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.

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