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A. The Mediterranean Honorific Award

For the first time, on June 8th 2001 in Tarragona, Spain, the Mediterranean Honorific Award, on the initiative of Mediterrania, the Centre for Ecological Initiatives and with the support of MIO-ECSDE, was given to "Amici per la Vita" in recognition of the project's efforts to raise awareness and carry out actions in defense of the environment. The project is a joint effort of Italian Municipalities and the United Nations in protecting the marine environment and the coastal zones of the Mediterranean. The prize was awarded by the Chairman of MIO-ECSDE, Prof. M. Scoullos who was a member of the awarding jury. Other members of the jury were: Emad Adly (RAED), Mohammed Ftouhi (CMEPE), Josep Rivera Aranda, Angel Juarez Almendros (Mediterrania).

During the same event Mediterrania also gave the Ones Mediterrania Award to various efforts as it does every year. Further details in the next issue of Sustainable Mediterranean.

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B. Working towards the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD)

· MIO-ECSDE, MED Forum and RAED will be co-organising, under the coordination of the latter, an NGO meeting just before the MCSD meeting in Turkey (1-2 October 2001). The objectives of the meeting will be:
- To facilitate and implement at the national level a participatory process of assessment to the achievements, impediments, and proposals for the WSSD.
- To collect and gather the different reports into a comprehensive regional report that could be representative for the Mediterranean.
- To present this report to the Mediterranean Commission for Sustainable Development, MCSD, in it's next meeting in Turkey October 2001.
- To include this as a Mediterranean Group at the WSSD.

· The Chairman of MIO-ECSDE, Prof. M. Scoullos actively participated promoting Mediterranean concerns, progress, etc. in the PrepCom 1 of the WSSD (30 April-2 May 2001, New York) and will also be participating in the UN ECE Pre Meeting (12-13 July 2001) in Geneva as well as the NGO meeting which precedes it on the 11th. The latter is an NGO strategy meeting organised by ANPED to co-ordinate NGO input into the deliberations of the member states of the UN ECE in preparation for the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development

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C. Sustainable Water Management - A priority for Euro-Mediterranean Agriculture

A position paper entitled Sustainable Water Management - A priority for Euro-Mediterranean Agriculture drafted by the Chairman of MIO-ECSDE, Prof. M. Scoullos and Vanya Walker-Leigh, Nature Trust Malta, was submitted by MIO-ECSDE to the Conference on Euro-Mediterranean Agriculture, June 14-15, 2001, so as to be taken into consideration in their deliberations. It has also been circulated to Members of the Commission, Member organisations of MIO-ECSDE, national governments, institutes, etc. It is also available on the MIO-ECSDE web-site (www.mio-ecsde.org).

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D. MIO-ECSDE activities as partner in the GWP-Med (former MED TAC)

MIO-ECSDE is an active member of the Global Water Partnership - Mediterranean (GWP-Med) and leads the activities of the GWP-Med Work Programme 2001 related with the component on "Establishing partnerships and mobilizing political will"- Objective 1.

In the recent meeting of GWP-Med partners held in Sophia Antipolis, 21-22 June 2001, MIO-ECSDE undertook the task to act as the Coordinating Unit for the overall GWP-Med Work Programme 2001. This means an overloaded period till the end of 2001, dealing with issues related to Integrated Water Resources Management in the Mediterranean. The MIO-ECSDE membership has an active role to play in this and will be kept informed with regular updates.

Already please book the dates 19-23 December 2001, for the GWP-Med Stakeholders Conference, to be organized in Cairo, Egypt, focusing on National Water Policies in the Mediterranean. The GWP-Med Conference will be organized "back to back" with a regional experts Rio+10 meeting organized by the European Rio+10 Coalition, mainly focusing on Water Pricing and Poverty issues in the region.

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E. 3rd SMAP Correspondents Meeting

MIO-ECSDE along with the other members of the Comite de Suivi was invited to participate in the 3rd SMAP Correspondents Meeting held in Brussels (15-16 June 2001). Issues on the agenda were: the review of the implementation, information on the SMAP project proposals and possible orientations, the second Euro-Mediterranean Ministerial Conference on Environment (July 2002), etc. A very disappointing feature of the meeting was the fact that of the SMAP proposals submitted in 2000 none of those submitted by Mediterranean NGOs were approved and furthermore a very significant amount of the available funds was given to International funding bodies and UN bodies.

The NGO statement prepared and submitted to the meeting as contribution can be found on the MIO-ECSDE web site (www.mio-ecsde.org) or can be sent by fax upon request

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F. MIO-ECSDE participation in the Comite de Suivi (CdS) Meeting, 25 June 2001, Brussels

On the occasion of the 3rd SMAP Correspondents Meeting (see above item 4) the members of the CdS met and discussed a number of issues apart from the 3rd SMAP Correspondents meeting. Items on the agenda were: formulation of the terms of reference for CdS membership, up-coming Euro-Med Civil Forums and prep meetings, NGO input to the EuroMed sustainability strategy, passing the baton to the next CdS coordinator, etc.

Eugene Clancy of FoE MedNet has successfully terminated his term as CdS coordinator and Rafael Madueno of MedForum will be continuing for the next six months. MIO-ECSDE will be coordinator for the period of January-June 2002

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G. Core Funding 2001

The MIO-ECSDE proposal for 2001 Core Funding was approved by the European Commission and the funds will soon be transferred to the MIO-ECSDE account. This means that the 2001 Call for Proposals for the MIO-ECSDE MEDITERRANEAN ACTION DAY will soon be circulated to the MIO-ECSDE membership. This year Mediterranean Action Day - 2001 will be dedicated to "Water in the Mediterranean in view of the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development (Rio+10)". The results of the approved proposals will be presented as poster presentations at the GWP-Med Stakeholders Conference, to be organized by MIO-ECSDE in Cairo, Egypt, focusing on National Water Policies in the Mediterranean. The travel and accommodation expenses of one person from each participating organisation will be covered by MIO-ECSDE for this purpose.

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H. MIO-ECSDE participation in meetings

·         "International Congress for Battery Recycling" 2-3 May 2001, Montreux. Prof. M. Scoullos participated in the meeting both as an expert in heavy metals and as Chairman of MIO-ECSDE. MIO-ECSDE has formed a strong alliance with the battery producing and recycling industry and hopes to find the necessary additional financial support for a joint Mediterranean project on battery recycling schemes that it has formulated. So far the project has been submitted under the SMAP budget line of the European Commission.

·         European Rio+10 Coalition Second Annual Progress Conference: Tackling Poverty through Sustainable Agriculture, Energy, Finance, Trade, and People's Empowerment, 10-11 May 2001 Brussels. The Chairman, Prof. M. Scoullos actively contributed throughout and was moderator of the final session of the conference, Session 9: Next Steps.

·         Presentation at the NGO Forum of the 3^rd UN Conference on LDCs, 14 May, Brussels, Belgium. This meeting was a follow-up of the above meeting. Prof. M. Scoullos attended representing the federation.

·         Ones Mediterrania Award and Mediterrania Honorific Award, 8 June 2001, Tarragona, Spain. Apart from the Chairman Prof. M. Scoullos, Executive Bureau Member E. Adly and Prof. M. Ftouhi attended the event and also Alex Vocca representing Sergio Illuminato (see also above item 1)

·         National Focal Points Meeting of the CCD Annex V countries, 18 June 2001, Athens, Greece

·         Terraculta, 22-23 June 2001, Serpa, Portugal. This international meeting was organised by ETNIA and the Municipality of Serpa and was attended by Anastasia Roniotes who represented MIO-ECSDE as an organisation with a very wide representation in the Mediterranean, which rather uniquely brings together issues relating to environment, culture and sustainability.

·         3^rd SMAP Correspondents Meeting, 25-26 June 2001, Brussels, Belgium (see also above item 4)

·         CdS Meeting, 25 June 2001, Brussels, Belgium (see also above item 5) 

·         European Partners for the Environment (EPE) Breakfast meeting: After the Göteborg European Council : The Belgian Presidency and the Sustainability Agenda, 25 June 2001, Brussels. The Chairman Prof. Scoullos attended the meeting, which was presented by the Belgian Delegation Members and introduced by Mr Günther Sleeuwagen, Belgian Ambassador for Environment and Sustainable Development.

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