Environment Group

North Sea Commission Environment Group

Minutes of the Annual Meeting held at Leeuwarden, Fryslân, the Netherlands on November 14th, 2003

PRESENT: 
Vice chair Alison McInnes, Aberdeenshire Council, Scotland
Vice chair Peter Byman, Provincie Fryslân, The Netherlands
NSCEG Co-ordinator Per Hörberg, Region Västra Götaland, Sweden

Belgium: 
Prov. West-Vlaanderen Kathy Belpaeme

Denmark:
Nordjyllands Amt Henrik Ringbaek Madsen, Susy Lauesen
Sönderjyllands Amt Henrik G Jörgensen

England:
East Midlands Ruth Fish
East of England Michael Allen
Norfolk County Council Roy Banham, Graham King
Suffolk County Council Julian Swainson, David Wood, Jerry Hindle

Germany:
Land Niedersachsen, Weser-Ems Klaus Wenn

The Netherlands:
Provincie Fryslân/Samenwerkingsverband Noord-Nederland Hans van Meerendonk

Norway:
Aust-Agder fylkeskommune Oddvar Skaiaa, Sverre Fosse
Telemark fylkeskommune Lars Haukvik 
Østfold fylkeskommune Andreas Lervik, Torhild Kongsness

Scotland:
Aberdeenshire Council Allan Garvie
Shetland Islands Council Frank A. Robertson

Sweden:
Landstinget Halland Sten Liljedahl
Region Västra Götaland Niklas Wennberg

IN ATTENDANCE:  
NSC Secretariat Karen Greve Somerset 

1. Opening of meeting
The vice chair Alison McInnes welcomed all participants and thanked Provincie Fryslân for hosting the meeting and the Conference 2003.

2. Apologies
NSCEG Chair Gunn-Marit Helgesen, Telemark fylkeskommune, Norway, Gordon Summers, Highland Council, Scotland, Jan Kunst, Provincie Groningen, The Netherlands.

3. Adoption of Agenda
The Agenda was adopted. The co-ordinator explained the purpose of the Annexes to the Annual Report, Annex 3 being background information for the discussion under item .

4. Minutes of last meeting
Minutes of last meeting (Blankenberge, Nov. 8th 2002), distributed by e-mail 8th January 2003, were agreed as a true record.

5. Matters arising
No comments were made as a result of last year's Minutes.

6. Annual Report 2002-2003
The Annual Report 2002-2003 (distributed with Conference confirmation e-mail on Oct. 21st), was approved. In addition to the distributed version of the Annual Report, the co-ordinator informed that no work had been done on one of the first items on the Work Programme for 2002, environmental training.

7. Conference 2003, evaluation
All arrangements were found to be excellent.
The number of participating politicians (more than 15) was considered encouraging.
The topic "Climate Change and Biodiversity" was felt to be a very difficult one. Nevertheless much appreciation was expressed at the ability of the four speakers to make a difficult topic accessible to a "layman audience".
Several participants agreed on comments like "now it´s the task for us politicians to explain this at home in a language which our voters can understand, and raise awareness." This task should also be reflected in the NSCEG Work Programme 2004, somehow.
The importance of the conference theme should also be conveyed to other NSC Thematic Groups.
It could also be important to try to get issues regarding biodiversity into a potential future Interreg IV programme. To get support for projects to, for instance, create the necessary "corridors" between various biotopes and habitats.

The activity in the workshops was considered very positive. The outcome of the Political Visioning workshop was presented to the plenary on Friday morning, supplemented by results from some of the Technical workshops.
A CD with the presentations of the speakers and other material will be distributed by the host to all participants - and to all members of the NSCEG.

8. Projects - reports & new ideas, potential applications for a.o. Interreg IIIB
Aberdeenshire is starting project with WWF to look at "ecological footprints", other regions welcome to connect to that. English regions have similar initiatives.

Västra Götaland has Interreg IIIB initiative on sustainable transports, SustAccess, where potential partners in all North Sea countries have been identified, Main themes: improve accessibility for goods and passenger transports between gateway cities and their hinterlands.

Andrew Watkinson, one of Conf. 2003 speakers, had idea for Interreg IIIB Western Europe initiative. (Hans v M has details.)

9. NSCEG Work Programme 2004 (draft distributed by e-mail on Nov. 5th)
The co-ordinator presented the general outline of the WP: activities agreed as priorities from the Porsgrunn Challenge Review 2001, other activities linked to the Porsgrunn Challenge Review 2001, activities required by North Sea developments and Outstanding from WP 2003.
Various members reported on activity - or lack of activity - during 2003.
Jerry Hindle agreed to be responsible for activities/information on Coastal Zone Management, when Kathy Belpaeme has to leave the PWG because of Euregio Scheldemond leaving the NSC.
The co-ordinator was instructed to revise the draft WP 2004 according to the outcome of the meeting´s discussions.

10. Election of Project Working Group members (repr. + subst. from each NSC country)
The members from the respective country elected, as their representatives in the NSCEG PWG:

Norway: Sverre Fosse, Lars Haukvik
Sweden: Sten Liljedahl (deputy to be discussed between Västra Götaland and Region Halland)
The Netherlands: Hans van Meerendonk, Jan Kunst
Denmark: Susy Lauesen, Henrik G. Jörgensen
Engalnd: Jerry Hindle, Graham King
Scotland: Allan Garvie, Gordon Summers
Belgium: uncertain whether there will be any Belgian member regions 2004
Germany: Klaus Wenn, no deputy elected

11. Next Annual Meeting + Conference 2004
Oddvar Skaiaa, councillor of Aust-Agder fylkeskommune, extended an invitation from the Norwegian members to host next year´s meeting. This was gratefully accepted by the AGM.
Themes proposed were

• "sustainable innovation" in the sense that environmental and social considerations can contribute to industrial and regional development,
  
• environmental education, to be developed with the NSC Education & Research Group.

There was also a proposal that other NSC Thematic Groups would be invited to report on their work at Conf. 2004. Theme and arrangements will be developed further by the PWG in co-operation with the Norwegian host.

(NOTE; as of December 2003 it appears that the host will be Aust-Agder fylkeskommune and the event will be held in the town of Arendal. Dates: October 21-23, 2004! The most likely theme, following discussion in the PWG on Nov. 15, will be "sustainable innovation".)

12. Reports
12.1 NSC General Assembly, Cuxhaven, Niedersachsen, Germany, June 18-20

The co-ordinator reported that two separate environment study trips had covered the issues of oil protection and wind energy and each attracted 15-20 participants. (A report from the oil pollution trip is available at : www.northsea.org under Thematic Groups, Environment)

12.2 CPMR General Assembly, St. Malo, France, September 10-12

The co-ordinator reported that a half day seminar was held on the theme of sustainable development, SD. The co-ordinator had presented NSC sustainability work, including the Porsgrunn Challenge.

The CPMR intends to form an Intercom Group on SD, led by the Spanish region of Catalunya. A first ad hoc meeting gathered interested regions from Spain, England, France, Italy, Norway and Sweden. A questionnaire for CPMR members is planned, to prepare for further activities. The present regions agreed that one priority for the Intercom Group would be to work on integrating the three aspects of SD, economic, social and ecological.

Another issue would be to prepare CPMR positions for the global network of regional governments for SD, nrg4SD, where CPMR is an active member. This network was also discussed during the half day seminar in St. Malo.

NSC resolutions were generally not dealt with separately but included in the Final Document from the CPMR General Assembly. The NSC resolution demanding a moratorium on discharges of Tc-99 from Sellafield was not brought forward at all, because it at the time seemed as if there would actually be a such a moratorium.

12.3 CPMR seminar on Maritime Safety, Nantes,. France, October 13-14

No report in the absence of the chair, who had participated in Nantes.

12.4 Next North Sea Ministerial Meeting, Issue Group on Sustainable Shipping, IGSS

The co-ordinator reported on two meetings of the IGSS during 2003. The summary record of the second one had been distributed as Annex 2 to the NSCEG Annual Report. Next IGSS meeting will be in the Shetland Islands on March 9-10, where a.o. "the Clean Ship approach" will be developed further under the lead of Norway and The Netherlands. All documents from the IGSS are available from the co-ordinator.

12.5 Others
The co-ordinator reported on the new "subgroup on renewable energy and business development", which has emerged out of the NSC Economic Development Group. After preparatory meetings before the summer, a first meeting was held in Suffolk, England on Nov. 4-5 on the theme of wind energy. Next meeting will deal with biomass energy and be held in Göteborg, Västra Götaland, on February 4-5 2004.

Frank A. Robertson of Shetland Islands reported on the North Atlantic Conference held in Lerwick on October 1-2. Emphasis was on fishing and participation was mainly non-political. Learning from Canadian experiences, it will be important to raise awareness and influence decision makers on the fishery and sustainability issues which the countries must address.

13. Any Other Competent Business
No such business.

14. Next Meeting

Next NSCEG Annual Meeting will be held in connection with the Conference 2004 in October in Norway.

Minutes by Per Hörberg, co-ordinator of NSCEG
Phone: +46-(0)33 17 48 26
Fax: +46-(0)33 17 48 05
e-mail: per.horberg@vgregion.se
2003-12-19