Slovenian Webclassroom. Environment

Environment

Topic Outline

With almost half the country forested, Slovenia is one of the greenest countries of the world. Many environmental problems have developed from industrialisation and urbanisation of this century. Strategies for environmental protection have been identified and defined on a national level. The Environmental Protection Act (1993) covers all the important fields of the environment and environmental activities. The following main objectives are incorporated in the constitution and the legislative level: the preservation, protection, and improvement of the quality of the environment, protection of public health, and rational use of natural resources. A range of state bodies have been established to deal with the complex of issues. The Ministry of the Environment and Regional Planning, the Environmental Protection Council (1994), and many other agencies are involved in environmental legislation, research and management. Major areas of concern are: industrial pollution, emissions caused by traffic, waste disposal, management of waste water, pollution of the majority of surface water, intensive agriculture. Effort in using cleaner fuels has reduced air and water pollution. The National Programme of Environment Protection (2000) has been set up to improve the environment in Slovenia. It is particularly aimed at: supporting the guidelines for accession to the EU, protecting the Karst region, landscape and biological diversity. Already 8% of Slovene territory is dedicated as national and regional parkland, as required by law; the further goal of up to 30% of all land has been set. The topic Web resources include the government's national programmes and activities of many of associated bodies which provide the means to manage the all-important protection of our environment, the source of our existence.

Topic	Environment
Text -types	Activities: Environmental Issues	Linguistic elements
index	Activity 1: *create an index of ministries, institutes, bodies concerned with the environment in Slovenia for a publication on the environment in Slovenia http://www.environmentslo.com/important addresses.html (eng/slo) ) http://www.matkurja.com/slo/search?keys=environment&x=18&y=9 (eng/slo)	adjectives-declensionse
email report lecture	Activity 2: send an email in response to an enquiry about one environmental body select one environmental body from the list or from the Slovenian search engine Matkurja and write a summary about its functions and activities http://www.environmentslo.com/important%20addresses.html (eng/slo) http://www.matkurja.com/slo/search?keys=environment&x=18&y=9 (eng/slo) http://www.ljudmila.org/sef/gframeeng.htm (eng/slo) Activity 3: write a report on The Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning include details of its: structure, activities, information and news provided at http://www.sigov.si/cgi-bin/wpl/mop/vsebina/angl/index.htm (eng/slo) or the Environmental Development Fund of RS in the report include details about the body: objectives, activities, programs, partnerships http://www.ekosklad.si/ (eng/slo) or a non-government environment organisation Slovenian E-Forum, Society for Energy Economics and Environment http://www.ljudmila.org/sef/gframeeng.htm (eng/slo) Activity 4:* give a lecture to the class on problems of the environment include points on: accession to the EU, assessment of conditions, program to 2008 http://www.uvi.si/eng/new/background-information/environment/ (eng) http://www.useuroenvirofoundation.org/slovenia.htm (eng) http://biz.yahoo.com/ifc/si/ (eng) http://www.sigov.si/cgi-bin/wpl/mop/vsebina/angl/index.htm (eng/slo)	numerals-declension prepositions-spatial conjunctions-coordinating verbs- future tense
radio talk	Activity 5: prepare a radio talk on the range of information on the Internet about environment policy, implementation and management in Slovenia research from list of websites http://www.environmentslo.com/important addresses.html (eng/slo) http://www.matkurja.com/slo/search?keys=environment&x=18&y=9 (eng/slo) Strategies	adjectives- definite/i ndefinite
radio talk video script	Activity 6:: *write a radio talk based on one report from the series on Nature and the Environment and include the views and solutions in the report http://www.sigov.si/svo/innovo_e.htm (eng/slo)	conjunctions-coordinating verbs-reflexive
radio talk video script	Activity 7: write a video script for a video on the environment in Slovenia about strategies used by the government to heighten public awareness of environment protection include details of websites, publication of reports, articles, production of booklets for schools http://www.sigov.si/svo/innovo_e.htm (eng/slo)	conjunctions-coordinating verbs-reflexive
script television programme magazine article	Activity 8: write a script for a segment of a programme on the environment in Slovenia, focussing on one environmental topic select from the following topics or from research on the web search engines such as www.google.com www.matkurja.com (eng/slo) Series on issues of the Environment: Nature and Environment, Water-waters, Towns and Urbanisation, Health and the Environment http://www.sigov.si/svo/innovo_e.htm (eng/slo) Organic Farming in Slovenia and agri-environmental policies http://weekly.vitrum.si/2001/stari%20sw/secret/sw99-41/weekly99-41-8.htm (eng) http://www.organic-europe.net/country_reports/slovenia/ (eng) http://www.fvm.dk/kundeupload/konferencer/organic_food_farming/ (eng) Slovenia and European Union accession environmental policies http://www.uvi.si/eng/new/background-information/environment/ (eng/slo) Saving Energy Use in Slovenia http://www.mgd.si/AURE/AURE_ENG/aure_eng.htm#Info (eng/slo) Activity 9: write a magazine article about this website which is focussed on Slovenia's accession to the European Union and the information it provides on the environment http://evropa.gov.si/ (slo) http://evropa.gov.si/publikacije/zgibanke/okolje/ (slo) Resources* Websites http://www.ekosklad.si/ (eng/slo) http://evropa.gov.si/ (slo) http://www.fvm.dk/kundeupload/konferencer/organic_food_farming/ (eng) http://www.ljudmila.org/sef/ (slo) http://www.mgd.si/AURE/AURE_ENG/aure_eng.htm#Info (eng/slo) http://www.organic-europe.net/country_reports/slovenia/ (eng) http://www.sigov.si/svo/innovo_e.htm (eng/slo) http://www.useuroenvirofoundation.org/slovenia.htm (eng) http://www.uvi.si/eng/new/background-information/environment/ (eng/slo) http://weekly.vitrum.si/2001/stari%20sw/secret/sw99-41/weekly99-41-8.htm (eng)	adverbs-time, place verbs-past participle adverbs-manner -