European ECO-Forum News Digest

1. THIRD SESSION OF THE WORKING GROUP OF SENIOR OFFICIALS (WGSO-3) DISCUSSES AGENDA AND DOCUMENTS FOR BELGRADE MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE

The 3rd session of the Working Group of Senior Officials (WGSO-3) and meeting of Executive Committee took place on 12-13 October 2006 in Geneva. The main issue at WGSO-3 was status of preparation of different items to Sixth Environment for Europe Ministerial Conference, scheduled to take place on 10-12 October 2007 in Belgrade (see WGSO-3 documents at http://www.unece.org/env/efe/wgso/Belgrade/WGSOMeetings.htm).

European ECO-Forum was represented by: Victoria Elias (Eco-Accord), Chairperson of European ECO-Forum Coordination Board; Sascha Gabizon (Women in Europe for a Common Future), Coordinator of Health and Environment Issue Group; John Hontelez (European Environmental Bureau), Chair of Public Participation Campaign; and Mara Silina (European Environmental Bureau), Public Participation Campaign Coordinator.

SUMMARY of decisions (IN A CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER OF THE BELGRADE CONFERENCE - AS IT IS PLANNED)

The 6th Environment for Europe Ministerial Conference will be the "Conference of Implementation". All documents of the Belgrade conference will be divided into three categories:

Category 1 (for decisions to be taken by Ministers) - drafts should be submitted to the Secretariat by 15 January 2007 and be no longer then 8.500 words. These drafts will be reviewed by the Executive Committee on 14 February 2007 and then passed to the Committee on Environmental Policy (29 May 2007) and WGSO (30 May- 01 June) for final approval.

Category 2 (prepared by other organisations in three languages, but reproduced by the UN) - drafts should be submitted to the Secretariat by 1 May 2007. These drafts will also be passed to the Committee on Environmental Policy (29 May) and WGSO (30 May-01 June) for final approval.

Category 3 (no UN symbol) may be produced by participating organisations (should be approved by the WGSO) and distributed at the conference.

ALL THEMES OF THE AGENDA will be divided into 3 main clusters (according to 3 days of the conference):

DAY 1. Evaluation and Implementation - 10 October 2007

Morning

The Morning session will start with the official 1h opening ceremony followed by a plenary session on Assessment and Implementation (3 h), with will include:

Afternoon-PARALLEL PROCESSES- (This subtitle is still under discussion):

There is still a problem of the title "parallel processes" with regards to Biodiversity session. The PEBLDS was adopted within the "Environment for Europe" process in 1995 and since then develops as an integral part of the EfE. It was the United States that intended to block the decision on having biodiversity on Belgrade agenda and agreed only on the subtitle of "parallel processes". However, for PEBLDS it is considered to be a significant regress in recognition, if biodiversity is regarded as a "parallel process". The problem may still be solved via additional consultations between countries and interested organisations. The PEBLDS Bureau will meet on 20 November 2006 and may deal with this issue again.

The discussions on the Biodiversity session agenda continued. At the moment, there are biodiversity and agriculture, indicators, public participation, Econet and several other items proposed for the agenda of the session. However, for the 2 hour session significant reduction of a number of issues and concrete focus are needed.

DAY 2. Capacity Building and Partnerships - 11 October 2007

Morning: Capacity Building (4 hours)

EECCA PERSPECTIVES (Plenary session with key note speech; interactive discussion; conclusions)

SEE PERSPECTIVES (Plenary session with key note speech; interactive discussion; conclusions).

This will be based on the Joint Conclusions of SEE Ministerial Consultation. Topics mentioned by Croatia on behalf of the regional group were: environmental investments, climate change, environmental compliance, marine pollution, etc. Category of the document is not clear. EU was against the topic of environmental compliance, saying that the region will soon be accession countries and then they will need compliance with EU legislation.

Afternoon: Partnerships (4 hours)
(Plenary session with key note speech; interactive discussion; conclusions)

This is a very difficult part of the agenda, as it includes almost all sectoral themes. In case all of them stay, each will have 40 min for discussion. The situation with documents is also not clear. Everything depends on the preparation of drafts by 15 January. The themes are:

DAY 3. The Way Forward - 12 October 2007

The future of the "Environment for Europe" process (4 hours)

The future of EfE will again be on the agenda. However, there was still an old Kiev-2003 paper disseminated to the delegates. The timing did not allow discussing the issue in details. However, vice-Minister of Environment of Kazakhstan made a statement with the proposal to enlarge the EfE, invite China and other countries of Eurasia, add trade and other SD issues in the scope of the process and have the next SD summit in Astana.
The text is available at
http://www.unece.org/env/efe/wgso/Belgrade/
documents/WGSO/Kazakhstan.Proposals.EfE.en.pdf
The delegates and participants did not discuss this issue further.

As for the MINISTERIAL DECLARATION, it is planned to be limited to a number of issues. Other issues will be covered in CHAIRPERSON'S SUMMARY. There was no discussion on the content of Ministerial Declaration. Delegates agreed that the draft will be prepared by the Secretariat by end of December. Then the open-ended drafting group will meet on 15-16 February 2007, immediately after the next Executive Committee meeting.

The Conference will be closed at the special Closure of the Conference plenary session around noon on 12 October 2007.

The issue of PARTICIPATION, deadlines, etc. remains as agreed before.

Special attention at the WGSO-3 was given to the EfE Communication plan
(see http://www.unece.org/env/documents/2006/ece/
cep/ac.11/ece.cep.ac.11.2006.13.e.pdf)
The Communication plan includes production of different information materials, posters, etc., as well as a workshop for journalists for 2 days prior to the Ministerial Conference. This should ensure better coverage of the Conference and raising awareness of mass media on the issues of Belgrade- 2007. Almost all communication activities will be implemented by the Secretariat and the host country.

UPCOMING EVENTS OF THE PREPARATORY PROCESS

14-15 February 2007 - Meeting of Executive Committee: review of documents under Category 1 and general review of documents under Category 2, finalisation of the agenda;

15-16 February 2007 - First meeting of the Ministerial Declaration Drafting Group;

30 May - 1 June 2007 -WGSO - all documents for the Ministerial Conference should be adopted;

1 June 2007 - Executive Committee;

2-4 July 2007 - 2nd meeting of the Ministerial Declaration Drafting Group;

6 - 8 October 2007 - final WGSO and meeting of the Ministerial Declaration Drafting Group as part of it (if needed);

10-12 October 2007 - Sixth EfE Ministerial Conference in Belgrade.

For more information contact:
Victoria Elias
ECO-Forum CB Chair
Eco-Accord, Russia
E-mail: velias@mail.ru

2. WORKING GROUP OF SENIOR OFFICIALS DISCUSSES SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTION

On 12-13 October 2006, the third meeting of the Working Group of Senior Officials (WGSO) was held in Geneva. WGSO-3 focused on details of agenda of the Sixth Environment for Europe Ministerial Conference, scheduled to take place in Belgrade on 10-12 October 2007.

Sustainable consumption and production (SCP) will be on agenda on the 2nd day of Belgrade Conference, in the afternoon.

At the WGSO-3, Sweden presented the paper on SCP
(See http://www.unece.org/env/efe/wgso/Belgrade/documents/
WGSO/SCP.EfE.Oct.2006.3rd.wgso.pdf )
aimed to give special attention to the issues of sustainable consumption and production in South Eastern Europe (SEE) and Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia (EECCA) and give suggestions for the Belgrade Conference. Sweden said that the initiative to support and move the SCP further in Belgrade agenda is also supported by Austria, Switzerland and some other countries.

UNEP is working on mapping SCP in EECCA and SEE countries and will prepare a good practices paper which will be a Category 2 document.

However the countries mentioned above with a leading role of Sweden are suggesting to prepare a short, concise and targeted document with the status of Category 1 to provide a recommendation for a text to be adopted by the Ministers as part of the Ministerial Declaration. This document should take up findings from the Category 2 document. The focus of the Category 1 document will be in particular on SCP in EECCA and SEE countries. The document should be drafted by mid-January (as all Category 1 documents) and presented to Executive Committee at mid-February meeting.

US delegation opposed the proposal to have a Category 1 document on SCP. The US said that SCP is not a UNECE issue and cannot be dealt with in the framework of "Environment for Europe" process. According to them, SCP should be dealt with via UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) / Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) in the context of implementation of decisions taken at the World Summit on Sustainable Development, as well as via UNEP. The US said that they are against inclusion of SCP in the Ministerial Declaration.

Finland (as EU Presidency) supported SCP with the reasoning that this is a paper on environmental policy, which can be dealt with in the framework of the "Environment for Europe" process. Croatia, World Bank and the World Health Organisation said that they are very interested in this issue and support it.

European ECO-Forum said that sustainable consumption and production should be one of the central parts of the "Environment for Europe" process. ECO-Forum stressed that NGOs would like to see the Pan-European approach and be actively involved in the drafting of the Category 1 paper. Recalling earlier ECO-Forum suggestions and NGO Statements on this issue, ECO-Forum Chairperson presented ECO-Forum's paper on SPAC
(see http://www.unece.org/env/efe/wgso/Belgrade/documents/
WGSO/ECO.Forum.Statement.SCP.3rd.wgso.pdf ).
It focuses on a Pan-European regional framework and strategy to achieve sustainable production and consumption to be developed in the framework of "Environment for Europe" process. This paper was initially drafted by ANPED and finalized with the input of several ECO-Forum Issue Groups with a number of comments received from SEE region and from EECCA region via the EAP Issue Group mailing list.

At the end of the SCP discussion at WGSO Germany took the floor on the categories of the documents and stressed that first WGSO should see draft documents and then decide which documents should go to the Ministerial agenda and which should not.

At the moment the work on SCP Category 1 document will continue. The first draft should be ready by mid-January 2007. ECO-Forum made it very clear that it was interested to participate in the drafting.

Please send all comments and contributions to:
Jeffrey Barber
European ECO-Forum SPAC Issue Group Coordinator
Integrative Strategies Forum, USA
E-mail: jbarber@isforum.org

For more information on WGSO-3 session contact:
Victoria Elias
European ECO-Forum CB Chair
Eco-Accord Center, Russia
E-mail: velias@mail.ru

3. EUROPEAN ENVIRONMENT AGENCY LAUNCHES PUBLIC CONSULTATION ON DRAFT BELGRADE REPORT

The European Environment Agency (EEA) is currently undertaking public consultation on the content of the Belgrade State of the Environment Report. The report will be presented at the ministerial conference "Environment for Europe", Belgrade, 10-12 October 2007.

As requested by ministers in Kiev, the new report should be short and policy oriented. It should be indicator based. It should be responding to the Belgrade agenda and assessing progress on EECCA Environmental Strategy. It should be based on recent information.

The report is a collaborative effort of 52 countries and many international organisations under the leadership of EEA. All target groups interested in making a valid contribution to the process are invited to provide comments.

Most chapters of the draft Belgrade report are available in English and Russian at
http://belgrade-consultation.ewindows.eu.org/reports/rep285401/

Comments are welcome before 3 December 2006.

For more information contact:
Adriana Gheorghe at EEA
E-mail: Adriana.Gheorghe@eea.europa.eu

4. THE FOURTH CEHAPE TASK FORCE MEETING ADDRESSES NATIONAL CEHAP PROCESSES

The Fourth meeting of CEHAPE Task Force took place in Limassol, Cyprus, on 16 - 17 October 2006. The Task Force is established in order to facilitate and stimulate implementation of the Children's Environment and Health Action Plan for Europe (CEHAPE), adopted by Budapest Environment and Health Ministerial Conference in 2004.

Representatives of 40 countries, EU, WHO, non-governmental organisations and youth took part in the meeting. Diana Iskreva from NGO Earth Forever (EFF, Bulgaria) represented European ECO- Forum. Austria and Sweden brought young people to the meeting, plus there were 2 young people who were previously elected by youth.

The countries shared their experience in preparing national CEHAPs. Cyprus and Armenia spoke of their national CEHAP processes. The representative of Cyprus noted that they relied on external funding (mainly EU) for the national CEHAP process. Armenia stressed that there is almost no funding for the national CEHAP process.

ECO-Forum raised a question about NGO and youth involvement in national CEHAP activities. The Armenian representative answered that intersectoral nature of the CEHAP was the most difficult. Though it is extremely difficult to work with NGOs and youth, they are trying to find ways to involve NGOs and to increase the intersectoral involvement.

The Austrian Chair shared the experience of his country. The National CEHAP Task Force in Austria is an intergovernmental body. The Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Health have prepared a draft CEHAP and communicated the draft with the public. They also have a special school mobility program managed by the Ministry of Environment. Austria will present their national CEHAP in June 2007 at the Intergovernmental Midterm Review Meeting in Vienna.

In Czech Republic, there will not be a separate national CEHAP document. They will incorporate CEHAP in various existing programs and action plans.

A special session was devoted to environment and health monitoring programs, with an emphasis on water monitoring programs. The Deputy Health Minister from Kyrgyzstan made a presentation stressing that priority of national CEHAP is supply of population with drinking water of high quality.

The countries shared their experience in implementation of CEHAPE Regional Priority Goal 1, to "prevent and significantly reduce the morbidity and mortality arising from gastrointestinal disorders and other health effects, by ensuring that adequate measures are taken to improve access to safe and affordable water and adequate sanitation for all children".

The European Commission spoke about the work on the revision of EU Drinking water directive, needed because of the enlargement and intended to address small suppliers. The 10 new countries have very different monitoring systems and problems that were never addressed in the existing EU legislation. In EU, 10% of population is served by small suppliers (serving less than 5000 people) and very small suppliers. Probably, they will introduce monitoring of less parameters, or may be other parameters (new generation of pesticides, radioactive substances, new microorganisms, some heavy metals like Cu, Pb, Ni). During the meeting, the UK, Swedish and Armenian governmental representatives expressed concerns about the quality and control connected with small suppliers.

ECO-Forum made a presentation on children' lack of access to safe drinking water and sanitation in rural areas of the EECCA region. ECO-Forum representative stressed the lack of adequate source protection (since water sources face pollution from animal manure, pit latrines, obsolete pesticide dumpsite, inadequate or lack of solid waste management, and in some regions industrial pollution). She described the experience of WECF and EFF in testing Affordable Solutions for protecting water sources, such as urine-diverting toilets and waste-water soil-filters, and composting of household bio wastes. The ppt presentation of ECO-Forum representative is available at http://www.wecf.org

The countries discussed ways to improve youth participation in CEHAP processes. UK stressed that youth can participate through the 'sustainable communities' program (government initiative) where the decisions that affect the community are taken by everybody living in that community. The REC CEE mentioned its school program, covering 100 schools in Europe. ECO-Forum called upon countries to work with country-based organizations working
with youth on health and environment issues. There have been suggestions to involve youth via NGOs.

The participants discussed preparation of and reporting to the Intergovernmental Midterm Review Meeting to take place on 14-15 June 2007 in Vienna.

Austria is preparing a youth event on 13 June 2007 in Vienna. The youth representatives at the meeting asked to have a preparatory youth workshop in February 2007.

ECO-Forum briefed the participants that NGOs are working to organize an NGO preparatory meeting in February in Brussels, and a 1-day NGO meeting in Vienna in June back-to-back with the youth event (the day before Intergovernmental Midterm Review meeting). However, NGOs are still fundraising for travel expenses of participants.

EU plans to organize a youth workshop in January 2007 in Luxemburg to build a youth network on environment and health and to encourage youth participation after the Budapest conference. Each member country will send 2 youth delegates to this meeting.

As suggested by Austrian Chair, there will be a best practice examples award in Vienna. It is intended to provoke actions in countries and to encourage presentations of good examples of CEHAPE implementation at the Intergovernmental Midterm Review Meeting. The organization of Intergovernmental Midterm Review Meeting will be further discussed at the next EEHC meeting to be held in Hungary on 27 -28 November 2006.

For more information contact:
Diana Iskreva
NGO Earth Forever, Bulgaria
E-mail: diskreva@gmail.com

Sascha Gabizon
Women in Europe for a Common Future
Coordinator of European ECO-Forum Health and Environment Issue Group
E-mail: sascha.gabizon@wecf.org

5. OECD GLOBAL FORUM ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT WILL DISCUSS PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS IN WATER SECTOR

OECD Global Forum on Sustainable Development "Public-Private Partnerships in Water Supply and Sanitation - Recent Trends and New Opportunities" will take place on 29-30 November 2006 in Paris.

This meeting will bring together private operators and government representatives from the OECD and developing countries to discuss the current status of public-private partnerships in water supply and sanitation sector. The meeting will also examine the possible policy measures that could enable the private sector to play a greater role in helping to achieve the water related Millennium Development Goals.

It will focus in particular on the possible role of new domestic private sector players that have been emerging in some parts of the developing world, as well as on possible ways to involve the private sector in the delivery of water services in rural and peri- urban areas, where the challenges posed by the Millennium Development Goals on water and sanitation are the most daunting.

For more information see
http://www.oecd.org/document/22/
0,2340,en_2649_201185_37456726_1_1_1_1,00.html

For more information contact:
Ecaterina Berghi
OECD Environment Directorate
E-mail: ecaterina.berghi@oecd.org

6. UNITAR INVITES APPLICATIONS FOR A NEW DISTANCE-LEARNING COURSE ON INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW

United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) will launch in 2007 a Basic Course on International Environmental Law. This new e-Learning course provides a general overview of international environmental law, introducing its fundamental principles, law making process, implementation and compliance, negotiations of environmental agreements and developments and trends in international environmental law. It is comprised of the following modules:

UNITAR's Basic Course on International Environmental Law will be offered free of charge as from February 2007. Applications are due before 5 January 2007. For more details see http://www.unitar.org/elp/e-learning/the_course.htm

For more information contact:
Marнa ORTIZ
United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR)
Environmental Law Programme
E-mail: Maria.ORTIZ@unitar.org