One of the world's fastest growing photographic competitions, CIWEM's Environmental Photographer of the Year, is drawing to a close with entries only accepted until 5.00pm on 31 July 2010.

View the work of one of the CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year judges, Ronnie Israel, who is exhibiting, along with other celebrated photographers, at an exhibition of the 'River Thames - Source to Sea' showing until 30 September in the West Walkway of Tower Bridge.  For further details visit www.towerbridge.org.uk.

It was once believed that the oceans and seas were so immense we could never use up all the resources they had to offer. However, we are finding out the hard way that this just isn't the case.

The UK can only achieve healthy economic growth and job creation by boosting its high tech capabilities and innovation across the economy, according to a new report published by NESTA, the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts.

The Prince of Wales is leading a plan to combat deforestation in Indonesia.

Countryside campaigners, CPRE, have called for action to reduce the proliferation of man-made clutter that is choking the landscape.

Green energy systems are essential in securing our energy supply and protecting the environment, according to a new report from Lloyd's 360 Risk Insight and UK think tank Chatham House.

The Offshore Valuation Group (OVG) recently published a report suggesting that Britain has immensely valuable renewable resources.

Recycling expert Tidy Planet has won a contract to provide a new Rocket Composter to Warwickshire County Council for its office complex in Warwick, with the company already having the machines in place at its offices in Shire Hall and in five schools throughout the region. 

Mott MacDonald has been appointed detailed civil engineering designer for Thames Water's Long Reach Sewage Treatment Works upgrade, by a joint venture of Galliford Try and Biwater.

The green economy in British Columbia (BC) could be worth more than CAD$27billion (approximately £17billion) by 2020, according to an independent study by the GLOBE Foundation of Canada.

Scandinavian scientists have discovered that a species of tree defends itself from herbivore attack by using chemicals emitted by neighbouring plants.

Managing director of UPS Systems, Tom Sperrey, has forecast significant commercial growth for the UK fuel cell industry.

The WATER project, coordinated by WWF, STEO and WWT and funded by the European Commission, promotes wetland technology as a sustainable solution for water purification for Vientiane, Laos, bringing additional benefits for flood control, biodiversity and for the people reliant on marsh products. 

The Conservative Party has unveiled plans to reform the planning system in its long-awaited green paper entitled Open Source Planning.

ITT Water & Wastewater has welcomed a new initiative which aims to bring standardisation to water industry telemetry communication.

The New Local Government Network has welcomed government backing of its proposals to build more allotments on private land, announced by communities secretary, John Denham, and environment secretary, Hilary Benn.

A network of carbon clubs is to be launched across Edinburgh to enlist citizens in the battle to save energy and tackle climate change.

Defra and the Scottish government are calling on Britain's gardeners to help stop the spread of invasive aquatic plants that damage the natural environment and cost the economy millions. 

Environment Agency chair, Lord Smith, is urging UK industry to develop more products to help builders and property owners make the 5.5 million properties at flood risk in England and Wales more resistant and resilient to flooding.

The mastermind of a fly-tipping gang has been handed a ten-year ASBO after being linked to the illegal dumping of hundreds of thousands of tyres.

Over a third of people in Britain do not recycle their household goods, according to a new survey commissioned by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) Furniture & Electrical Stores.

A study is under way to explore options for tidal-energy generation across the Duddon Estuary in south Cumbria.

Food waste solutions expert, Tidy Planet, has helped ACS Cobham International School increase the amount of waste recycled by 21 per cent through use of the company's innovative Rocket composter.

More than 60 students took up the challenge of replicating Northern Ireland Water's biggest-ever engineering scheme at a unique education event celebrating the £130million Belfast Sewers Project.

Two presentations at Water & Environment 2010: CIWEM's Annual Conference will argue that farm land can offer economic solutions for the retention and storage of flood water to alleviate costly urban flooding, whilst also enhancing the natural environment.    

SNIPEF (The Scottish & Northern Ireland Plumbing Employers' Federation) has set up a public petition through the Scottish Parliament to urge the government to follow the lead of Westminster and introduce a boiler scrappage scheme in Scotland.

End of year registration statistics issued by the Engineering Council show a significant increase in the number of practising engineers recognising the value of gaining professional qualifications.  During 2009 the number of new registrations for Chartered Engineer (CEng) was nine per cent higher than in 2008, and new Incorporated Engineer (IEng) registrations have grown by ten per cent.  In addition, there has been a net increase in the total number of Engineering Technician (EngTech) registrants for the fifth consecutive year.

Black & Veatch wins an innovation and creativity award for its work on the new Hong Kong University Centennial Campus at the 2009 Hong Kong Awards for Industries.

IDE Technologies has completed commissioning of the first desalination unit for SDIC, a Chinese state-owned energy company.

An energy source made from biomass, coined 'green coal' made its debut at the Energy from Biomass and Waste conference on 26-27 January in London.

A new flood warning service for infrastructure owners and operators has been unveiled by the Environment Agency. 

Scientists at Teesside University are helping to find answers to one of the most difficult problems facing the world today - generating energy without accelerating climate change or harming food production.

World record holding adventurers, Ray Zahab and Kevin Vallely, will try to withstand snow, wind, ice and sub-zero temperatures during a daring attempt to run the 650 kilometre frozen length of Siberia's Lake Baikal in just ten days.

Tens of thousands of US households have joined local Cool Community campaigns following a step-by-step, low-carbon plan to cut carbon emissions by 25 per cent.

Environment Bank applauds the fact that landowners and conservationists are collaborating in aims to ensure that a reformed Common Agricultural Policy will protect and allow sustainable management of the farmed and natural landscape, but says that additional sources of funds should be used to safeguard the ecosystems of the future.

The Conservative candidate for Great Yarmouth, Brandon Lewis, has come out on his blog in support of a major eco-tourism centre proposed for the derelict site of Pontins holiday park in Hemsby.

CIWEM believes that the water industry needs to undergo a fundamental change in regulation and broaden its scope to move towards sustainability.

Recent research has revealed that, despite concerns that 'garden grabbing' is on the rise, the likelihood that the developers will be moving into a garden near you is not increasing.

With tens of thousands feared dead and over three million left injured, homeless and traumatised by the earthquake on Haiti, aid agencies are mobilising to meet the most immediate needs of victims. 

Career Energy, a specialist career management and outplacement consultancy, has launched a free career guide highlighting the top ten career opportunities for people seeking to change their working lives in 2010. 

CIWEM is calling for projects that demonstrate a sustainable use of wetland habitats to enter the Living Wetlands Award.

Bilaal Rajan, the 13 year-old UNICEF Children's Ambassador, carried the Olympic torch through the streets of downtown Toronto as it made its way across Canada for the start of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games. 

The latest scientific projections launched by Environment Secretary, Hilary Benn, provide the most detailed picture to date of the threat facing Britain from soaring summer temperatures, more extreme weather and rising sea levels.

The Ethiopian Government is looking for partners to help it realise plans to construct an extensive new railway system, to include 5,000 kilometres of new track. The system will be electrified to take advantage of the country's hydropower potential.

An investigation has been launched by the UN relief agency in Somalia, after a Channel Four programme alleged that food intended as aid was being sold for profit in Mogadishu.

Mercury prize winning band the Klaxons, has called for more support for solar power in the UK. The band, now recording its second album, has joined the 'We Support Solar' campaign to pressurise the Government to reward those who make use of the sun and make headway in the fight against climate change.

Londoners are being asked to hand over their unwanted keys to help unlock the potential of homeless and disadvantaged people.

Woodlands, countryside and parks have become out of bounds to a generation of 'cotton wool kids' with fewer than ten percent playing in such places, according to new research results revealed by Natural England. In addition, less than a quarter (24 percent) of children said they visit a patch of nature near their home on a weekly basis, compared with over half of adults (53 percent) who visited a local nature patch weekly when they were young.

Actions needed to help Europeans cope with the changing climate have been outlined in the newly published European Commission White Paper. The framework presented by the Commission sets out a two-phase strategic approach to adapting to the impacts of climate change.

The devastating explosion that occurred at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the Ukraine, then part of the Soviet Union, on 26 April 1986, left two people dead from the initial steam explosion and countless others victims to radiation from the nuclear explosion.

Bindeshwar Pathak, founder of the Sulabh Sanitation Movement in India, has been named the 2009 Stockholm Water Prize Laureate. As the Founder of the Sulabh International Social Service Organisation, Pathak is known around the world for his wide ranging work in the field of sanitation, improving public health, advancing social progress and promoting human rights in India and other countries. His accomplishments span the fields of sanitation technology, social enterprise, and healthcare education for millions of people in his native country, serving as a model for NGO agencies and public health initiatives around the world.

Women represent more than 50 percent of the world's population yet continue to be under-represented in global governments. CIWEM wants International Women's Day on 8 March to promote more active involvement from women in environmental decision-making at all levels.

Nobel Prize winner, Professor Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank has called for an urgent redesign of the world's financial systems and a major shift to a more 'inclusive' banking system through microcredit and social business.

The payback period of carbon costs induced by the production, transportation and construction of the materials to be used at the Severn Barrage would be less than six months, according to a recent study published in CIWEM's Water and Environment Journal.

Friends of the Earth International has warned that biotech crops are benefiting biotech food giants instead of small farmers and the world's hungry population, which due to the food crisis is projected to increase to 1.2 billion by the year 2025.

Franny Armstrong's must see climate change film, The Age of Stupid, will be released at 35 cinemas across the UK on the weekend of 20-22 March 2009.

A new report, State of the World's Fisheries and Aquaculture 2008, released by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), says that food supplies from aquaculture now equal those from ocean and freshwater capture fisheries. The report also documents a continuing drop-off in yields from the world's marine capture fisheries.

On 26 April the Birmingham Philharmonic Orchestra will be 'going green' by staging an Environmental Prom, promoted by CIWEM and the Birmingham Community Foundation at the city's world famous Symphony Hall.

SNIPEF (The Scottish & Northern Ireland Plumbing Employers' Federation) has set up a public petition through the Scottish Parliament to urge the government to follow the lead of Westminster and introduce a boiler scrappage scheme in Scotland.

The Conservative Planning Green Paper, Open Source Planning, highlights the challenge that planning must grapple with the mediation of legitimate national needs and local aspirations.  

For the first time in nearly 60 years, Australia's capacity to secure high quality water supplies for cities, towns and remote communities is being challenged seriously, according to a Black & Veatch media forum in Brisbane.

The Welsh Assembly Government's (WAG) new Energy Policy Statement: Low Carbon Revolution, states that Wales has the potential to generate twice its electricity needs from renewable sources within 15 years and lays out how it can be achieved.

Responding to the government's announcement on carbon capture and storage (CCS), Lord Chris Smith, chairman of the Environment Agency, said: 'The Environment Agency believes that carbon capture for coal power is a key element of a clean energy policy - which includes improved energy efficiency, safe nuclear power and a big increase in renewable energy generation.' 

England's National Park Authorities have welcomed the publication of the revised Circular for English National Parks and the Broads which includes a vision for National Parks in 2030 and sets out policy guidance for all those whose decisions or actions might affect the National Parks and the Broads.

TV wildlife expert, Nick Baker, joined BAE Systems and the Royal Air Force to support the launch of a nationwide initiative to motivate and inspire the next generation of British scientists and engineers.

How can the UK's most revered arts establishments continue to collaborate with the perpetrators of catastrophes that leave legacies of incalculable environmental, social and economic damage?

July/August 2009 Volume 14 Number 7

CIWEM President, Alastair Moseley, offers some highlights from his current visit, accompanied by CIWEM’s Director of International Development, Paul Horton.

REDD (Reduced Emissions for Deforestation and Degradation) is a UN proposal to pay developing countries for preserving forests and, in so doing, helping to reduce global carbon emissions. Rod Harbinson, head of the Panos London environment programme talks to indigenous groups and conservationists. This audio report is available courtesy of Panos London.

Speaking at Lambeth Palace at an event to mark the third anniversary of the Church of England's environmental campaign, the Bishop of London, the Right Reverend Richard Chartres urged representatives from all dioceses to go one step further in cutting their carbon, reminding them that caring for the planet is a Christian imperative for the sake of future generations.

Water & Environment 2010
CIWEM'S ANNUAL CONFERENCE

Olympia Conference Centre | London | 28th-29th April 2010
Organised by Bob Earll, CMS