EUROPEAN ECO FORUM NEWSLETTER

 No 40
FEBRUARY 2009

1. THE EfE REFORM PLAN FINALLY ADOPTED

Long awaited and heavily negotiated plan for reform of the “Environment for Europe” (EfE) process has finally been adopted by the delegates of the Special Session of the Committee on Environmental Policy. This meeting was held in Geneva on 27-29 January 2009 with participation of delegates from UNECE member states and partners. The European ECO Forum was represented by the Mara Silina (EEB, Chair of the European ECO Forum Coordination Board) and Anna Golubovska-Onisimova (Mama-86, Coordinator of the Future of EfE Issue Group at European ECO Forum).

In the atmosphere of mutual understanding countries demonstrated high willingness to reach the compromise and finalise discussions on the draft EfE Reform Plan. High level of coordination and diplomacy by the Czech Republic currently holding the EU Presidency, constructive and flexible approach by the US delegation, great ability in finding the best compromised language from Russia, balanced and substantial contributions by Norway and Switzerland as well as Chair’s skills to strive for a consensus led to the agreement which was acceptable for all participants.

The European ECO Forum actively participated in these negotiations and defended the position of civil society representatives. According to the European ECO Forum, the agreed EfE Reform Plan is weaker than we hoped for but it is still a good basis to continue the whole process building on existing experiences and with an involvement of civil society organisations.  So, what has been achieved and agreed now, among others, is the following:  

* The EfE “should continue to serve as a mechanism to:...b) enhance the implementation of strengthened national environmental policies.”

* A session of environmental NGOs and Ministers in the roundtable format is an integral part of the Conference. However, a new subparagraph has been added on a session of private sector representatives and ministers in the roundtable format as an integral part of the conference to ensure equal opportunities for other stakeholders.

* “An agreed outcome of two pages on follow-up and strictly limited in terms of scope, to the themes of the Conference” might be among conference outcomes.

* Another outcomes are “policy tools, including strategies, action plans with time frames, guidelines, recommendations, best practices and lessons learned that are presented to the Conference by interested countries of the UNECE region and/or organizations taking the lead for these issues, and that were not negotiated within the preparatory process for the Conference”.

* A new subparagraph “Statements, initiatives, agreements, pledges by interested ministers and stakeholders on specific subjects and/or for specific subregions” was included. It could encompass the initiative on the preparation of new legally binding instruments, if necessary.

* CEP will convene a mid-term review to assess progress of the implementation of the outcomes of the EfE Conferences. However, this review will not be based on indicators but on existing information, meaning that it will involve the available data analysis.

After being adopted by the CEP, this document should be approved by the UNECE Annual Session on 30 March-1 April 2009. This will open the way to start preparations for the next EfE Ministerial Conference to take place in 2011. The European ECO Forum will continue active contribution to this reformed process to make it as successful as it should be.

The reform plan as adopted by CEP on 29 January 2009 is available at
http://www.eco-forum.org/documents/EfEreformPlan_adoptedCEP_29Jan2009.pdf

For more information, please contact:

Mara Silina, EEB
Chair of ECO Forum CB  
E-mail: mara.silina@eeb.org

Anna Golubovska-Onisimova, Mama-86
Coordinator of EfE Reform Issue Group
E-mail: anna@mama-86.org.ua

2. ON THE WAY TO PARMA-2010: THEMATIC MEETING ON HEALTHY ENVIRONMENTS TAKES PLACE IN LUXEMBOURG

The meeting of the European Environment and Health Committee (EEHC) and Thematic meeting on Healthy Environments took place in Luxembourg on 27-29 January 2009, hosted by the Ministry of Health of Luxembourg and the European Commission, Directorate-General for Health and Consumers. Sascha Gabizon (Women in Europe for a Common Future, Coordinator of the Environment and Health Issue Group at the European ECO Forum) and Iulia Trombitcaia (Eco-Accord/Communication Unit of the European ECO Forum) represented the European ECO Forum at these meetings.

The EEHC meeting discussed the programme for the Fifth Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health (Parma-2010), the documentation for Parma-2010, the draft Ministerial Declaration and the status of the document on climate change. The EEHC meeting was attended by the following EEHC members: the Netherlands, Norway, Uzbekistan, Italy, Finland, Moldova, Estonia, Cyprus, the European Commission, HEAL, European ECO-Forum, Youth, World Business Council for Sustainable Development, REC, EEA, and OECD.

The Thematic Meeting on Healthy Environments followed the EEHC meeting and was open to all WHO-Europe 53 Member States. The Thematic Meeting focused on air quality, obesity and injuries. It addressed the situation in the region, implementation of the Children's Environment and Health Action Plan for Europe (CEHAPE) in these areas and recommended how these areas should be reflected in the Ministerial Declaration. In the second day, representatives of all Member States discussed, section by section, the text of the Ministerial Declaration.

Ministerial Declaration

European ECO Forum’s proposal to include four school-focused targets (one for each Regional Priority Goal/RPG) into the draft ministerial declaration was accepted by the delegates. Denmark supported the idea of school focused actions and invited European ECO Forum to come up with a proposal. The next day, the proposal was supported, with some changes, by Denmark, Cyprus, Bulgaria, France, Uzbekistan, Moldova, the European Commission and the REC (see at http://www.eco-forum.org/documents/DraftDecl-SchoolSpecificProposals.doc ). Italy supported concrete outcomes, irrespectively if these are targets or commitments.

The European ECO Forum also proposed stronger wording with regard to assessment of progress, precautionary principle, exposures at early age and mixture effect of chemicals, asbestos, mentioning existing good funded processes in relation to individual RPGs, impact of global crises and other issues. Norway made a very strong statement outlining its practice with supporting children’s participation in making policies, in response to member states which did not see opportunities for children’s participation in decision-making. Cyprus strongly urged to make clear commitments not to sacrifice children’s health in global trade, and to include wording on environmental tobacco smoke.

The ministerial declaration might now obtain some good content and create a new framework for action in those areas where this process can bring an added value, namely in working with other ministries and sectors on improving environmental health for children, with a focus on schools, and addressing some great forgotten environmental health problems such as the widespread use of asbestos in the EECCA region, and the problems with hazardous chemicals, in particular hormone disrupting chemicals, in consumer and children’s products in relationship to global trade.

Climate Document

The hardest issue at the meeting was the status of the so called Strategy on climate change (“Protecting health in an environment challenged by climate change: a European Strategy”. The initiative is led by the United Kingdom. In Paris, in December 2008, countries did not agree what will be the status of the Strategy. The options included 1) Strategy as a separate committal document 2) a policy brief and with several commitments on climate in the ministerial declaration. The drafting of the Strategy started with a small meeting in Rome in January 2009, which prepared a good first draft.

At the EEHC meeting on 27 January 2009, the secretariat, supported by a number of member states including Italy, recommended that the Strategy would not be a negotiated document, and that commitments on climate would be included in the ministerial declaration. The main reasoning was that the content of the Strategy depends a lot from the outcomes of UNFCCC COP-15. At the Thematic Meeting, discussion took place in presence of all member states. Unfortunately, it was only HEAL, European ECO Forum, Denmark, United Kingdom, and Germany who defended a separate negotiated document. The Thematic Meeting decided not to have a separate negotiated document.

Programme of the Ministerial Conference

The EEHC approved the overall structure of the programme for Parma-2010. The topics of the sessions will stay as they are, and from now on, the programme will be deepened with content and concrete discussion items for each session. The exact dates are not fixed yet (last week of February or first week of March 2010).

Roundtable and CEHAPE Awards

The EEHC supported the proposal for the round-table to be organized by European ECO Forum and HEAL (explicit support came from Finland, WBCSD, REC, Norway, Youth). The secretariat explained that the session named “Involving new stakeholders” is an appropriate place for the round-table. As agreed at the meeting, the European ECO Forum and HEAL should cooperate with EEHC in developing the programme, and with other stakeholders in bringing them into preparations of the round-table. The European ECO Forum and HEAL will prepare proposal for the programme of the round-table prior to the Third Preparatory Meeting in Bonn at the end of April 2009. At the EEHC meeting, CEHAPE Awards were supported by Norway and Youth. The European ECO Forum and HEAL will develop a new proposal on CEHAPE Awards by the Bonn meeting.

Next meetings

The next meetings include Third High Level Meeting (27-29 April, Bonn) and Third Meeting of the Drafting Group on the Conference Declaration (mid-June 2009, Andorra). The future of the “Environment and Health” process will be discussed in Bonn, with the text developed later by the Drafting Group on the Conference Declaration. A second policy dialogue of NIS countries in Tajikistan (June 2009) and a second meeting of SEE states in Belgrade should take place between the Bonn and Andorra meetings. It is expected that the section on NIS/SEE needs in the ministerial declaration will come out of these meetings.

For more information please contact:

Sascha Gabizon
Women in Europe for a Common Future
Coordinator of the Environment and Health Issue Group at the European ECO-Forum
E-mail: sascha.gabizon@wecf.eu

Iulia Trombitcaia
Eco-Accord Center
Head of European ECO Forum Communication Unit
E-mail: iutrombitcaia@hotmail.com

3. THIRD HIGH-LEVEL MEETING ON TRANSPORT, HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT ADOPTS AMSTERDAM DECLARATION

Ministers, high-level officials from Ministries of Transport, Health and Environment and non-governmental organizations gathered in Amsterdam on 22 and 23 January 2009 to renew their political commitment for sustainable and healthy transport in Europe. At the close of the Meeting, delegations adopted the “Amsterdam Declaration on Transport Choices for our Health, Environment and Prosperity”.

 The Declaration, though not legally binding, commits countries to achieving four priority goals on safe, efficient, healthy and environmentally sustainable transport:

Goal 1: Direct investments to transport infrastructures that promote safety, environment and health, including clean and efficient public transport, intermodal connections and infrastructures for environment- and health-friendly transport;

Goal 2:  Manage sustainable mobility and promote a more efficient transport system by promoting mobility management schemes for businesses, schools, leisure activities, communities and cities; 

Goal 3:  Reduce emissions of transport-related greenhouse gases, air pollutants and noise;

Goal 4:  Promote policies and actions conducive to healthy and safe modes of transport by a proper design of urban areas and transport infrastructure with focus on children and persons with reduced mobility.

The Meeting decided to strengthen the Transport, Health and Environment pan-European Programme (THE PEP). THE PEP was created by UNECE and WHO-Europe member States in 2002 with the aim of promoting policy integration between the transport, health and environment sectors. In Amsterdam, the UNECE and WHO-Europe were requested to continue to support THE PEP.

The Amsterdam Meeting agreed on key elements of a 2009-2014 work plan for THE PEP and established new implementation mechanisms, such as:

- National Transport, Health and Environment Action Plans that include targets and timetables for national implementation in line with country needs;

- THE PEP relay race as a voluntary mechanism to facilitate communication and exchange of experiences among interested countries; and

- THE PEP Partnership to make expertise available and facilitate the exchange of knowledge between countries in the wider European context.

Amsterdam Meeting also launched new products for transport and urban planners to take account of health impacts when estimating costs and integrating transport, environment and health in their policies:

- THE PEP Toolbox of good practice in sustainable urban transport;

- Health Economic Assessment Tool (HEAT) for cycling; and

- Guidance on how to quantify health effects of cycling and walking. 

The next session of THE PEP Steering Committee, responsible for the implementation of the Amsterdam Declaration, will take place in Geneva in October 2009. Before that, possibly in September 2009, an international workshop on cycling and walking in urban areas will be held in Prague as part of the PEP relay race. Another THE PEP workshop on sustainable urban transport will be organized for the South-Eastern European countries. 

For further information, consult THE PEP website http://www.thepep.org/en/welcome.htm

Amsterdam Declaration is available at http://www.unece.org/press/pr2009/PEP_AmsterdamDeclaration_E.pdf

Source: UNECE press release Ref: ECE/ENV/09/P01/Add.1

4. SEED AWARDS 2009

The deadline for SEED Awards for entrepreneurship in sustainable development is 16 March 2009. The organizers welcome innovative ideas from any group in a developing country or country in transition, which is working in partnership with others to generate environmental and social benefits in an entrepreneurial way.

The SEED Award recognizes and rewards two levels of winners:

- 20 SEED Award Winners will be announced at the UN Commission for Sustainable Development in New York in May 2009. They will be publicized and profiled through SEED’s network and will also receive support services, worth US$5,000, to help connect them with potential partners and funders.

- 10 Gold Award Winners will be selected from the pool of 20 Winners. They will receive the extended ‘SEED Award’ of support services, worth an additional US$35,000, which will be delivered over a period of 6-12 months. The nature of the support services will depend on the needs that the Winners identify and will be developed jointly with them. Award winners will be announced during August 2009.

For eligibility criteria and more information see www.seedinit.org

For more information please contact seedawards@seedinit.org