Umwelt/environment:
Beispiel für die Waldfreunde / Es gibt auch die so genannten "Waldbader"...  (neu:11.03. 2023:189 zertifizierte  Waldbade-Meisterinnen   und - Meister... s. unten  im Text)  und die Wilderer:...Anzahl: UNBEKANNT...und die Umweltzerstörer ebenso UNBEKANNT...

Vgl. dazu  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe  (vor sehr vielen Jahren):
"Ich ging im Walde so vor mich hin ,
um nichts zu suchen
das ward mein Sinn ..."

Heute gibt es die "Fuckyou Goehte"-Filme/movie .. (nicht gesehen...)..

Neu:
Quelle: bz-berlin.de.
11.03. 2023
Hier gekürzte Fassung:

"Waldbade-Meisterin...zeigt, wie man Bäume richtig umarmt"
Die Wissenschaft gibt ihr recht: Waldbesuche reduzieren Stress, stärken das Immunsystem und verbessern die Stimmung. Deshalb ist Waldbaden auch als Wald-Therapie bekannt. Mitlerweile gibt es allein in Berlin und Brandenburg 189 zertifizierte Waldbade-Meisterinnen und -Meister – ausgebildet von der „Deutschen Akademie für Waldbaden und Gesundheit“..."
---------------------------------
Foto fehlt noch...Siehe bei "Home". Anmerkung:  Da gibt es nichts mehr zum Umarmen...

Ergänzende Strafanzeige/ lawsuit
 zu  Geschäftszeichen: 272 UJs 142/19
 eingereicht am 10. 02. 2023:
/siehe 1. Seite links oben/

Vorwurf neu: Waldzerstörung in einem Trinkwasserschutzgebiet (Berlin-Müggelheim; Köpenick).
Deforestation  in a drinkwater protected area...
Anmerkung: Es gibt dort auch einen Heimatverein (aber was sie diesbezüglich machen, weiß ich nicht...).

Vgl. dazu:
Waldzerstörung/ deforestation  im gesamten Berliner Stadtwald, Naturschutzgebieten, Landschaftsschutzgebieten, Referenzflächene   und dem Wald als schutzbedürftiges  Gebiet, seit / since 2010, alle Jahre 2 x mit dem  s.g. "Harvester", auch jetzt Januar 2023  wieder ...  und: ein Täter kann nicht ermittelt werden.... Az. 272 UJs 142/19. 
Und die bunten Medien schweigen dazu  sozusagen um die Wette....
Eine Meldung habe ich gelesen diesbezüglich:
Der NordBerliner, 24. 02. 2011 (elf), Seite 2:
Interview  mit dem Pressesprecher der Berliner Forsten:
"UNSER ZIEL  IST NICHT DAS GROSSE GELD, SONDERN DEN FORST ALS  ERHOLUNGSWALD ZU ERHALTEN."
Hier den Tegeler Forst (Berlin) betreffend...
Anmerkung: Aber auch hier ging  die Waldzerstörung  /Holzeinschlag mit dem s.g. Harvester weiter...
Vgl. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe vor sehr vielen Jahren:
"Teufelspack, Teufelspack,
fraget nicht nach Regeln,
kluge Leute sind wir,
trotzdem spukt´s in Tegel"

Am  12. 02. 2023  gibt  es die Wiederholungswahl  in Berlin  bezüglich  der Fehler- Wahl vom 26. 09. 2022 (der Marathon-Lauf, Teilnehmer/innen aus 157 Länder, war wichtiger als das Wahlergebnis)  und  kein Wort dazu...

------------------------
Neu.
Abwasser-Bericht. Also Rückstände ... Drogen aller Art... nur Amsterdam  noch "besser" als Berlin...

Neu:
UN- Wassergipfel in New York: 689  Maßnahmen  in einem freiwilligen Aktionsplan werden vorgeschlagen... 750 Milliarden US $  wurden erwähnt...  In  2 Jahren werden sich die Konferenzteilnehmer  wieder treffen, um festzustellen,was erreicht wurde... 24.3. 2023.

Anmerkung:  Schade, dass man kein Konferenzteilnehmer ist...
------------------

Quelle: gmx.de    14.3. 2023   (weitere Quellen am Text unten):

Deal mit Bürgermeister: "Letzte Generation" stellt Protestaktionen in Hannover dauerhaft ein
Aktualisiert am 24.02.2023, 17:09 Uhr
Die "Letzte Generation" wird in Hannover nicht mehr auf der Straße protestieren. Die Klimagruppe ist mit dem Bürgermeister der Stadt, Belit Onay, einen Deal eingegangen.
Von Jan-Henrik Hnida
Aktualisiert am 14.03.2023, 15:08 Uhr

    Hannovers Oberbürgermeister Belit Onay hat einen Deal mit der Letzten Generation abgeschlossen.
    Die Gruppe hört in Hannover auf mit ihren Störaktionen – dafür setzt sich die Stadt in Berlin für ihre Anliegen ein.
    Andere Stadtoberhäupter sehen im Ultimatum "Epressung" oder "Nötigung".
Menschen mit orangenen Westen, die sich mitten im Berufsverkehr auf die Straße kleben oder sogar zeitweise den Flugbetrieb stoppen. Wutentbrannte Autofahrer, die die Aktivisten von der Straße zerren oder sogar anfahren: Diese Bilder sollen in Hannover der Vergangenheit angehören.

Die Gruppe Letzte Generation ist nach einem Klima-Hungerstreik in Berlin entstanden und fordert mehr Maßnahmen für den Klimaschutz. Seit Anfang 2022 blockieren ihre Aktivistinnen und Aktivisten immer wieder Autobahnausfahrten und andere Straßen in vielen Städten. Ihr Anliegen: Auf die existenzbedrohende Klimakrise aufmerksam machen.
Aktivisten verschickten Ultimatum an Politiker
"Da war richtig schlechte Luft, schlechte Stimmung bei vielen Leuten", sagt Hannovers Oberbürgermeister Belit Onay (Grüne) im Gespräch mit unserer Redaktion. Anfang Februar hatte die Letzte Generation wieder deutschlandweit Störaktionen angekündigt. In einem offenen Brief, der unter anderem auch an Onay adressiert war, stellten sie Politikerinnen und Politikern ein Ultimatum: Wenn die jeweilige Regierung auf ihre Forderungen eingeht, stoppen sie ihre Aktionen.
"Ich habe deutlich gemacht, dass wir mit Ultimaten und unter Druck nicht zusammenkommen", sagt Onay. Trotzdem, war er bereit, sich mit den Aktivisten an einen Tisch zu setzen und auszutauschen.
Die Gruppe hört in Hannover auf mit ihren Aktionen – und im Gegenzug setzt sich der Oberbürgermeister in Berlin für ihre Anliegen ein. Denn die Form des Protests hält er für nicht zielführend. Mehr für den Klimaschutz zu tun und Maßnahmen wirklich umzusetzen, hält er allerdings durchaus für richtig.
Klimaaktivismus
Geldstrafe für Klimaaktivistin - Anzeige nach Klebe-Aktion im Prozess
vor 5 Tagen
Forderungen: Tempolimit, 9-Euro-Ticket und ein Gesellschaftsrats
Tempolimit, Nachfolgeregelung zum 9-Euro-Ticket und die Einführung eines Gesellschaftsrats - diese Forderungen der Letzten Generation schickte der Oberbürgermeister in einem Brief an die Bundestagsfraktionsvorsitzenden, mit Ausnahme der AfD. Der Gesellschaftsrat soll aus zufällig ausgelosten Bürgerinnen und Bürgern bestehen, die sich zum Thema Klimaneutralität austauschen und Beschlüsse befassen, die dem Bundestag vorgelegt werden.
"Ich kann alles im Großen und Ganzen befürworten. Mit einer Einschränkung", sagt Onay. Der Gesellschaftsrat solle nicht mit der Gesetzgebungskompetenz des Bundestags konkurrieren. Das hatten die Aktivisten gefordert.
"Starkes Signal" statt Erpressung
"Das geht verfassungsrechtlich nicht und ist politisch nicht erstrebenswert. Ich vertraue dem Bundestag und dem parlamentarischen System." Trotzdem findet er die Frage wichtig, wie man die breite Bevölkerung mehr für den Klimaschutz einbinden könne. Die Gesellschaft könne durch einen solchen Rat die Politik zum Handeln antreiben.

Hat sich der Oberbürgermeister von der Letzten Generation erpressen lassen? "Nein. Ich handele ja nicht gegen meine Überzeugungen oder zum Schaden der Stadt. Neben der Einschränkung beim Gesellschaftsrat stehe ich voll und ganz hinter allen Forderungen", sagt Onay. Für den Grünen-Politiker sei es ein "leichter Schritt" und ein "starkes Signal" nach Berlin gewesen.
"Klima-RAF": Oberbürgermeister findet Wortwahl "völlig überdreht"
In der Hauptstadt erregten die Klimaaktivisten gerade wieder bundesweit Aufmerksamkeit: Sie verschmutzten ein Denkmal zum Grundgesetz. Das sorgte für Wirbel und Empörung. "Ich finde die Störaktionen nicht gut, weil es vom eigentlichen Kernanliegen wegführt", sagt Hannovers Oberbürgermeister. Trotzdem sei die Wortwahl einiger Kollegen "völlig überdreht"; einige Politiker sprachen von der "Klima-RAF". Runter von der Straße, rein in den politischen Diskurs – das sei in Hannover gelungen. "Mit unseren gemeinsamen Gesprächen haben wir eine Brücke gebaut und Frieden geschaffen."
Möglichweise hat das auch mit dem Sofortprogramm "Klimaschutz Hannover 2035" zu tun. Die Stadt soll mit Hilfe von 53 Maßnahmen bis zum Jahr 2035 klimaneutral werden. Zu den Maßnahmen gehören eine autofreie Innenstadt, mehr ÖPNV, bessere Radstrecken, Tempo 30 und der Ausstieg aus dem letzten Kohlekraftwerk der Stadt - bis 2026. "Dadurch hatten wir sicher einen Vertrauensvorschuss bei den Klimaaktivisten."
Auch Marburg und Tübingen schlossen Klima-Pakt

Nach dem Deal in Hannover schlossen auch Marburg und Tübingen einen Pakt mit den Aktivisten. Ist die Hauptstadt Niedersachsens also ein Vorbild im Umgang mit der Letzten Generation? "Jede Stadt muss selbst entscheiden, wie sie mit der Situation umgeht. Unser Tun kann aber eine Inspiration für andere sein", sagt Onay.

In München ist solch ein Friedensschluss noch nicht zustande gekommen, wie das Kreisverwaltungsreferat dem "Merkur" mitteilte. Dort seien die Klimakleber auch gar nicht bereit gewesen, ernsthaft ins Gespräch mit den Verantwortlichen zu gehen, hätten sie doch im Dezember nach weiteren Protestankündigungen das Angebot abgelehnt, etwas ausführlicher zu reden.
Hamburgs OB sieht in Ultimatum Nötigung

Auch Berlins Regierende Bürgermeisterin Franziska Giffey (SPD) hat Verhandlungen und ein Abkommen mit der Klimaschutzgruppe Letzte Generation abgelehnt. "Wer meint, für mehr Klimaschutz einzutreten, indem er Bäume fällt, den Flugverkehr gefährdet oder wichtige Straßen durch Ankleben blockiert, ist für uns kein potenzieller Verhandlungspartner", sagte Giffey gegenüber "T-Online".

Als Reaktion auf das Ultimatum informierte der Hamburger Bürgermeister Peter Tschentscher (SPD) sogar den Staatsschutz, schreibt die Taz. Nun prüft die Staatsanwaltschaft den Vorwurf der versuchten Nötigung von Verfassungsorganen.
CDU Hannover kritisiert den Deal
"Oberbürgermeister Onay hofiert Klimachaoten und sendet damit ein verheerendes Signal aus", schreibt der Vorsitzende der CDU Hannover, Maximilian Oppelt, auf der Internetseite der Partei. Er kritisiert den Umgang von Belit Onay (Grüne) mit der "Letzten Generation".
Es sei unverantwortlich, dass Belit Onay an einem Tag, an dem die Letzte Generation erneut "Straftaten begehe", indem sie die Sitzung der Regionsversammlung störe, Straßen blockiere und am Vortag für das "Aufhalten eines Rettungswagens verantwortlich" gewesen sei, diese Gruppe mit einem persönlichen Gespräch im Rathaus "hofiert" und Teile ihrer Forderungen erfülle.
Der Oberbürgermeister will sich dagegen weiter mit der Letzten Generation und den anderen Klima- und Umweltschutzinitiativen austauschen. Wird sich nun in der Landeshauptstadt nie wieder jemand auf die Straße kleben? "Ich habe sehr deutlich gemacht, dass Störaktionen nicht mehr stattfinden", sagt Oberbürgermeister Onay. Bislang sind sie in der Tat ausgeblieben.

Verwendete Quellen:
Gespräch mit Hannovers Oberbürgermeister Belit Onay (Grüne)
    merkur.de: Bürgermeister schließen Deal mit Klima-Klebern - Aktivisten über den Tisch gezogen?
    Taz.de: Mit harter Hand gegen Klima-Kleber
    cdu-hannover-stadt.de: "OB Onay hofiert Klimachaoten und sendet damit verheerendes Signal aus"
    t-online: Giffey lehnt Deal wie in Hannover ab

Über die Person: Belit Nejat Onay ist als Politiker für Bündnis 90/Die Grünen tätig. Seit November 2019 ist er Oberbürgermeister der niedersächsischen Landeshauptstadt Hannover.

------------------------------------------------

Eine Anmerkung  bezüglich  der Zitierungen  von TheGuardian.com  Berichten:
Es erscheint  beim Anklicken von TheGuardian.com  immer der Hinweis, ob man eine finanzielle Unterstützung / financial support/  leisten wolle.
But financial  support  I just can´t  afford, because I depend  on Social wellfare... oder: In Deutschland  systematisch/ heimtückisch, zum Bettler gemacht... jetzt mit systematischer Terrorisierung  24 Stunden lang... illegale Wohnraumüberwachung ( unverschuldet im Obdachlosen-Asylbewerberheim,  Bettplatz, 14 qm)  - und 24 Stunden davor mit Autos auf- und abrasend  - ,  illegale Online Überwachung, illegales Bewegungsprofil,  verbunden mit systematischen  Rufmord... von Kindheit können sie jetzt zu beleidigen anfangen... und  andererseits  systematischer Ideendiebstahl für kommerzielle Zwecke...ohne Rechtsschutz ...

Neu: 14.3. 2023:
EUIPO
Amt der Europäischen Union für Geistiges Eigentum.
Beobachtungsstelle

EU: Schutz vor Produktpiraterie ?
Wir schützen Ihr Unternehmen...
EUIPO.europa.eu/ohimportal.de...
Amt der Europäischen Union für geistiges Eigentum (EUIPO)
europa.eu
european-union.europa.eu › euipo_de
Das EU-Amt für geistiges Eigentum (EUIPO) verwaltet die Anwendung der EU-Marken- und -Geschmacksmusterrechte sowie die Datenbank verwaister Werke.
--------------------------

Source: TheGuardian.com: 18.02. 2023:
Peruvian loggers given 28 years in jail for murder of four Indigenous leaders
Victims – among them environmental defender Edwin Chota – were tortured before their deaths in Peruvian Amazon in 2014
Illegally cut logs on the bank of the Putaya River between the Ashaninka Indian communities of Saweto and Puerto Putaya in Peru.
Illegally cut logs on the bank of the Putaya River between the Ashaninka Indian communities of Saweto and Puerto Putaya in Peru. Photograph: Martín Mejía/AP
Dan Collyns in Lima  (Foto hier nicht sichtbar, Anmerkung.)
@..... (Hier nicht möglich, Anmerkung.
Fri 17 Feb 2023 22.11 GMT
Last modified on Sat 18 Feb 2023 01.17 GMT

Five illegal loggers in Peru have been given 28-year jail sentences for the murder of four Indigenous leaders, among them the prominent anti-logging campaigner Edwin Chota, in a rare win for environmental justice.


Nearly eight years after the 2014 quadruple murder, a court in Pucallpa in the Peruvian Amazon found the loggers, Eurico Mapes Gómez and the brothers Segundo and Josimar Atachi Félix, guilty of aggravated homicide against the leaders, and sentenced them on Thursday to 28 years and three months in prison.
Edwin Chota, an activist against illegal logging, was murdered along with three other men, say Peruvian authorities
Illegal loggers blamed for murder of Peru forest campaigner
Read more

The court imposed the same sentence against Hugo Soria Flores and José Estrada Huayta, the timber businessmen convicted of planning the murder – one of the most notorious crimes against environmental defenders in Peru’s recent history.

The judge said the victims – Chota, Leoncio Quintisima, Jorge Ríos and Francisco Piñedo – were tortured before they were killed near Peru’s Amazon border with Brazil.

Chota, the leader of Alto Tamaya-Saweto, an Ashéninka community in Peru’s Amazon Ucayali region, fought for his people’s right to gain titles to their land and expel illegal loggers who raided their forests on the Brazilian border. He was featured in reports by National Geographic and the New York Times that detailed how death threats were made against him and other members of his community.

At the time of the crime, the four Indigenous people were on their way to the Apiwtxa community, also of Ashéninka ethnicity, located on the other side of the border in the Brazilian state of Acre.

“We are happy [about the jail sentences] after so many years of struggle and many threats,” Lita Rojas, 48, the widow of Leoncio Quintisima, told the Guardian by phone from the remote village. The native community was finally awarded a formal land title of nearly 80,000 hectares (198,000 acres) in July 2015.

“The long-awaited verdict serves as a tragic reminder of the dangers faced by environmental defenders and the need for greater protection of their rights,” said Shruti Suresh, land environment defenders campaign leader at Global Witness.

“We welcome the news of the conviction of those responsible for the killings of Indigenous land and environmental leaders in Peru in this horrific case, which shows the importance of continuing to fight for justice many years on,” Suresh added.

More than 1,700 environmental defenders have been killed around the world over the past decade, according to Global Witness.

During the Covid pandemic, the number of attacks on environmental defenders and Indigenous leaders increased, particularly in 2021, when 78% of recorded killings of defenders took place in the Amazon regions of Brazil, Peru and Venezuela.
------------------------------
Source: TheGuardian.com   23.2.23  :

Revealed: scale of ‘forever chemical’ pollution across UK and Europe

Major mapping project reveals PFAS have been found at high levels at thousands of sites

    What are PFAS, how toxic are they and how do you become exposed?
    Buncefield: the PFAS legacy of ‘biggest fire in peacetime Europe’

Rachel Salvidge and Leana Hosea
Thu 23 Feb 2023 05.00 GMT

Pollutants known as “forever chemicals”, which don’t break down in the environment, build up in the body and may be toxic, have been found at high levels at thousands of sites across the UK and Europe, a major mapping project has revealed.

The map shows that per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), a family of about 10,000 chemicals valued for their non-stick and detergent properties, have made their way into water, soils and sediments from a wide range of consumer products, firefighting foams, waste and industrial processes.

Two PFAS have been linked to an array of health problems. PFOA has been connected with kidney and testicular cancer, thyroid disease, ulcerative colitis, high cholesterol and pregnancy-induced hypertension. PFOS has been associated with reproductive, developmental, liver, kidney, and thyroid disease. At lower levels PFAS have been associated with immunotoxicity.

The substances have been found at about 17,000 sites across the UK and Europe. Of these, PFAS have been detected at high concentrations of more than 1,000 nanograms a litre of water at about 640 sites, and above 10,000ng/l at 300 locations.

“These sorts of concentrations raise concerns with me,” said Prof Crispin Halsall, an environmental chemist at Lancaster University. “You have the risk of livestock gaining access to those waters and [then PFAS is] in the human food web.” Halsall says there are also risks involving people “accessing wildlife as food sources like fishing and wildfowl”.

The map shows that Belgium is home to the highest levels of pollution, where PFAS was found in groundwater at concentrations up to 73m ng/l around 3M’s PFAS manufacturing site in Zwijndrecht, Flanders.

People living within 15km (10 miles) of the site have been told not to eat any eggs laid in their gardens and to avoid homegrown vegetables. Meanwhile, 70,000 people living within a 5km (3 mile) radius of the plant have been offered a blood test to look for the presence of PFAS. 3M says it will remediate the site and has “signed an agreement with the Flemish region … with an investment amount of €571m” (£503m). It has also announced plans to exit PFAS manufacturing “and work to discontinue the use of PFAS across its product portfolio by the end of 2025”.
Residents of Zwijndrecht, Antwerp and the surrounding area demonstrate with eggs to request the establishment of a parliamentary inquiry into PFOS pollution.

Pollutants known as “forever chemicals”, which don’t break down in the environment, build up in the body and may be toxic, have been found at high levels at thousands of sites across the UK and Europe, a major mapping project has revealed.

The map shows that per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), a family of about 10,000 chemicals valued for their non-stick and detergent properties, have made their way into water, soils and sediments from a wide range of consumer products, firefighting foams, waste and industrial processes.

Two PFAS have been linked to an array of health problems. PFOA has been connected with kidney and testicular cancer, thyroid disease, ulcerative colitis, high cholesterol and pregnancy-induced hypertension. PFOS has been associated with reproductive, developmental, liver, kidney, and thyroid disease. At lower levels PFAS have been associated with immunotoxicity.

The substances have been found at about 17,000 sites across the UK and Europe. Of these, PFAS have been detected at high concentrations of more than 1,000 nanograms a litre of water at about 640 sites, and above 10,000ng/l at 300 locations.

“These sorts of concentrations raise concerns with me,” said Prof Crispin Halsall, an environmental chemist at Lancaster University. “You have the risk of livestock gaining access to those waters and [then PFAS is] in the human food web.” Halsall says there are also risks involving people “accessing wildlife as food sources like fishing and wildfowl”.

The map shows that Belgium is home to the highest levels of pollution, where PFAS was found in groundwater at concentrations up to 73m ng/l around 3M’s PFAS manufacturing site in Zwijndrecht, Flanders.

People living within 15km (10 miles) of the site have been told not to eat any eggs laid in their gardens and to avoid homegrown vegetables. Meanwhile, 70,000 people living within a 5km (3 mile) radius of the plant have been offered a blood test to look for the presence of PFAS. 3M says it will remediate the site and has “signed an agreement with the Flemish region … with an investment amount of €571m” (£503m). It has also announced plans to exit PFAS manufacturing “and work to discontinue the use of PFAS across its product portfolio by the end of 2025”.
Residents of Zwijndrecht, Antwerp and the surrounding area demonstrate with eggs to request the establishment of a parliamentary inquiry into PFOS pollution.
Residents of Zwijndrecht, Antwerp and the surrounding area demonstrate with eggs to request the establishment of a parliamentary inquiry into PFOS pollution. Photograph: David Pintens/BELGA/AFP/Getty Images

In the Netherlands, an accident involving PFAS in firefighting foam has contaminated land around Schiphol airport in Amsterdam, resulting in soils containing extremely high levels of PFOS. Some airports and military sites in Germany have been found to have similar problems.

In the UK, the highest levels of PFAS were found in a discharge from a chemicals plant on the River Wyre, above Blackpool. Fish in the river have been found to contain high levels of PFAS, with flounder containing up to 11,000ng/kg, according to data from Defra’s Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science.

Prof Ian Cousins, an environmental scientist at Stockholm University, said that sites with readings above 1,000ng/kg should be “urgently assessed” so that they can be remediated.

“At [highly] contaminated sites, local authorities should consider testing to ensure that PFAS levels are safe in local produce. This would help determine if local health advisories and publication campaigns to discourage regular consumption of wild fish, shellfish, free range eggs … are needed,” he added.

Halsall said: “PFAS in groundwater is a big problem because if that groundwater is abstracted for farming, or more importantly for humans as a water source, then you’ve got PFAS in your drinking water and it’s very difficult to remove.”

The map shows that drinking water sources in the UK have been contaminated with PFAS but water companies say that the chemicals do not make it into the final tap water because it would first either be blended with another source to dilute the PFAS, or it would undergo a specialised treatment process and be removed.

Data obtained from water companies and the Environment Agency by the Guardian and Watershed shows that since 2006 about 120 samples of drinking water sources have been found to contain concentrations of PFOS or PFOA at above the 100ng/l level – the point at which the Drinking Water Inspectorate’s (DWI) guidelines state that water companies should take action to reduce it before supplying it to people’s homes. Until 2009, the DWI guideline limit was much higher, at 3,000ng/l.

The guideline limits for PFAS in drinking water are much lower in the US, where the Environmental Protection Agency has set a health advisory limit of 0.004ng/l for PFOA and 0.02ng/l for PFOS. In Denmark, the Environmental Protection Agency stipulates that drinking water must not contain more than 2ng/l for the sum of four PFASs.

Drinking water limits for PFAS continue to be brought down in response to growing evidence about their health impacts, according to Rita Loch-Caruso, a professor of toxicology at the University of Michigan. “We’re finding health effects at lower and lower concentrations – in the single digits,” she said.
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Chemist and PFAS expert Roger Klein said he believes the UK’s “DWI limits are ridiculously high by current international standards”.

He also believes the practice of blending water to dilute the PFAS is wrong. “It is the lazy way out and it doesn’t remove the PFAS, which remains a problem since [they are] highly persistent and bioaccumulative.”

A Defra spokesperson said the UK had “very high standards” for drinking water and that water companies were “required to carry out regular risk assessments and sampling for PFAS to ensure the drinking water supply remains safe.

“PFAS chemicals are in the environment because they have been used widely in products and are extremely persistent. Since the 2000s we have taken action to increase monitoring and support a ban or highly restricting specific PFAS both domestically and internationally,” they said, adding that the department would continue to work with regulators to understand the risks.

Despite the large number of detections revealed by the map, it is thought to be the tip of the iceberg. The Environment Agency has admitted that PFOS – known to be toxic to fish and other aquatic life – is ubiquitous in the environment and that the presence of PFOS in rivers will mean that many will not meet water quality standards until 2039.

In the UK just PFOS and PFOA are regulated. In the EU, there is a proposal to regulate PFASs as one class, rather than to attempt to deal with each substance independently. The European Chemicals Agency says that about 4.4m tonnes of PFAS will end up in the environment over the next 30 years unless action is taken.

The Fluoropolymers Product Group (FPG) opposes the EU’s moves to treat all PFAS as one class, instead advocating differentiating between fluoropolymers and other PFAS groups, and considering the different risk profiles and uses of each group separately. “While the FPG understands the concerns related to the potential persistency of most of PFAS, we consider that this concern for the environment can be managed through alternative restrictions rather than a ban,” said Nicolas Robin, director of the FPG.

“[PFAS pollution] is similar to plastic pollution in that these chemicals are not degradable, [but] in the case of PFAS it is invisible,” said Cousins. “We continuously release them, so the levels in the environment will continue to increase and it’s only a matter of time before the levels of PFAS in the environment or in our bodies pass the threshold where there will be an effect on human health,” he said.

The mapping project, the first of its kind for Europe, is a collaboration between the Guardian, Watershed Investigations, Le Monde (France), NDR, WDR, Süddeutsche Zeitung (Germany), RADAR Magazine and Le Scienze (Italy), The Investigative Desk and NRC (Netherlands), Journalismfund.eu and Investigative Journalism for Europe.

Some areas may appear on the map to have worse pollution problems than others but this could be a result of that region having a more rigorous monitoring regime in place, or being more willing to share data. For water concentrations, 1 ng/l is equivalent to 1ng/kg. Every effort has been made to ensure that the data, collected from a wide range of sources across the UK and Europe, is correct.
Topics
---------------------

Anmerkung in eigener Sache:
Be aware  of Süddeutsche Zeitung: In Deutschland  merken sie nichts...in Germany they don´t  see anything...
Source: TheGuardian.com:
Brockley residents raise £100,000 to save patch of ancient London woodland

Gorne Wood is a rare surviving fragment of an old forest and provides habitat for wildlife such as slow worms and endangered hedgehogs
Gorne Wood is home to gnarly oaks, field maples and even elms.
Gorne Wood is home to gnarly oaks, field maples and even elms. Photograph: Daniel Saunders  (Fotos hier nicht sichtbar, Anmerkung.)

Damien Gayle

Sat 28 Jan 2023 11.00 GMT
Last modified on Sat 28 Jan 2023 11.21 GMT

Schools had cake sales and staged protests, supporters did sponsored bike rides and walks, musicians held fundraising concerts, and a theatre group wove the story into a performance piece. Children even sent in their pocket money.

And on Friday, they saw the results when the residents of Brockley, south-east London, proudly announced they had won a race against time to raise the £100,000 to buy Gorne Wood, the closest surviving patch of ancient woodland to the City of London, from developers.

Tucked between a row of back gardens and the railway line to London Bridge, the three-acre wood is a rare surviving fragment of the Great North Wood, a forest that once spanned the highground between Deptford and Selhurst.
Many animals live in Gorne Wood, including sparrow hawks, owls and woodpeckers.
Many animals live in Gorne Wood, including sparrow hawks, owls and woodpeckers. Photograph: Daniel Saunders

Over hundreds of years, gnarly oaks, field maples and even elms have grown there, providing a sheltered habitat for slow worms and endangered hedgehogs, and nesting sites for sparrowhawks, owls and woodpeckers.

The land was declared a public park 100 years ago to thank Brockley scouts for patrolling nearby railway bridges during the first world war. But in the 1980s it was sold by railway administrators, and in 2004 the scouts were evicted from their hut.

Neglected, the site fell into disrepair, attracting flytippers, hard drug users, runaways and sex workers. Fears for its future were such that the Campaign to Protect Rural England named it on its top 10 green spaces in London that needed rescuing.

In 2021, community campaigners led by the Fourth Reserve Foundation, which manages a nature reserve backing on to the same section of railway track, launched a campaign to raise the money to buy the land.

They had to move fast, however, as its designation as an asset of community value only had months left before it was due to expire and the site was potentially lost to the community for ever.
In 2020, the community successfully applied for it to be designated ‘ancient woodland’.
In 2020, the community successfully applied for it to be designated ‘ancient woodland’. Photograph: Daniel Saunders

Anna-Maria Cahalane, who lives close by, had first begun looking at the site with her neighbours in 2017, after they noticed damage at its edges was getting worse. They contacted the landowner. “We basically got told it was none of our business,” she said. “And that triggered a lot of concerns about the land itself.”

As they researched the wood, they discovered it was a metropolitan site of importance for nature conservation, and they commissioned ecological surveys to establish its value.

After an application to the council, Gorne Wood was designated as an asset of community value, preventing its owner from selling it on without giving the community first dibs.

Then, in 2020, the community successfully applied for it to be designated as “ancient woodland”, meaning it has been continuously wooded for 400 years.

“We were able to look at the maps from 1600 onwards to see how the area had developed in terms of housing, but how this little patch of the Great North Wood, the trees on it, remained all the way through,” Cahalane said.



“Even through the bombings of the second world war, when the scout hut was bombed and all the houses were bombed, the trees survived. The more we learned about the site, the more special it became.”
The community launched a campaign to raise the money to buy Gorne Wood after Lewisham council said it couldn’t afford to buy it.
The community launched a campaign to raise the money to buy Gorne Wood after Lewisham council said it couldn’t afford to buy it. Photograph: Daniel Saunders

The additional designations made it ever harder for the owner to develop the land. But when the community approached Lewisham council to ask if it would buy the land, the council said it could not afford it. Meanwhile, the clock was ticking on its asset of community value designation, which expire after just five years.

So the community launched a campaign to raise the money to buy Gorne Wood themselves. Under the terms of its original designation, they had until the end of this month to raise the cash. As of Friday, they had raised £114,000, Calahane said.
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The struggle is not quite over, however. Lewisham council has agreed to make the CPO on the community’s behalf, but the process is complex and could take up to two years. Until then, the people of Brockley may have to watch Gorne Wood continue to be used as a dumping ground. On 31 January, the owner of the site is appealing against a council order to clean it up and make it safe.

“It shouldn’t be allowed to happen,” Calahane said. “The process should be much, much easier for councils, and for communities, to bring land back into community hands where it can be looked after. It’s a climate emergency. And it’s crazy that these situations should still be here.”
Topics

    Access to green space

    London
    Trees and forests
    Green space
    news

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