| Editorial
The 6th Environment Action Plan (EAP)
of the European Community entitled "Our Future, Our
Choice" will replace the 5th EAP which was entitled
"Towards Sustainability" and aims to strategically set the
environmental objectives and priorities that will be an integral
part of the European Community's strategy for sustainable
development. The programme sets out the major priorities and
objectives for environment policy over the next five to ten years
and details the measures to be taken. Clearly, it is imperative that
the 6th EAP also reflects the priorities and concerns of the
Mediterranean.
The EU is indisputably the strongest
political entity within the Mediterranean region and either directly
or indirectly European environmental policy affects environmental
policies and similar processes in the non-EU Mediterranean
countries. This is why the 6th EAP and the up-coming European
Sustainable Development Strategy will play a very important role in
similar processes throughout the Mediterranean.
At this point, discussions on the 6th
EAP have entered a critical stage. The quality of the Commission's
proposal has been initiallty criticised as one can determine in this
issue of Sustainable Mediterranean. It is hoped that the Environment
Committee of the Parliament and the Council will adopt positions of
an ambitious and effective environmental policy, more effective than
the Commission proposed in January this year. The Sustainable
Development Strategy of the Commission, which will also be published
in May, seems to be moving in the right direction (see next issue).
In this issue the reader is also
given the opportunity of being informed about Green Week, perhaps
the largest event ever organised by the EU Commission's DG
Environment, from 24-28 April 2001 in Brussels, aimed to set
environmental policy and particularly the 6th EAP at the top of the
European agenda. It was within this framework that MIO-ECSDE co-organised
with the EU a session (session 24 of Green Week) dedicated to
"Water in the Mediterranean: towards a joint action" (27
April 2001, 9:30-13:00) where MIO-ECSDE tried to link the Water
Framework Directive adopted recently, to the overall aim of the
promotion of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) throughout
the Mediterranean. MIO-ECSDE also exhibited throughout the week a
Mediterranean section on Water in the form of a sequence of poster
presentations as well as an exhibition of traditional water carrying
vessels from around the Mediterranean.
M. Scoullos
MIO-ECSDE Chairman
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