Reports: Europe

Promoters of modern drilling and fracking celebrate the industry’s newfound ability to extract oil and natural gas from shale and other tight rock formations, calling it an energy “revolution,” a “paradigm-shifter,” a “rebirth” and a “game changer.” One recent report claims that North America might soon become “the new Middle East,” a net exporter of oil and natural gas. In April 2012, ConocoPhillips’s CEO at the time called shale gas a “blessing.” But for whom is it really a blessing?

Europe Report: By supporting factory fish farming, the soy industry could not only help to expand an industry that degrades marine environments, threatens wild fish populations and damages coastal communities, it could also extend its own negative impacts. Already, industrial soy production has led to the prevalence of genetically modified crops on U .S. farmland and in consumer food-products, caused massive defor­estation in South America and displaced indigenous communities living in areas now used to grow soy.

Europe Report: Within the past decade, technological advances in horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” have enabled the oil and gas industry to extract large quantities of oil and natural gas from shale formations in the United States. However, the practice has proven controversial. Pollution from modern drilling and fracking has caused wide­spread environmental and public health problems and created serious, long-term risks to under­ground water resources.

In this report, Food & Water Europe reviews the risks and costs of shale development that have been demonstrated in the United States, including eco­nomic costs that run counter to industry-backed claims about the economic benefits of the practice.

Europe Report: Clean drinking water and wastewater treatment are basic services that societies and governments provide. Water is a necessity for life, and safe water and sanitation are crucial for public health. In July 2010, the United Nations declared access to clean water and sanitation to be a human right. But recognizing the human right to water does not explain how to deliver this right to households. Even with this commitment to enhance water delivery and safety, an estimated 884 million people worldwide lack access to safe water, and 2.6 billion lack access to improved sanitation.

Report (Europe): This report revisits the four U.S. taxpayer-supported factory fish farming experiments — in Hawaii, New Hampshire and Puerto Rico — that are described in Food & Water Watch’s previous reports, Seas of Doubt and the first edition of Fishy Farms. Because all of these research and demonstration projects have previously received government funding to advance the industry, we have traced the operations’ histories for lessons that can be drawn about the feasibility of ocean
fish farming.

This report proposes that in order to provide consumers with much-needed, unbiased and well-regulated information, the European Commission must develop and enforce strict criteria for interpreting the FAO guidelines on aquaculture and fisheries certification. Until that time, consumers can use our guidelines and recommendations for safer and more sus- tainable seafood choices at the end of this report.

Veolia’s corporate profits plummeted in 2008 and remained languid through 2010. In the water division, the company has suffered major losses from municipalizations and has struggled to obtain new long-term privatizations. Despite its disappointing performance, the company continued many of the same strategies in 2011 that it had used over the preceding five years. It sought long-term, complex contracts to control entire municipal water and sewer systems. Such arrangements, however, seem to be increasingly rare for the company. For Veolia, complex deals were appealing because they involved less competition. The company and several of its peers have come under the scrutiny of anti-trust regulators in the European Union. Veolia has focused half of its new growth investments in Europe, particularly Eastern Europe, where it has the financial backing of multilateral lending institutions.

Veolia Environnement est la plus grande entreprise de services d’eau au monde. Depuis son siège social à Paris, Veo- lia opère sous de nombreux noms, dans des dizaines de pays et à travers des centaines de filiales. Mais en dépit de sa présence internationale, le cœur de ses activités reste en France.