| 1.
WORKING TOWARDS THE JOHANNESBURG WORLD
SUMMIT ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
United
Nations Economic Council for Europe
(UNECE) 1st Regional Consultative
Meeting for the WSSD (Geneva, 12-13
July, 2001)
MIO-ECSDE
has been very much involved in the
preparations for the 2002 World Summit
on Sustainable Development within
the UN ECE region. The Chairman actively
participated in the first PrepCom
in July (Geneva, 12-13 July) and in
the ad hoc NGO coalition, which held
a meeting on the 11th.
In
the meeting all key priorities and
important issues were raised. However,
due to serious differences of opinion
and background policies between the
Europeans and the Americans as well
as between more and less developed
countries within the region, the meeting
didn’t succeed in capturing and expressing
a coherent and solid view progressive
enough to dominate in Johannesburg.
The views of the attending NGOs largely
coincided with those of the EU and
therefore the tensions are the aforementioned
ones. In view of these problems, a
Friends of the Chair Group was formed
to work on a new draft, which is now
available on the UN ECE website. This
draft Ministerial Statement (CEP/AC.
12/2001/5 of 3 August 2001) is a genuine
attempt to capture everything in a
relatively balanced way. In the meantime
comments have been made to it and
those of MIO-ECSDE have all been considered.
Perhaps
some new initiatives for poverty eradication
and some initiatives at global level
on Integrated Water Resources Management
and energy linked with eco-efficiency
in industries may emerge. The confirmation-application
of the Kyoto Protocol and the raising
of ODA to 0,7% of GDP might still
present difficulties. The new deal
should include, in our opinion, also
public participation and awareness
components where also investment in
formal and informal education and
particularly Education for Environment
and Sustainability should play a crucial
role.
The
ECE Committee on Environmental Policy
is holding an open-ended Drafting
Group of the Regional Consultative
Meeting for the World Summit on Sustainable
Development again in Geneva (3-4 September)
in order to prepare the final draft
to be submitted to the Ministerial
Meeting later in the month 27-29 September.
An NGO pre-meeting on the 2nd of September
has been organised as well. During
the latter meeting an NGO commentary
to the new draft ministerial declaration
will be discussed, as well as a floor
management plan for lobbying activities.
North Africa Sub regional meeting
(UMA) for the WSSD
The
Co-Chairman of MIO-ECSDE, Prof. Y.
Nouri will be representing MIO-ECSDE
at the North Africa Sub-regional meeting,
which will be held in Tunis on September
5th 2001. He will also be making a
presentation during the meeting. Items
foreseen on the agenda are the role
of civil society in applying Agenda
21, Water in the Mediterranean basin,
etc. The outcome of the meeting will
be reported in the next bulletin and
issue of Sustainable Mediterranean.
Further
information on the meeting: Abdessalem
Kallala (kallala2000@yahoo.fr)
Multi-stakeholder consultation meeting
prior to the 12th Ordinary Meeting
of the Contracting Parties to the
Barcelona Convention (Monte Carlo,
14-17 November) in order to facilitate
the drafting of a common Mediterranean
statement in view of the Johannesburg
WSSD (Monaco, 12-13 November 2001).
In
the past weeks MIO-ECSDE proposed
to UNEP/MAP to hold jointly with the
Government of Monaco as well, a 2-day
multi-stakeholder consultation meeting
prior to the 12th Ordinary Meeting
of the Contracting Parties to the
Barcelona Convention (Monte Carlo,
14-17 November) with the purpose of
facilitating the drafting of a single
Mediterranean message formulated by
all of the region’s key stakeholders
which should be articulated taking
into account the outcome of all the
related meetings preceding it. The
document is to be presented to the
12th Ordinary Meeting of the Contracting
Parties and eventually to the Johannesburg
WSSD.
The
organisers are MIO-ECSDE (through
EU support), UNEP/MAP and the Gov.
of Monaco (if they agree). We got
a positive response from UNEP/MAP
and they will support the event. But
we need matching funds so we have
applied to the Gov. of Monaco as mentioned
above (no answer yet).
We
have not yet secured the necessary
funds but If we do then the meeting
will take place on the 12th and 13th
of November and everyone is welcome
to be active and contribute as there
is a lot of work to be done.
In
any case there will not be enough
money to have a large meeting in order
to draft the paper during the meeting.
Basically the Drafting Committee will
meet on these two days, which will
have representatives from all Mediterranean
stakeholders, to finalise a document
that will have been circulated widely
for input after Antallya. At this
point we foresee 4-5 NGOs to be on
the drafting Committee. The background
docs will be the Antallya output,
the outcome of the Regional UN WSSD
Prep Meetings for Europe (UN ECE),
North Africa, West Asia, the EU contribution
to the Rio+10 process, etc.
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2.
MIO-ECSDE PARTICIPATION IN MEETINGS
Implementing
the EU Sustainable Development Strategy,
Brussels, July 9 2001.
The conference was organized by the
European Environmental Bureau in co-operation
with the Belgian Presidency. The Chairman
of MIO-ECSDE, Prof. M. Scoullos participated
in the meeting and partook in the
discussions relating to the assessment
of the Gothenburg Summit result, the
next steps to be taken, etc. The Chairman
stressed the need for the Strategy
to reflect the views and needs of
the South EU States and of the Mediterranean
as a whole. Also he pointed out that
the issue of water is totally lacking.
Furthermore, he noted that the Euro-Mediterranean
Partnership which is a response to
implementing sustainable development
in the Mediterranean region must be
enhanced both in principle and in
practice by making the existing tools
productive.
Overall,
the EU Strategy for Sustainable Development
ended up being a good one. However,
governments have not come with policies/timetables,
etc. for implementation. Nevertheless,
we hope that this “progressive” tendency
will keep its momentum.
World
Water Week in Stockholm (August 12-18,
2001).
The Chairman of MIO-ECSDE and MIO-ECSDE
Programme Officer/GWP-Med Coordinator
Mr. E. Constantianos attended the
many sessions and events. The Global
Water Partnership Annual Meeting also
took place during that week.
Training of Trainers on Sustainability
and Euro-Mediterranean Cooperation
(Sifnos, Greece, 16-30/8/2001).
The meeting was organised by Mediterranean
SOS and the Chairman contributed his
expertise in the session “Civil Society’s
role in Euro-Mediterranean cooperation:
local activities of NGOs and networking”.
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3.
SOME UP-COMING MEETINGS
- 1st
International Congress: “Sustainability
of Archeological Environments through
Cultural Events”, Nafplio,
Greece, 6-7 September 2001, co-organized
by MIO-ECSDE. Info: E. Constantianos,
tel: +301 3247490, 3247267, fax:
+301 3225240, e-mail: mio-ee-env@ath.forthnet.gr,
web-site: www.mio-ecsde.org
- Meeting
of MAP National Focal Points,
Athens, Greece, 11-14 September
2001
- 3ème
salon international du chauffage
au bois et du développement durable
- La Filière Bois-Energie de A à
Z, 13-16 Septembre, tél.:
03 84 47 81 00, fax: 03 84 47 81
19, e-mail: info@itebe-expo.com,
Site Internet: www.itebe-expo.com
- Workshop
on Collection Efficiency of Spent
Portable Rechargeable Ni-Cd Batteries,
Brussels, 20 September 2001. Organised
by CollectNiCad, tel.: 32 2 777
05 66, fax. + 32 2 777 05 65, e-mail:
collectnicad@tiscalinet.be
- Green/EFA
Seminar on Cohesion, Regional policy
and Enlargement, Thursday,
September 27, 2001, 9:30 AM – 1
PM, Room ASP 01 G 2- European Parliament,
Rue Wiertz, Brussels. Info: Gianluca
Solera, tel: +32.2.284 22 02, fax:
+32.2.230 78 37 gsolera@europarl.eu.int
- Good
Governance for Environment, Brussels,
27-28 September 2001. Organised
by the European Environmental Bureau.
Info: tel.: +322 2891090, fax: +322
2891099, e-mail: info@eeb.org,
web-site: www.eeb.org
- 2nd
Seminar on water reuse in the Mediterranean,
Rabat, 8-10 October 2001. Organised
by ONEP Info: +212 37650679, fax:
+212 37752377, e-mail:onepdlq@mtds.com
- International
Conference “Processes of citizen
participation in sustainability”,
22, 23 and 24 October 2001, Zaragoza,
Spain. Info: Fundacion San Valero,
Nieves Zubalez, tel.: +34 976 466599,
fax: +34 976 466590, e-mail: nzubalez@zvalero.es
- Eastern
Atlantic Monk Seal PHVA Workshop,
Valsain, Spain, 10-13 November 2001.
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MIO-ECSDE
Member Organisations, who have
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members 75$) can be paid by
bank cheque sent to the Secretariat
in Athens or by bank transfer
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103-4251-200-00062 (ECU) or
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