EUROPEAN ECO FORUM NEWSLETTER |
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1. THIRD MEETING OF THE PARTIES TO THE AARHUS CONVENTION: DATES AND REGISTRATION! The Third Meeting of Parties to the Aarhus Convention will take place on 11 – 13 June 2008 in Riga, Latvia. Below you will find information for the different meetings, which will take place from 8 to 13 June 2008 and the registration process. More information about venue and logistics for the conference, advice on visas and travel, agenda (s) and documents for both official and NGO meetings etc. will be provided as soon as possible. DATES FOR DIFFERENT MEETINGS IN RIGA
For sure, there will be other events organized by participating organizations and information about them will be provided at the later stage. More detailed information will be provided in due time. REGISTRATION Registration process has just started and on-line registration form is available from the host country website: http://www.aarhusmop3.org/ To make the registration less painful and more effective we (Ministry of Environment of Latvia, Aarhus Secretariat and European ECO Forum) have agreed to do it through a single entry point, namely conference website. By registering (click on appropriate button) as an environmental citizens’ organization or other NGO an information about your registration with all necessary details will be sent to responsible services at the Ministry of Environment of Latvia, UN ECE Aarhus Secretariat and European ECO Forum Public Participation Campaign coordinator (Mara Silina). We expect to receive a huge amount of registrations from environmental NGOs and thus the registration process will be followed by the selection of participants. PLEASE NOTE THAT THE DEADLINE FOR REGISTRATION IS 30th APRIL 2008. We hope to be able to announce results of the selection procedure by Friday, 9 May, 2008 at the latest and all applicants will be notified in writing. For more information about the European ECO Forum activities in Riga follow the PPC website www.participate.org and please contact: Mara Silina
2. PREPARATION TO THE CEP SESSION ON EFE REFORM The 15th session of the Committee on Environmental Policy (CEP) will take place on 21-23 April 2008 in Geneva. Among other issues, the Committee will discuss options for the reform of the “Environment for Europe” process. The UNECE set up a special web-page in preparation to the CEP discussion on the EfE reform: see http://www.unece.org/env/efe/EfEreform/DocumentsReformEfE.htm#views The web-page displays views of 15 UNECE member States, the European Commission and the European ECO Forum. The web-page also includes a document, which contains a compilation of the views received from the member States by 29 February 2008 (see in English at http://www.unece.org/env/documents/2008/ece/cep/ECE_CEP_2008_4_e.pdf and in Russian at http://www.unece.org/env/documents/2008/ece/cep/ECE_CEP_2008_4_r.pdf ). The European ECO Forum’s Issue Group on EfE Reform prepared an Executive summary of the Analysis of responses to the European ECO Forum Questionnaire on main directions of the “Environment for Europe” process reform as an Ad-hoc initiative to contribute to the preparation of the 15th Session of the UNECE CEP (see at http://www.unece.org/env/efe/EfEreform/Informal%20documents/EuropeanEcoForum.pdf ) In April 2008, the Issue Group plans to develop a draft position on the EfE Reform, based on the Brussels declaration, the ECO Forum statements and interventions in Belgrade and the outcomes of ECO Forum’s Survey. For more information please contact:
3. FIRST MEETING OF THE TASK FORCE ON INDICATORS AND REPORTING TO THE PROTOCOL ON WATER AND HEALTH The first meeting of the Task Force on Indicators and Reporting to the Protocol on Water and Health took place on 13–14 March 2008 in Geneva. The representatives of 19 Parties and Signatories to the Protocol (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Croatia, Finland, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Italia, Lithuania, Moldova, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey Ukraine, Uzbekistan) as well as the representatives of WHO Regional Office for Europe, the Compliance Committee under the Protocol on Water and Health, the European ECO Forum, the private sector and others stakeholders took part in the meeting. Switzerland chaired the meeting as a lead country for this activity. The Task Force elected two Vice-Chairpersons from Hungary and Germany. The Task Force on Indicators and Reporting was established by the first Meeting of the Parties to the Protocol on Water and Health (Geneva, 17–19 January 2007) with a mandate linked to compliance with articles 6 (Targets and target dates) and 7 (Review and assessment of progress). The main objective of the Task Force is to provide guidance to the Parties and to promote exchange of experience and harmonization in the region. To this aim, the Task Force is working on draft guidelines for the setting of targets and target dates, as well as draft guidelines for reporting in accordance with article 7, for adoption by the Parties at their second meeting in 2010. In preparation to the meeting the joint secretariat has requested Parties and Signatories to fill in a short questionnaire. The outcomes of this survey and other meeting documents are available at www.unece.org/env/water/meetings/documents_TFIR.htm Parties and Signatories to the Protocol exchanged information on their national process to set targets, as well as information on targets and target dates set, together with their relevant indicators of progress. The experience of Hungary and Finland can be an example of the target setting process. They have already completed the process with broad stakeholder participation (see Countries Replies to the questionnaire on progress in setting targets and target dates on the following website http://www.unece.org/env/water/meetings/documents_TFIR.htm ). Most of the Parties and Signatories are still in the process of setting targets The Chairman of the Compliance Committee under the Protocol on Water and Health informed the Meeting about the first meeting of the Compliance Committee (12 March 2008), recalled the relevant obligations of the Protocol on timetable for setting targets and called on the Parties to speed up the national setting target process and preparation of national Reports on the implementation of the Protocol. The Task Force discussed draft guidelines on setting targets, evaluation and reporting prepared by the Core Group. The Task Force agreed on:
The European ECO Forum provided information about the examples of public consultations/ participation in different decision-making processes at national-local levels related to water sector reforms (local action plans on improvement of the access to water, state programs on drinking water or national strategies for water sector development) as well as public participation in practical implementation of decisions at local level. With regards to the item on indicators, especially for targets under article 6, paragraphs 2 (f)–(n), the WHO Regional Office for Europe presented to the Task Force the existing reporting mechanisms, international and regional obligations, and standards of relevance for the Protocol. On the basis of a document prepared by the Core Group, the Task Force discussed and agreed on:
The European ECO Forum made several interventions related to the chemical and social indicators (affordability, accessibility of WS for consumers). The Task Force discussed the preliminary programme, objectives and target audience of the workshop aimed at sharing experience on target-setting, tentatively scheduled for 2 and 3 December 2008. For more information please contact:
4. THIRD MEETING OF THE UNECE STEERING COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT The UNECE Strategy for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) was adopted in Vilnius in 2005. The Joint Session on ESD during the Sixth Ministerial Conference “Environment for Europe” in Belgrade was a culmination point in Phase I of the implementation of the Strategy. The next important event was the 3rd meeting of the UNECE Steering Committee on ESD, which took place in Geneva on 31 March and 1 April 2008. In the initial part of the meeting, countries reported on progress achieved in implementation of the Strategy compared with the pilot national implementation reports at the end of 2006. It is not so easy to recognize the relation between what is reported on official level and what is happening in reality. However, even from official reports it was possible to see the big difference in understanding what ESD is and what is the difference between environmental education and ESD. There is a serious delay in official process in some countries (Strategy is still not approved by several governments), while good progress seems to be done in the others (the Netherlands, Italy, Sweden, etc.). During discussion, there were some remarks promoting educational system of the former USSR as a best base for ESD. The Expert Group on Indicators for ESD was established in the framework of the Strategy’s implementation process. This body met several times during the last year and prepared the reporting format for assessing progress in implementation of the Strategy in individual countries. The reporting format should be finalized during the next year – the mandate of the Expert Group was prolonged till the next meeting of the Steering Committee in 2009. It is necessary to mention that the proposed indicators assess to which extent were the ESD Strategy goals achieved, and do not address the quality of the ESD itself, which could be much more interesting. As a key challenge for further implementation of ESD, the issue of competences in ESD was identified. During Geneva meeting, there was a panel discussion on this topic, where the representatives of different sectors (primary school, secondary school, university teachers, pupils…) took part. The Chair’s report says “The discussion also showed a great variety of approaches in addressing the development of competences” – in reality this means that we could hear about teaching students how to prepare compost on one side and analysis of the sophisticated network of university professors working in different fields and disciplines on the other side. Phase II of implementation of the Strategy (2008 – 2010) starts this year. It should be the phase when the administrative work should be finalized. Real work with students should be the most important task. As usual, there are big delays in many countries. On the other hand, the most important thing is that the Strategy already exists, is highly respected, has numerous tools for implementation and evaluation and therefore could be used as a good argument and tool in the work of teachers and educators. At the end of the Steering Committee meeting, the European ECO Forum mentioned several problematic issues from the NGOs’ point of view – the difference between “paper reports” and daily reality in some countries, big differences in understanding (or misunderstanding) what the ESD is even within the responsible institutions, and sometimes lack of good coordination between UNECE ESD process and UNESCO activities. The documents of the meeting are available at http://www.unece.org/env/esd/SC.Meet.htm For more information contact:
5. ANNUAL MEETING OF THE EAP TASK FORCE The annual meeting of the Environmental Action Programme Task Force (EAP Task Force) took place in Paris on 7-8 February 2008. The meeting brought together officials from 19 countries, the European Commission, EBRD and the new Regional Environmental Centers (new RECs or EECCA RECs). Olga Ponizova (European ECO Forum’s EAP Issue Group Coordinator, Eco-Accord Center) and Alyona Vasilyeva (Volgograd-Ecopress) represented the European ECO Forum. In January 2008, the EAP Issue Group of European ECO Forum organized electronic consultations through [eecca_strategy] list to discuss the activities proposed by the EAP Task Force and by new RECs for 2008, as well as prioritization of projects and the draft programme of work for 2008-2011. As described in the Draft Summary Record, the EAP Task Force discussed and broadly endorsed the proposed draft Consolidated Programme of Work and Budget of the EAP Task Force for 2008 that was jointly prepared by the OECD/EAP Task Force secretariat and Executive Directors of EECCA RECs. The Task Force noted that the programme was now organised in three parts: (1) activities to be jointly implemented by OECD and EECCA RECs; (2) activities to be implemented by OECD alone; and (3) activities to be implemented by EECCA RECs alone. Participants discussed the roles and working methods of the OECD secretariat and EECCA RECs in implementing the agreed activities in 2008. They welcomed the offer by EECCA RECs to circulate a document describing the roles of individual RECs and their cooperation in implementation of activities in 2008. The Task Force discussed the financial situation of new RECs to implement the proposed activities in 2008. Since the new RECs had not secured financial resources to implement EAP Task Force activities in 2008, proposed projects may have to be postponed or delayed. The EAP Task Force was informed of the progress with implementing Belgrade decisions with regards to the Project Preparation Committee (PPC). At the EfE Conference in Belgrade, the Ministers agreed that the functions and activities of the PPC should be internalized within the EBRD. A new team was created inside the EBRD’s Environment and Sustainability Department dedicated to promoting sustainability, and a draft workplan has been developed. The EAP Task Force elected new co-Chairs. These are Ms. Violeta Ivanov from Moldova and Ms. Eldrid Nordbo from Norway. Both co-Chairs are well known for being in favour of the dialogue with NGOs and in favour of active NGO involvement in EAP-related issues. The EAP Task Force Bureau will meet in Paris in September 2008. The next annual meeting of the EAP Task Force will take place in October 2008 in Astana. The Draft Summary Record and documents of the meeting are
available at For more information please contact:
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