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The killer slug, suffocating lobster, globe trotting televisions and dangerous air particles are just some of the topics featured in EEA Signals 2009, a new annual publication from the European Environment Agency, launched in Prague by Czech Environment Minister Bursík and Executive Director of the EEA, Professor Jacqueline McGlade.
The EEA, in partnership with its network of 32 member countries, monitors the environment across Europe. Finding, reading and understanding the range of 'signals' regarding the health and diversity of our environment is at the heart of what the Agency does. EEA Signals 2009, which will be published in all 26 EEA languages, takes a story-based approach to provide a snapshot of key environmental topics of special relevance to the year ahead. "2009 offers a remarkable opportunity to engage the global community and to begin to deal with the environmental challenge proper. We need to move carefully but quickly. The scale of the challenge should neither paralyse us into inaction nor stifle valuable debate. In this context, I welcome the EEA Signals, which is aimed at the broad range of European citizens," says Bursik. The stories in EEA Signals are not exhaustive but have been selected on the basis of their relevance to the current environmental policy debate in Europe. They address priority issues of climate change, nature and biodiversity, the use of natural resources and health and the environment. "As our need to mitigate and adapt to climate change becomes more urgent, so our need to communicate effectively with a wide audience also increases in importance. Before we can motivate people to take action, we need to engage and empower them, and their governments, to act," says McGlade.
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