2. NINTH MEETING OF THE WORKING GROUP OF THE PARTIES TO THE AARHUS CONVENTION

The ninth meeting of the Working Group of the Parties to the Convention was held in Geneva from 13 to 15 February 2008 and was attended by the following environmental NGOs within the framework of the European ECO Forum: Earthjustice, the European Environmental Bureau, Women in Europe for a Common Future (Germany), Friends of the Earth (England, Wales and Northern Ireland), Friends of the Earth France, An Taisce (Ireland), Independent Ecological Expertise (Kyrgyzstan), Biosfera – Centre for Education, Environment and Nature Protection (FYR Macedonia), Environment-People-Law (Ukraine), the Resource and Analysis Center “Society and Environment” (Ukraine) , and the NGO Union for Defence of the Aral Sea and Amudarya (Uzbekistan).

The meeting started with the nomination of the new chair of the Working Group. Ms. Mona Aarhus (Norway) was nominated by the Government of Norway to replace Ms. Hanne Bjurstrøm (Norway) as its representative on the Bureau to the Meeting of the Parties and the Bureau had then elected her to serve as Chair.

As this was one of the last Working group meetings before the Third meeting of the Parties to the Aarhus Convention many decisions had to be taken. However,  not all draft decisions prepared by the Secretariat and the Bureau of the Aarhus Convention got adopted by the Working Group and as such will be discussed further at the last Working Group meeting in Riga, 8 to 10 June 2008. Long Term Strategic Plan (LTSP) for the Convention and proposed Task Force on Public Participation met a severe resistance and objections from the EU.  Arguments made by the civil society organizations (European ECO Forum) and some of the Parties to the Convention of the need to have a continued and systematic work on the second pillar of the Convention on Public Participation were not taken into account and thus the draft decision prepared by the Bureau on a new task force was not adopted by the Working Group. However, environmental organizations will continue to work on this issue and are looking further for Ministers in Riga to decide otherwise. As far as LTSP is concerned, the EU is not in favour to see any further development of the Convention but stick only to the implementation, thus turning the strategic vision into an action or implementation plan. Discussion on this issue will continue at the last WGP-10 in Riga.

The WGP-9 was informed about the state of affairs with the ratifications of the Convention, Almaty Amendment on GMOs and PRTR Protocol. For the Convention itself there are no new ratifications since the previous meeting of the WG last October. One new ratification of the Protocol on PRTRs is by the Netherlands , bringing the number of ratifications of the Protocol to six. An additional six countries, namely Finland, Latvia, Sweden, Slovenia, Spain and Norway, expected to ratify the Protocol during 2008. As far as the GMO amendment is concerned, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Moldova and the European Community had ratified the amendment, bringing the number of ratifications to eight. Sweden had completed the ratification process for the amendment at domestic level and was on the point of depositing its instrument of ratification. Finland, Norway, Slovenia and Spain intended to deposit their instruments of ratification before the third meeting of the Parties, and Belgium, Latvia and Malta informed the meeting that they planned to ratify the amendment at some point during 2008.

Participants of the WGP-9 were also informed about the status of preparations for the Third meeting of the Parties to the Convention in Riga, 11 to 13 June 2008.  The secretariat reported on the plans to launch the invitation and registration process for the third meeting of the Parties, as well as the application process for side events, in the coming weeks.   The Working Group agreed on the general outline of the agenda and mandated the Bureau to further develop the programme for the high level segment, including lists of speakers. Any additional comments had to be submitted to the secretariat by 22 February 2008.

The Chair presented a first draft of the “Riga Declaration”, prepared by the Bureau. The European ECO Forum and REC CEE welcomed the draft as a good starting point for discussion. But they also mentioned that there is a need for more emphasis to be given to specific ways to ensure public participation in strategic decision-making, including in legislative processes.  The Working Group agreed to have a written commenting process for the draft declaration and invited delegations to submit comments to the secretariat by 7 March 2008. And it mandated the Bureau to prepare a new draft, taking into account the comments received as well as the discussion within the meeting. The new text would then be submitted for discussion at the third meeting of the Parties.

Further, the WGP-9 had discussions about the GMO Amendment and conditions for its entering into force as well as the upcoming workshop on genetically modified organisms. A n international workshop on access to information, public participation and access to justice in the field of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) is scheduled to take place in Cologne, Germany on 19-20 May 2008 with the financial support of the Netherlands. The meeting will take place immediately after the fourth Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol (COP/MOP4) which is planned to be held in Bonn, Germany on 12-16 May 2008.

Other issues discussed at the meeting were on the Public Participation in International Forums and Access to Justice. The meeting supported the extension of the Task Force on access to Justice to carry out further work on sharing of information, experiences and good practices. The European ECO Forum drew the attention of the Parties to various barriers to access to justice such as a lack of cost provisions and of available legal counsellors and suggested to look beyond National Implementation Reports, by considering reports by NGOs and other groups. It defended the proposal to establish an Aarhus Justice Fund and indicated that it would prefer to see a working group on access to justice. However, no Parties supported the reference to an Aarhus Justice Fund, the Working Group agreed to delete this reference.

The Working Group of the Parties also discussed a draft decision on electronic information tools, prepared by the Bureau and supported the renewal of the mandate of the Task Force.

Furthermore, the secretariat reported on the status of submission of national implementation reports. By the time of the Working Group meeting 26 national implementation reports in one or more of the required languages had been received. Additionally, two national implementation reports were received during the meeting. There is still a hope that all remaining Parties (15) will send their implementation reports as had been the case at the time of the second meeting of the parties in Almaty. The secretariat also informed the meeting about the preparation of the synthesis report for which REC Szentendre had been contracted to provide a first draft of the report. The European ECO Forum expressed disappointment with the second reporting cycle, in particular regarding the late submission and the considerable number of Parties that had not submitted a national implementation report yet and had not yet started preparations to do so. The European ECO Forum further expressed disappointment at the lack of NGO participation and the short commenting period provided in some countries.

Part of the agenda of the Working group’s meeting was devoted to the activities of the Compliance Committee. The Compliance Committee will meet at its 19th meeting in Geneva, 5-7 March 2008 where it is expected to prepare and adopt its report to the Meeting of the Parties and certain findings and recommendations with respect to compliance by specific Parties. In addition, it will review the progress made by Parties previously found by the Meeting not to be in compliance. The secretariat also reminded delegations of the procedure for nominating candidates for election to the Committee at the forthcoming meeting of the Parties.  The European ECO Forum expressed concern that some Parties that had been found by the Meeting of the Parties not to be in compliance had in its view manifestly failed to implement the recommendations of the Meeting, and expressed the hope that the Meeting would consider taking firm measures to address such situations.

Other issues, among them, the Work Programme 2009-2011, financial arrangements, capacity building were also discussed.

Detailed NGO report will be posted on the PPC website: www.participate.org in due time. All documents for the WGP-9 meeting are available at the UN ECE website:

http://www.unece.org/env/pp/wgp.htm#9thwgp

For more information, please contact:

Mara Silina

Chair of the CB of the European ECO Forum and Public Participation Campaign coordinator

E-mail: mara.silina@eeb.org

3. FIRST HIGH LEVEL PREPARATORY MEETING TOWARDS THE FIFTH MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE ON ENVIRONMENT AND HEALTH

The WHO Fifth Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health will be held in Italy in autumn 2009. The WHO Regional Office for Europe plans to hold the First High Level Preparatory Meeting in Milan, Italy on 10 to 12 March 2008. It is expected that the meeting will be attended by representatives of all 53 Member States in the Region as well as by International Governmental Organizations, Nongovernmental Organizations, and youth.

Preparations for the Fifth Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health are well underway.  At its October 2007 meeting, the European Environment and Health Committee (EEHC) discussed the main priorities that needed to be addressed during the next phase of the European Environment and Health Process. 

These priorities included:

• Inequity in Environment and Health;
• Gender issues;
• Specific needs of NIS and SEE countries;
• Working with new stakeholders including local authorities, private sector and youth;
• Synergies and new opportunities in working across boundaries – with a particular focus on climate change.  (Established political processes will also be addressed under this priority);
• Understanding the economic influence on environment and health policy making.

The first high level preparatory meeting will focus on Regional Priority Goals 1 and 2 of the Children's Environment and Health Action Plan for Europe (CEHAPE) and will address the priorities mentioned above in a crosscutting manner across the regional priority goals. The first day of the meeting will take over the function of the CEHAPE Task Force. 

During the following two days of the meeting, the participants will discuss and agree on the scope, direction and expected policy outcomes of the work that is being done on the priority issues. The EEHC members will meet at the closure of this high level event, at an executive session organized for EEHC members only.  This meeting, the first of three high level preparatory events will provide an opportunity for member states organizations and other stakeholders to contribute further to the development of a conference agenda that ensures the priority concerns are adequately addressed within the conference theme.  

The documents of the meeting are available at http://www.euro.who.int/eehc/meetings/20080117_1

For more information, please contact:

Sascha Gabizon

Coordinator of Environment and Heath Issue Group at European ECO Forum

Women in Europe for a Common Future

E-mail: sascha.gabizon@wecf.eu

4. CONFERENCE: “INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ON ENERGY EFFECIENCY: WORKING TOGETHER FOR A LOW-CARBON ECONOMY”

The conference “International Cooperation on Energy Efficiency: Working together for a Low-carbon Economy” will take place on 28 May 2008 in Geneva. It is organised by Energy Charter Secretariat in close cooperation with Steering Committee of the Energy Efficiency 21 Project of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and International Energy Agency (IEA).

The Conference will bring together senior experts from governments and industry and officials from international bodies to discuss ways to improve energy efficiency outcomes through enhanced international cooperation. It will address questions such as:

• How can post-2012 rules best address the need for an improved investment climate for energy efficiency?
• How can barriers to investment and technology transfer be overcome?
• What kind of global energy efficiency integration is needed to solve these problems, and how can it be promoted?

Attendance is free of charge and is by registration only; organisers reserve the right to limit the number of participants in accordance with the seating capacity of the meeting room. Conference languages will be English, French and Russian, with simultaneous translation provided. All written documents will be made available during the conference in English and Russian. Registration form should be sent not later than 16 May 2008. More information at: http://www.encharter.org/

5.THE WHO EUROPEAN PHOTO COMPETITION 2008 "IMAGES OF HEALTH SYSTEMS"

The WHO Regional Office for Europe (WHO/Europe) is holding a photograph competition to support the WHO European Ministerial Conference on Health Systems: "Health Systems, Health and Wealth", which will take place in Tallinn, Estonia on 25-27 June 2008. The Regional Office invites both professional and amateur photographers to participate.

Please send in photographs showing any aspect of health (e.g. doctors, nurses and patients; hospitals, medical centres/ polyclinics and hospital dispensaries; health education, research and training; social workers in action; medical assistance in emergencies; medical equipment and technologies; health promotion - people exercising, healthy food, health at home, etc.) The deadline for sending applications is 31 March 2008.

The winning photographs will be presented at the WHO European Ministerial Conference in Tallinn, Estonia, on 25-27 June 2008, through media releases and on the WHO Regional Office for Europe web site. Winners will receive a voucher for photographic equipment worth EURO 500 (first prize), EURO 250 (second prize), and EURO 100 (third prize), along with several awards of “special recognition”.

More information at http://www.euro.who.int/healthsystems2008/photo