Department of Economics − News
News & Highlights
Reducing micro-pollutants in water: How to finance?
Pharmaceutical residues from domestic dwellings, hospitals and agriculture are contaminating our water. The introduction of a strategy to handle micro-pollutants aims to solve this problem in Germany in the future. However, the issue of how this is to be financed has to be addressed. One option would be the introduction of a payment scheme for the use of pharmaceutical products that pose a risk to water sources and supplies. For this reason, a mechanism for charging for pharmaceutical products, which takes into account both the legal and economic issues, has been discussed in greater detail in a scientific report produced by UFZ researchers for the Federal Environmental Agency in Germany.
Point of view
Germany needs a pesticide charge
The application of pesticides doesn’t only show the results desired, it also includes numerous risks for the environment and human health. While the sale of pesticides has risen in the past years in Germany, biodiversity in agricultural landscapes has been declining dramatically. Pesticides impair biodiversity, accumulate in the soil, can partly be detected in food and drinking water and may have hormonal or cell damaging effects in our bodies. In Germany, 90 % of all surface waters don’t show the „good condition“ specified by the EU, due also to a pesticide use which is to high. Therefore, measures are needed. In his article Prof. E. Gawel supports a pesticide charge:
Research
Social network for scientific exchange presented
In the context of the BMBF campaign "Research in Germany − Land of Ideas, Building the City of tomorrow", Dr. Stephan Bartke participated in mayor conferences and stakeholder meetings in Malaysia and the USA in early October 2017, including the Smart Cities Asia 2017 and the Smart Cities Week. He presented the campaign and the UFZ-coordinated social network project DE-US.net in two interviews with Astro Awani TV and CBS/TechRepublic.
Interview with Astro Awani TV