WEEK 53 Dec 18th to 24th 2000

   MAJOR PARTS OF EUROPE ERODED

   One third of the total area of possible and used agriculture soil in Europe is eroded or is threatened by erosion, a report from the UN organization UNEP is flatly stating. In major parts of Southern and Eastern Europe, around the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, the soil is so damaged that it's unfit for cultivation. Population increase, global warming, pollution and acid rain are the most important reasons for this.
   Both the breadbaskets of the Ukraine and in the American Midwest are under "attack" by the human way of life at the start of the 21. Century.