COLCIENCIAS, created in 1968, is the Colombian governmental institution responsible for providing orientation and strategic financial support to scientific, education, and technology innovation projects in Colombia (Tropical South America). COLCIENCIAS now sponsors eleven scientific programs, one of them being the Environment and Habitat Sciences National Program (EHSNP), created in 1991.
In response to eco-regional needs and in close agreement with the Colombian National Environmental Plan, the EHSNP has defined, as its 1999-2004 Strategic Plan, The Environmetrics Research and Education Project (EREP) for Colombia. The main objective of the EREP is to contribute to solve environmental degradation problems in Colombian agroecosystems, by testing, quantifying and disseminating the beneficial environmental impact of conservationist agricultural and agro-industrial technologies. Conservationist technologies include: sustainable agricultural production systems such as crop-tree-pasture associations, organic agriculture, IPM methods, non-chemical alternatives to pesticides use, sustainable use of native biodiversity, sustainable use of forests and forest residues, sustainable use of farm residues, among others. Financial support is offered by COLCIENCIAS to research/education proposals within six priority areas: (1) Water- Biodiversity-Forests in strategic water ecosystems, (2) Recovery of degraded hillsides in the Andean Region, (3) Sustainable use of native biodiversity, (4) Clean food production, (5) Habitat improvement, and (6) Environmental ethics and values. Environmental Education Programs are being designed around each priority area.
In the initial phase (1999-2000) the EREP consisted of a set of 15 selected proposals within the six stated priority areas. Each proposal represents a Model Case Study illustrating the beneficial environmental impact of specific agricultural or agro-industrial technologies, that is, their beneficial effect on water, soil, plant and animal biodiversity, agroecosystem balance, and life quality (human health and socio-economic impact). At the end of the research phase, each Case Study will produce a set of research-specific pre and post-project Environmental Impact Indicators. Each Case Study will document research and/or education solutions towards the conservation and improvement of Colombian agroecosystems. This effort is expected to develop a multi-country Program linked with the Global Forum for Agricultural and Environmental Research (GFAR, based in FAO, Rome).

MARIA CRISTINA AMEZQUITA
Environment and Habitat Sciences National Program
COLCIENCIAS
Transversal 9A # 133-28
Bogota, Colombia ( South America)
mcamezq@colciencias.gov.co,
m.amezquita@cgiar.org
 
 

Within Canada, the federal government has estimated that $2 Billion will be needed to remediate the 5,000 federal contaminated sites which exist in Canada.  A proposed  amendment to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act will soon require that all remediation efforts for federal contaminated sites undergo an environmental assessment.  Health impact assessment is an integral part of any environmental assessment.
This presentation will outline the ongoing research activities being carried out by the Canadian federal government in the clean-up of the Sydney Tar Ponds.  The Sydney Tar Ponds is a site containing 700,000 tonnes of soil contaminated with polycyclic aromatic  hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), solvents, and various heavy metals, the result of pollution from steel-making since the turn of the century.  The Tar Ponds are located within the city of Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada, which has a population of 26,000 living within a 4 kilometre radius of the Tar Ponds, the majority of them being less than 1.5 kilometres from the site.
A five year mortality study conducted by Health Canada in 1985 showed an overall excess in the area for several causes of death, including cancer, cardiovascular disease and respiratory disease.  This study resulted in the press wrongly labeling Sydney as the "Cancer Capital of Canada".  There since has been a strong perception in Sydney that the high cancer rates were directly related to environmental problems. As initial clean-up activities were undertaken by the federal, provincial and municipal governments, the community sought further epidemiological research to seek more precise answers to the following specific health questions:

A)   Are the incidences and morality rates of diseases (cancer and non-cancer) in Sydney higher than
 provincial and national rates ?

B) Which risk factors influence the mortality ratios observed ?

PAHs have been shown to be potent carcinogens and their presence in the environment could contribute to the elevated cancer rates.  However, other potential causes of elevated cancer include lifestyle factors/determinants of health.  Results will be presented of a recently completed study in Sydney of 118 major causes of death among males and females for the years 1951 to 1994 inclusive.  As well, details of a comprehensive  research plan to address causality which includes a proposal to develop a GIS database platform for health/environment data to attempt to answer the question of environmental association with health outcomes, will be provided.

ROY  KWIATKOWSKI
Health Canada
Canadian Federal Government
1904C, Health Canada Tunney's Pasture
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0K9, Canada
roy_kwiatkowski@hc-sc.gc.ca
 
 

Regions grow and decline over time. Their progress depends on their attractiveness or in other words on their ability to draw business units and the right blend of people to run them. This ability may be expressed as a variable which is referred to as the basic Image of the region and it is a function of a multitude of factors economic, social and environmental. The value of a region's Basic Image lies in the interval [-l,+1]. Positive Basic Image indicates an attractive region while negative Basic Image a repulsive one. The objective of this paper is to present certain Survival Analysis techniques and examine their potential use for the study of region's Basic Image.
Regions are considered as «patients» whose «health» status is given by the values of their Basic Image. Treatment is defined as the set of actions taken, by the central or the local authorities, to improve a region's Basic Image. Those actions include a number of financial incentives such as grants, tax reliefs, subsidised loans etc. A region is considered as a survivor as long as its Basic Image follows an increasing trend or at least remains constant. A change in trend  direction from increasing to decreasing indicates the failure (death) of this region.
The paper consists of two parts. The first part covers the main theoretical aspects of the subject. The second part is an application of the findings to the 51 counties of Greece.

CATERINA DIMAKI
Department of Statistics
Athens University of Economics and Business
76 Patission Str.
Athens, GR-10434, Greece
dimaki@aueb.gr