Environment Group

North Sea Commission Environment Group

Minutes of the Annual Meeting held in Blankenberge, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium.

November 8th, 2002

 PRESENT:
Chair Gunn-Marit Helgesen, Telemark fylkeskommune, Norway
Vice chair Alison McInnes, Aberdeenshire Council, Scotland
NSCEG Co-ordinator Per Hörberg, Västra Götaland region, Sweden

Belgium:
Prov. West-Vlaanderen Kathy Belpaeme

Denmark:
Nordjyllands Amt Henrik Ringbæk Madsen, Bent Hjort Knudsen
Sønderjyllands Amt Jens Andresen

England:
Norfolk County Council Graham King
Suffolk County Council Jerry Hindle
Northamptonshire County Council Jim Wade

Germany
Land Niedersachsen Klaus Wenn

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

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

 Scotland:       
Highland Council Kathleen Matheson, Gordon Summers
Aberdeenshire Council Allan Garvie

Sweden:
Landstinget Halland Anita Persson, Sten Liljedahl
Swedish Ass. of Local Authorities Christer Eriksson

IN ATTENDANCE:
NSC Secretariat Karen Greve Somerset

1. Opening of meeting.
The chair welcomed all participants and thanked Euregio Scheldemond for hosting the meeting and the Conference 2002.

2. Apologies
Susy Lauesen, Nordjyllands Amt, Rick Nickerson, Shetland Islands, David Wood, Suffolk County Council, Kristina Jonäng, Västra Götaland region, Henrik Jensen, NSC secretariat.

3. Adoption of Agenda
The Agenda was adopted with item 10 inserted before item 8.

4. Minutes of last meeting.
The Minutes of last meeting (Varberg, October 5th, 2001), distributed by e-mail November 2001, were agreed as a true record.

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

6. Annual Report 2001-2002.
The Annual Report, distributed on Oct. 17th with the confirmation e-mail for the NSCEG Conference 2002, was approved.

A number of comments were made:

• The co-ordinator´s question about the value of updating NSCEG Member Profiles was clearly answered: ”keep doing it!”.
• North Jutland´s question about the absence of Danish political observers in the NSC delegation at the 5th North Sea Conference was answered: ”the delegation was very limited in numbers and when the NSC president was unable to attend, the task went to the vice president and politicians and officers from relevant thematic groups, together with a representative from the secretariat.”

7. Conference 2002, evaluation
The statement proposed by the Conference was adopted after discussion and minor linguistic editorial changes. The PWG will decide how to forward the statement further. (Statement available on NSC website, http://www.northsea.org/)

The speakers were found to have given good presentations and – in a panel – good contributions to the Political Visioning workshop. The technical workshop generated good discussions and exchange of experience. (For speaker presentations and reports from workshops, see NSC website! http://www.northsea.org/)

All arrangements were found to be excellent.

8. Working methods of NSCEG, future meetings, etc.
A proposal by vice chair Alison McInnes had been distributed before the meeting. The intentions of this were discussed and generally approved of. However, the intended raised level of ambition and increased activity for the group between annual conferences was considered somewhat difficult to achieve.

The conclusion was that the Conferences are – and should be – the main event of the year, a.o. to attract more delegates to the Annual Meetings.

A long term solution is needed to support the co-ordinator. Proposals for a sharing of the workload should be made in the Work Programme for 2003. Maybe also some more efforts by the Executive Committee – or other bodies – to fund the thematic group co-ordinators would be possible.

9. Projects - reports & new ideas, applications for a.o. Interreg IIIB.
The following projects were developed within the networks of the NSCEG and have applied for Interreg IIIB funding

(NOTE, Nov. 28th: - and have subsequently been approved):

Water City International II, NOLIMP-WFD (implementing the Water Framework Directive), Nave Nortrail (the North Sea coastal path), PURE (development of small rivers bordering on urban areas), FLOWS (floodings).

The Sustainable Transports project has been postponed, awaiting an evaluation of an ongoing similar Scottish project.

Lars Haukvik informed that the Green Purchasing project is meeting in December to further develop the project and try to meet the I3B “spatial development” criteria.

Mobility in National Parks will have an application ready in March, led by Provincie Groningen.

The Rural Development project stemming out of NSCEG Conference 2001, tentatively named “Village of the Future” and led by Viborg Amt, is hoping for an application in March.

Suffolk County Council was involved in HomeZone, a project on rural transports.

The successful Interreg IIC project TENS had had its follow-up bid rejected.

NOTE: Applicants were strongly advised to scrutinise their bids carefully and to have contact with their national level before sending applications to the Interreg IIIB secretariat.

10. NSCEG Work Programme 2003.
No proposal was presented by the Project Working Group nor by the co-ordinator. It was considered there was a need for a wide discussion at the Annual Meeting. The discussion generated a list of priorities, from which the PWG was expected to make a further selection:

Sustainability Indicators and Environmental Training (priorities from the Porsgrunn Challenge Review 2001), Integrated Coastal Zone Management, de-commissioning of obsolete oil installations, Water Framework Directive, radioactive discharges from Sellafield, Wind/Renewable Energy. 

The NSC secretariat pointed out that the NSC Vision to Action document proposes the arranging of one ”high profile conference” each year, an opportunity for all Thematic Groups. In 2003 this was planned to focus on fisheries, a topic which was brought up at the Annual Meeting as a potential priority also for the NSCEG.

It was noted that at Annual Meeting 2003, there should be a proposal for a Work Programme 2004 prepared in advance by the PWG.

11. Election of Project Working Group members (one repr. + subst. from each NSC country).
Norway. Sverre Fosse, deputy Lars Haukvik

Scotland: Gordon Summers, deputy Allan Garvie

Denmark: Susy Lauesen, deputy ? (Sönderjyllands Amt will report back whether they can undertake this)

Belgium: ?, deputy Kathy Belpaeme (who will look for other regular PWG member)

England: Jerry Hindle, deputy Graham King

The Netherlands: Hans van Meerendonk, deputy Jan Kunst (if approved by Provincie Groningen)

Germany: Klaus Wenn, deputy ? (KW will investigate if Hansestadt Bremen or Land Schleswig-Holstein would like to undertake this)

Sweden: Sten Liljedahl, deputy Christer Eriksson        

12. Next Annual Meeting + Conference 2003
It was discussed whether to move the annual event to the spring season 2003, a.o. to avoid interference with other environmental events for regional politicians. The theme was also discussed briefly. However, time and theme were left to the PWG and the hosts to decide.

13. Reports.
13.1 The NSC General Assembly had been reported under earlier items.

Karen S added that the Executive Committee wants the CPMR to ask for observership to OSPAR, a task which then should be delegated to the NSC.

13.2 The 5th North Sea Conference had been reported under earlier items.

Per H added that next Ministerial Meeting for North Sea Environmental Ministers will be held in Sweden in 2005 or 2006 on the topics of environmental impacts of shipping and fisheries. 

13.3 The CPMR General Assembly; Gunn Marit Helgesen reported on resolutions and debates on a.o. transport and environment, as well as about her attempt to be elected president of CPMR.

13.4 Per H reported on the EPRO (Environment’s Platform of Regional Offices) and their representatives in various expert groups, initiated by the European Commission. Hans v M reported that he was an expert on an expert group on water.

13.5 The Gauteng Declaration; Per H reported on this outcome of the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg. (declaration previously e-mailed to the NSCEG). The declaration is signed by 23 regions and 4 interregional organisations, a.o. CPMR. A global network of regions will be formed through planned meetings in London and San Sebastian (the Basque country, Spain).

14. Any Other Competent Business
Hans v M announced a ”water event” to be held in Japan next year. He is invited and possibly a film about the Water City International project will be shown there.

Minutes by
Per Hörberg
NSCEG co-ordinator
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