Horizons

Sites for sore eyes: "The management of World Heritage Sites is the basic problem nowadays and how the priorities of conservation can relate to development," said Dr Jukka Jokilehto, the world heritage adviser to the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), this week. The Finnish-born conservation expert was giving the seventh annual Maura Shaffrey Memorial Lecture on architectural conservation in the Coach House in Dublin Castle.

"We are in a difficult period now because the economic structures of society are changing and the legal framework for conservation is not capable of dealing with the new challenges. We have to get a new instrument which will monitor the situation and strike a balance between development and conservation," Dr Jokilehto told The Irish Times. The annual lecture, which is organised by the Irish committee of ICOMOS, commemorates the eminent Irish conservation architect, Maura Shaffrey, who died in 1997.

Wildlife in schools

The Irish Wildlife Trust is currently promoting its environmental education programme for primary schools. The non-profit nature conservation organisation offers school groups courses in subjects such as woodland ecology, water pollution, wildlife gardening and aquatic investigations.

These one-day courses, which run from 9am to 12.30pm can be held in the classroom, in the school grounds or at a local area of interest, at a cost of €10 per child. For more information, contact the Irish Wildlife Trust at 01-8602839, e-mail enquiries@iwt.ie. See also www.iwt.ie.

Progressing to disaster?

"We have an environmental crisis because we have a crisis of culture and values," says Paula Downey, a business and political consultant whose aim is to stimulate debate in order to resolve these "crises". Downey and her business partner, David Youell, have just started a new forum to give working people an opportunity to discuss what she calls "our social, cultural and ecological decline in parallel with apparent progress". This forum is called Q5 - a new dialogue at work. The Downey Youell partnership also has a special interest in the role of vision, values and leadership in shaping organisations and society. Visit www.dya.ie.

A catalyst to better health

Researchers at Cardiff University in Wales have discovered a new catalyst that can be used instead of heavy-metal catalysts in the production of perfumes and cosmetics. It is made from gold nanoparticles, and is deemed preferable to manganese or chromium compounds, which create toxic waste. At a time when consumers are becoming increasingly aware of the possible carcinogenic properties of some common toiletries, environmentalists hope this research finding will lead to new efforts to make scents less toxic both for the user and for the environment. See also Nature, volume 437, page 1,132.