential to prevent these emissions.
02-04-2010
Website GLOBIO model fully renewed
The GLOBIO model is a tool to assess past, present and future human impact on biodiversity. As a policy tool, it is regularly applied in global, regional and national assessments. The GLOBIO model is the result of a collaboration between the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL), the UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) and UNEP/GRID-Arendal. The renewed website provides information on the workings of the model and its applications.
22-03-2010
Interaction nitrogen deposition with climate change and loss of biodiversity
The CCE Status Report 2009 demonstrates that effects of nitrogen deposition are interrelated with the change of climate and biodiversity. The report proposes indicators, modelling methodologies and results addressing critical loads, dynamics of ecosystem recovery and changes of plant species diversity to support integrated policies for mitigating air pollution and the change of biodiversity and climate.
18-03-2010
Indirect effects of bio-energy worrisome
Bio-energy has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Indirect effects might partly or even completely undo this advantage. Indirect land use change (ILUC) – leading to emissions and loss of nature – is an important example, but there are other indirect effects, as well.
18-02-2010
New generation climate scenarios also focus on policy targets
Currently, a new generation of climate scenarios is being developed to enable a better understanding of the influence that greenhouse gases have on our climate. For the first time, these scenarios will focus on the various objectives of climate policy, varying from ‘no climate policy’ to ‘very ambitious climate policy’. In addition, knowledge is being integrated into these scenarios from various disciplines in the field of climate science. The scenarios are being developed by a team of international scientists, including from the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL).
15-02-2010
Correction wording flood risks for the Netherlands in IPCC report
In the 2007 IPCC report by the Working group 2 (Climate change 2007: Impacts, adaptation and vulnerability) a mistake has entered the text that was supplied by the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, regarding the risks of flooding for the Netherlands. In the chapter on Europe, on page 547, it says that 55 per cent of the Netherlands is below sea level (‘The Netherlands is an example of a country highly susceptible to both sea level rise and river flooding because 55% of its territory is below sea level’).
05-02-2010
