tr_imparator
02-08-06, 16:41
Oil slick and environmental consequences of conflict in the Middle East
While our immediate concern and sympathy lies with the injured, the displaced and the families of the victims of this conflict, long term environmental damage is an inevitable consequence of war.
Greenpeace is calling for an immediate cease fire and an end to the violence and environmental destruction. We also call for efforts to establish long lasting regional stability and peace.
This would also allow urgent and needed humanitarian aid to reach all parts of Lebanon, and for the UN Environment Programme, the World Health Organization and others to begin assessing the environmental damage caused by the bombing.
In the case of the heavy oil flowing into the sea from the bombed storage tanks at the Jiyyeh power station, 30 km south of Beirut, the most important priority is to prevent any further leakage and destruction and which could potentially spread to the entire east Mediterranean coastline.
View a map of the current oil pollution on 1 August 2006.
In the short term the Lebanese authorities are in urgent need of assistance to stem and control the flow of the oil onto its beaches and into its fishing grounds.
In the longer term it could take between 6 and 12 months to clean up the oil from some 100 km of Lebanon's coastline.
The spill is especially threatening since fish spawn and sea turtles nest on Lebanon's coast, including the green turtle which is endangered in the Mediterranean.
Greenpeace urges the international community to work to bring an immediate end to the human suffering and the environmental destruction.
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/assets/graphics/lebanon-oil-spill
While our immediate concern and sympathy lies with the injured, the displaced and the families of the victims of this conflict, long term environmental damage is an inevitable consequence of war.
Greenpeace is calling for an immediate cease fire and an end to the violence and environmental destruction. We also call for efforts to establish long lasting regional stability and peace.
This would also allow urgent and needed humanitarian aid to reach all parts of Lebanon, and for the UN Environment Programme, the World Health Organization and others to begin assessing the environmental damage caused by the bombing.
In the case of the heavy oil flowing into the sea from the bombed storage tanks at the Jiyyeh power station, 30 km south of Beirut, the most important priority is to prevent any further leakage and destruction and which could potentially spread to the entire east Mediterranean coastline.
View a map of the current oil pollution on 1 August 2006.
In the short term the Lebanese authorities are in urgent need of assistance to stem and control the flow of the oil onto its beaches and into its fishing grounds.
In the longer term it could take between 6 and 12 months to clean up the oil from some 100 km of Lebanon's coastline.
The spill is especially threatening since fish spawn and sea turtles nest on Lebanon's coast, including the green turtle which is endangered in the Mediterranean.
Greenpeace urges the international community to work to bring an immediate end to the human suffering and the environmental destruction.
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/assets/graphics/lebanon-oil-spill