EUROPEAN ECO FORUM NEWSLETTER

No 37

NOVEMBER 2008

In this issue:

1. SPECIAL SESSION OF THE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY

2. SECOND HIGH-LEVEL PREPARATORY MEETING TOWARDS THE FIFTH MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE ON ENVIRONMENT AND HEALTH

3. UNECE ENERGY WEEK AND COMMITTEE ON SUSTAINABLE ENERGY

4. THIRD HIGH-LEVEL MEETING ON TRANSPORT, HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT

5. UNESCO WORLD CONFERENCE ON EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

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1. SPECIAL SESSION OF THE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY

The UNECE Committee on Environmental Policy (CEP) met at its special session in Geneva on 13-15 October, 2008 to consider the Environment for Europe (EfE) Draft Reform Plan and to reflect on review of the work programme in the areas of environmental monitoring, building capacity and partnerships and cross-sectoral activities.

The CEP meeting had extensive discussions about the EfE draft reform plan.  The original aim was to clean the text of the draft reform plan from brackets and send it to the UNECE for final adoption. However, this task proved to be very difficult due to differences in opinions and positions of the USA, EU, Russia and other members of the CEP. A small drafting group consisting from representatives of USA, Russia, EU, Switzerland and Turkey (partly also Kazakhstan) was set up to deal with most problematic issues. Such issues included the choice between continuation of the Working Group of Senior Officials or entrusting the CEP with all preparatory process and NGOs involvement/status in this work. Themes and outcomes of the conference(s) were among problematic issues as well. The end result was a new draft of the Reform Plan (as of 15 October).

Most of proposals introduced by the European ECO Forum with support from the CEP members remain in the latest version of the document, although some are still in brackets.  In part IV on preparatory process a compromised version was agreed on the start of the process saying “not later than 18 months before the Conference the CEP at its regular session will decide on not more than two themes and discuss the outline of the agenda of the Conference”. Another agreement was reached on responsible body: “CEP would act as the convening body for the preparatory process. To maintain the open nature of the preparatory process and the engagement of all stakeholders, representatives of major groups will be invited to participate in meeting of the CEP in preparation of the Conference, as appropriate, in accordance with the existing UN rules and procedures”.  Proposal for the session of NGOs and Ministers is now also supported by the EU but remains as the bracketed. The text is as follows: “A session of NGOs and ministers in the roundtable format as an integral part of the conference”.

In the part on conference outcomes, “agreed/negotiated” statement/outcome on follow up and further action” remains in brackets as well as does “adoption or decision to start negotiations on new legally binding regional or sub-regional agreements”. 

The last part of the document aimed at implementation remains in brackets and has two versions.  European ECO Forum proposal supported by Armenia, France and Switzerland for the indicator-based mid-term review is included in both options.

The CEP agreed to meet at the next special session 26-29 January 2009 to finalise the draft plan.

Part of the CEP meeting was devoted to the Roundtable on partnerships with the private sector. This roundtable was aimed at an interactive discussion and exchange of opinions on possible ways to engage the private sector in the UNECE, CEP and EfE frameworks. The roundtable was divided into two sessions, one focussing on “Enhancing the role of the private sector in the work of the CEP and the Environment for Europe process” and another one looking at a specific topic on “Water supply and sanitation within the context of integrated water resource management”. 

The aim of the first session was to identify ways to forge successful partnerships between the public and the private sector, as well as improve these partnerships’ quality, so that they better serve the interests of the broader community. Lessons learned from the experience of existing partnerships between the private sector and national and/or local governments was also up for discussions.  For the second session’s main focus was on the role the private sector can play in the integrated water resource management and water governance.

Presentations were made by representatives from the World Economic Forum, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, the International Chamber of Commerce, Nestlé, GDF Suez, Rio Tinto Alcan and Coca-Cola.

The discussion was summarized as follows:

- Partnership with private sector is necessary. Today’s environmental problems and challenges cannot be tackled effectively by governments or companies alone. Facilitating this initiative is a joint initiative.

- It is important to establish a mechanism of communication between governments, companies and international institutions, rather than ad hoc arrangements.

- Countries need to know very precisely the prerequisites for industry to invest in partnership countries.

- Often environmental problems are caused by companies; therefore corporate social responsibility towards the next generation is highly desirable and necessary.

- Interaction between environmental policies and innovation policies is critical. It is therefore important to discuss this link in the CEP context.

- The water sector is well-known by the business sector. Public-private cooperation is important because water is no ordinary good. There is therefore need to couple the provision of water services with high quality legislation and also manage water efficiently by engaging the private sector. Water and climate change are fundamentally linked. Water and sanitation guidelines are necessary, as is engaging in national policy dialogues.

- Businesses need pre-requisites for investing and doing business, therefore most businesses work in countries that have established a robust governance structures, including legislative frameworks, regulations, and implementation capacity. Yet, countries with economies in transition in Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia do not always meet these standards. It is therefore important to understand whether it is more important to reach the standards first or business engagement can precede.

- The roundtable provides a very useful initial framework. The CEP and the EfE process will further seek ways to concretise the engagement of the private sector and rely less on ad hoc partnerships. These bodies will also aim to identify more concrete issue for cooperation.

Other issues on the CEP agenda included, among others, environmental monitoring, preparations for the Third High Level Meeting on Transport, Health and Environment (Amsterdam, 22-23 January 2009) and for the Fifth Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health.

For more information please contact:

Mara Silina

Chair of the Coordination Board of the European ECO Forum

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2. SECOND HIGH-LEVEL PREPARATORY MEETING TOWARDS THE FIFTH MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE ON ENVIRONMENT AND HEALTH

On 22-24 October 2008, the second high-level preparatory meeting towards the Fifth Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health and the executive session of the European Environment and Health Committee (EEHC) took place in Madrid, Spain.

The Second High-Level Meeting addressed the implementation of Regional Priority Goals III and IV from Children's Environment and Health Action Plan for Europe (CEHAPE), adopted by the previous ministerial conference of “Environment and Health” process in Budapest in 2004.

The Second High-Level Meeting was preceded by the International Public Health Symposium which provided the opportunity to listen to the most recent research on environment and health. The major new and debatable issues raised by symposium were endocrine disruptors and the effect of chemicals cocktail. It is not yet clear whether they will get any attention of the Fifth Ministerial Conference in Italy.

During the Second High-Level Meeting, the European ECO Forum and the Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL) organized an NGO session to present experience of NGOs working on CEHAPE’s Regional Priority Goal IV (chemical free environments) in the region. Sonja Haider, WECF, spoke about the “Nesting” project which helps mothers to raise their children minimizing the exposure to hazardous chemicals. Diana Smith, HEAL, presented the Chemical Health Monitor project and the Collaborative on Health and Environment. Iulia Trombitcaia, Eco-Accord, spoke about the work of Eco-Accord and other EECCA NGOs to eliminate stockpiles of obsolete and banned pesticides and address other chemical safety problems in the region, and presented the asbestos project. Emma Anakhasyan, Armenian Women for Health and Healthy Environment NGO, presented the project on monitoring dioxins in breast milk and emphasized the need to support NGO initiatives on human biomonitoring. NGOs developed and distributed Recommendations on RPGIV.

During the NGO session, Sascha Gabizon (European ECO Forum/Women in Europe for a Common Future) and Monica Guarinoni (HEAL) presented possible NGO contribution to the ministerial conference. In particular, NGOs proposed to organise:

-Ministers-NGO roundtable in the official programme of the ministerial conference;

-CEHAPE Awards (Best Practice Awards of the Children’s Environment and Health Action Plan for Europe);

-Regional Priority Goals News (presenting the NGO input in the form of a lively newscast).

The dates and place of the Fifth Ministerial Conference in Italy were not fixed during the Madrid meeting. The host country proposed October 2009 in Parma but it is possible that the conference will be postponed until March 2010. The agreement should be reached in coming weeks.

The fifth ministerial conference will focus on children’s environmental health as well as new emerging issues, in particular climate change. The preliminary programme for the conference was discussed by the EEHC. A lot of proposals were presented. NGOs looked at the possibilities to be more involved in the sessions on socioeconomic inequities, gender inequities, and on working with new stakeholders but did not manage to clarify these possibilities for the moment.

The major outcome of the Fifth Ministerial Conference will be the ministerial declaration. Another major outcome of the Fifth Ministerial Conference could be a strategy on adaptation to climate change in the health sector. The United Kingdom offered to lead the development of the strategy. This strategy may be an annex to the ministerial declaration. The discussion on the future of the Environment and Health process was postponed until the third high-level meeting in April 2009.

There was a discussion about NIS/SEE focus of the process with an introductory speech given by the REC CEE. The European ECO Forum clearly spoke in favour of maintaining the focus on the region and making stronger commitments to support and fund activities in NIS states. There will be meetings of NIS governments under coordination of the WHO to make an input to the ministerial conference, with the first meeting on 10-12 November in Kyrgyzstan focused on the health sector.

The following events will take place in the preparatory process towards Fifth Ministerial Conference:

10-12 November 2008, Kyrgyzstan, First Meeting of NIS countries to focus on reform of public health and the role of SANEPID

3-4 December 2008, France, Second Drafting group meeting on Declaration

28-29 January 2009, Luxemburg, Thematic Meeting on Healthy Environments

April 2009, Tajikistan, Second Meeting of NIS countries

Dates and place unknown, Meeting of SEE countries

27-29 April, Bonn, Third High-Level Meeting

The documents of the meeting are available at http://www.euro.who.int/eprise/main/WHO/Progs/EEHC/meetings/20080523_1

For more information please contact:

Sascha Gabizon

Women in Europe for a Common Future

Coordinator of European ECO-Forum Issue Group on Health and Environment

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3. UNECE ENERGY WEEK AND COMMITTEE ON SUSTAINABLE ENERGY

The 17th Annual Session of the UNECE Committee on Sustainable Energy will take place in Geneva on 19-21 November 2008.

The Committee on Sustainable Energy will hold the annual Energy Security Dialogue on Wednesday, 19 November. The Dialogue will focus on Strategic Alliances for Energy Security. During the Dialogue, corporate planners from National Oil Companies and International Oil Companies will examine the energy security implications of strategic alliances for investing in energy technology and infrastructure. Government officials will review the complementary nature of energy security related investment strategies in different countries and sub-regions.

The Committee will review of activities of the subsidiary bodies of the Committee, notably: (a) Energy Security Dialogue, (b) Steering Committee of the Energy Efficiency 21 Project, (c) Working Party on Gas, Ad Hoc Group of Experts on the Supply and Use of Gas, and Gas Centre, (d) Ad Hoc Group of Experts on Harmonization of Fossil Energy and Mineral Resources Terminology, (e) Ad Hoc Group of Experts on Coal Mine Methane, and (f) Ad Hoc Group of Experts on Cleaner Electricity Production from Coal and other Fossil Fuels. The Committee should review and adopt its programme of work for 2009-2010.

The documents of the session are available at http://www.unece.org/energy/se/docs/comm17_m.html

For more information contact:

Gianluca Sambucini, UNECE
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4. THIRD HIGH-LEVEL MEETING ON TRANSPORT, HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT

The Third High-level Meeting on Transport, Health and Environment “Making THE link. Transport choices for our health, environment, and prosperity” will take place in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, on 22-23 January 2009. The meeting hosted by the Government of the Netherlands in cooperation with the UNECE and the WHO/Europe will bring together high-level officials and representatives of governments, local authorities, NGOs and other stakeholders.

Recognizing that transport is an important part of modern life, the meeting is expected to adopt action points for policymakers that help address the key challenges posed by transport, health and environment issues. Government representatives are also expected to endorse a final document on future activities and areas of cooperation to give a new boost to the Transport Health and Environment Pan European Programme (THE PEP) and to contribute to sustainable and healthy living, in particular in urban environments across the pan-European region.

The meeting will draw the attention of Governments to specific challenges such as:

- How to manage sustainable mobility, promote clean and efficient public transport systems and encourage walking and cycling;

- How to reduce emissions of transport-related greenhouse gasses and other air pollutants as well as noise;

- How to promote a healthier and safer environment, particularly in urban settings.

More information is available at http://www.thepep.org/en/hlm/hl3_info.htm

The website for the meeting will soon open at http://www.makingTHElink.nl 

For more information contact:

THE PEP Secretariat

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5. UNESCO WORLD CONFERENCE ON EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

The UNESCO World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development “Moving into the Second Half of the UN Decade” will be held in Bonn, Germany, from 31 March to 2 April 2009. Organizers of the conference are UNESCO and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, in cooperation with the German Commission for UNESCO.

Five years into the Decade, the conference will follow four objectives: to highlight the relevance of ESD to all of education; to promote international exchange on ESD, especially between the North and the South; to carry out a stock-taking of the implementation of the UN Decade and to develop strategies for the way ahead.

Furthermore, participants will discuss regional, national and cultural differences as well as challenges in the implementation of the UN Decade. At the end of the conference, a declaration reflecting the debates and proposing guidelines for the implementation of the UN Decade in its second half shall be adopted.

The Conference will comprise a high level segment, plenary and workshop sessions, project-based workshops, special events and an exhibition of good practices. No conference fees will be charged. Generally, participants will need to cover their own travel and lodging expenses. More information is available at http://www.esd-world-conference-2009.org/en/home.html

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European ECO Forum Newsletter is published by

the European ECO Forum Communication Unit,

hosted by ECO-Accord, Russia

Editor: Iulia Trombitcaia

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