The International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) and the United Nations University Press announce publication of Old Sins-Industrial Metabolism, Heavy Metal Pollution, and Environmental Transition in Central Europe. The book is based on the work of two IIASA projects concentrating on environmental development in two heavily polluted regions in Central Europe: The Rhine Basin and the Black Triangle-Upper Silesia (BTUS) region. The authors map the accumulative effects of industrial development over the past 40 years, and show changes in scales and patterns of pollution. Both regions have experienced heavy industry, coal mining and use, and severe environmental pollution problems. Current development in the BTUS region is similar to what occurred in the Rhine Basin between 1960-1980, when industrial emissions decreased significantly.
Historical studies of heavy metal (cadmium, lead and zinc) pollution flows are used for illustration of how spatial patterns of emissions and deposition have changed over time, and how heavy metals may accumulate in the soils posing a potential risk to agricultural food production. Studies of the social, economic and political development in the two regions - in combination with pollution flows and scenario studies - form the basis for a more general analysis of the problems related to the future development of the environment in Central Europe.
This book is ideal for researchers, students or the general public interested in enhancing their understanding of environmental development in Central Europe and of the unique geographic considerations of allocating resources to solve environmental problems in the region.
The authors are Stefan Anderberg, Institute of Geography, University of Copenhagen, and a member of IIASA's Swedish Committee, Sylvia Prieler, IIASA, Krzysztof Olendrzynski, Norwegian Meteorological Institute, and Sander de Bruyn, Free University, Amsterdam.
To order Old Sins (ISBN# 92-808-1049-9), available in paperback for $19.95, please see the U.N. University Press website at http://www.unu.edu. For further information on IIASA and its current projects, please see http://www.iiasa.ac.at.
IIASA is an independent, non-governmental, interdisciplinary research institution, which specializes in natural and social scientific research methods and models valued by policy makers, the scientific community and the public worldwide. IIASA is an international institution, with sponsoring member organizations in 15 countries.