Press Announcement
Speakers:
Victoria Elias, European ECO-Forum Coordination Board, Chair
John Hontelez, European Environment Bureau, Belgium
Mara Silina, European Environment Bureau, Belgium
Fe Sanchis-Moreno, TERRA Environmental Policy Center, Spain
Olga Ponizova, Eco-Accord, Russia
Gunnar Boe Olessen, INFORSE-Europe
More than 200 representatives of environmental citizens' organizations from 55 countries of Europe and Central Asia gather in Kiev, Ukraine, on the occasion of the fifth Pan-European Conference "Environment for Europe". In Kiev, environmental organizations united in ECO-Forum coalition will present to UN ECE Environment Ministers a position on the main issues of the Pan-European Environmental Agenda from Eco-NGOs point of view. It highlights ECO-Forum's proposals and demands on crucial issues that are still not included in the official documents and decisions to be taken by Kiev Conference.
"ECO-Forum calls for immediate strategic action by all governments towards new sustainable consumption and production patterns. We advocate for a moratorium on the use of genetically modified organisms until their impact on environment and health is fully established and continue to speak out for nuclear and chemical safety in our region and globally. We should achieve thorough integration of environmental principles in all sectors of economy, as well as in governance, education, and social sphere", - says Victoria Elias, the Chairperson of European ECO-Forum's Coordination Board. "We need clear commitments and consolidated action by all countries. Kiev conference is a right momentum for the governments to agree what financial and human resources will be allocated to achieve the agreed commitments and to fix strict timeframes".
Kiev conference will be the first meeting of Environmental Ministers of the UN-ECE after the Johannesburg Summit. We are at a decisive moment for the future of the Earth: will governments be prepared to address the global challenges or not, will the industrialised countries be prepared to take the lead or not.
The European ECO-Forum insists that the Ministers agree to start work on a pan-European regional strategy to phase out unsustainable production and consumption, to be ready one year after the Kyiv conference, and with a period of implementation of 10 years.
ECO-Forum advocates agreement on the development of a region-wide Strategy for Education for Sustainable Development by 2005.
NGOs call for effective assistance to countries in transition in implementation of environmental policies, and demand that all stakeholders are involved in the development and implementation of Environmental Strategy for Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia to be agreed in Kiev.
NGOs seek the ministers to confirm the need to reduce energy price subsidies harmful to the environment and to establish the targets for renewable energy and timetables within a year from the Kiev Conference. Only then will the Kiev Conference be a substantial step forward in this field.
For more information: European ECO-Forum Information Center