Environment Group
Annual Report from the NSC Environment Group to the NSC Annual
Business Meeting, June 21, 2002.
This report follows the Work Programme of the NSCEG for 2002, which
is available at the NSC website at: http://www.northsea.org/groups/environment/documents/Workprog2002.doc
Since
the previous NSC General Assembly the NSCEG has held one meeting of the full
group, in Varberg, Halland, Sweden (see below!). The Project Working Group (PWG)
has had three meetings: October 2001 in Varberg, Halland, Sweden, January
2002 in Inverness, Highland, Scotland, April 2002 in Aarhus, Denmark. All
meetings of the PWG were led by the political chair or vice chair and
attended by a representative of the NSC secretariat.
The April meeting of the PWG was held in connection with the joint
Conference on Sustainable Transports in Aarhus (see below!). To this meeting
all members of the NSCEG, as well as other NSC environmental contact
persons, were invited. However, only regular PWG members participated, plus
the host from Aarhus Amt.
• Porsgrunn Challenge Review 2001;
A
sustainability questionnaire among NSC members was carried out to review the
implementation of the Porsgrunn Challenge, the sustainability document of
the NSC.
The
analysis and report, with recommendations for future action, is available
at: http://www.northsea.org/groups/environment/documents/porsgrunnreport_01.pdf
These
recommendations were adopted by the NSCEG Annual Meeting, October 2001, and
incorporated in the NSCEG work programme 2002. A.o recommendation 13:
The PWG should continue to promote partnership groups to cover the following
themes as a matter of priority: Sustainability Indicators and auditing,
Training on sustainability, Green purchasing.
The
outcome of the questionnaire was presented to the NSC Executive Committee
meeting in December 2001 by consultant Jonathan FS Young, who prepared the
report.
With
the first sustainability questionnaire in 1999 some 30 North Sea regions
have now reported on the progress of their sustainability work. A new review
will be undertaken in 2003.
• The NSCEG Annual Meeting and Conference 2001;
This was hosted by Landstinget Halland and the Västra Götaland
Region on October 4-6 in Varberg, Halland, Sweden. The topic of the
Conference was ”The change in Agriculture and its Environmental Impacts”,
in accordance with the priorities defined by the ”Political Visioning”
workshop of Conference 2000. A full report has been distributed to all NSC
members, to all participants and to other interested parties. The report is
available on the NSC website at: http://northseao.org/groups/environment/documents/NSCEG
Conf. 2001 Report.pdf
Five
workshops concluded the first Conference day, including the special session
on ”Political Visioning, objectives and priorities with a change in
agriculture ”, aimed particularly at our elected members. This workshop
was organised on request, as a result of the highly successful such workshop
held at Conference 2000. The other workshops dealt
with ”Changes in landscapes, biodiversity”, ”Future agriculture
and its environmental impacts”, ”Diversification;
ideas for a sustainable economy in rural areas”
and ”Ecological food production and marketing”.
The participants of the ”Political Visioning” workshop
concluded that it is not valid to talk of ”only” agriculture and
environment; one must address these problems in an integrated way, as part
of ”Rural Development”, involving many different aspects. This
conclusion was adopted by the Conference in plenary.
In accordance with this conclusion, the NSCEG invited the NSC to
consider future work on Rural Development. This has now been taken forward
by the NSC Executive Committee and Viborg Amt in the shape of an Interreg
IIIB proposal being developed.
The two study trips to the Getterön bird observatory (part of the
Interreg IIc project ”Wetlands in Spatial Planning”) and to the Ästad
farm illustrated various ways – in addition to farming – to make use of
natural resources to develop rural areas.
• Conference on Sustainable Transports;
An initiative from the NSC Communications Group, supported by the
Executive Committee, the joint Conference on Sustainable Transports was held
in Aarhus, Denmark, on April 18-19, 2002. The purpose was to focus on how
future transports can be made more long term sustainable than today´s
transport system, and to provide regional politicians and planners with a
”tool box” with sustainable solutions tried in other North Sea regions.
Close to 100 persons and organisations participated and profited from
inspiring presentations and workshop examples.
An Interreg IIIB project has been proposed as a way to deal with
this issue more permanently.
• NSCEG Member
Profiles;
The NSCEG Member Profiles were updated in August 2001 and are now
available on the NSC Home Page.
The purpose is to facilitate for colleagues in various fields and
in all NSCEG regions to find each other directly. All NSC members are
invited to supply information for future updates to NSCEG consultant
Jonathan F. Young at e-mail: oldbraco@aol.com.
• Projects;
A
number of co-operation projects have been developed through the network of
NSCEG members. Among those having secured – or still aiming for –
Interreg IIIB support are:
-
Water Cities International II,
-
Sustainability
and Waste Prevention,
-
Green Purchasing,
-
Forum Skagerrak II.
• Observership at the 5th North Sea Conference in
Bergen, Norway;
The NSC was represented at the 5th North Sea Conference,
”5NSC”, on March 20-21 by NSCEG chair Gunn Marit Helgesen, Councillor of
Telemark fylkeskommune, Norway. The NSC delegation comprised politicians and
officers from member regions in Norway, Scotland and Sweden as well as a
representative of the NSC secretariat.
The 5NSC was a conference of North Sea Environmental
Ministers who evaluated the
implementation of decisions made at earlier North Sea Conferences, notably
the one in Esbjerg in 1995 (The Esbjerg Declaration, stating a.o. "the
generation goal" for the elimination of discharges of hazardous
substances, etc.) and the Intermediate Meeting of Environmental and
Fisheries Ministers in Bergen in 1997.
The NSC has taken part in the preparations for 5NSC for several
years, along with other stakeholder organisations representing
industry, fishermen, nature conservation, regional and local authorities,
etc. The NSC has also contributed to the contents of the Bergen Declaration,
available in English at: www.northseaconference.no
NOTE:
a 5th North Sea Conference ”Main outcome” is distributed to
NSC General Assembly participants, together with the NSC press release
commenting on the 5NSC.
The
NSCEG has taken part in the drafting of a SAVOS resolution proposal to the
General Assembly, commenting on the North Sea Conference.
• Service to the NSC Executive Committee and secretariat, as well
as to CPMR.
The co-ordinator took part in a number of meetings with the
secretariat and the other Thematic Group co-ordinators. The co-ordinator
also assisted the secretariat with material for the NSC Newsletter, as well
as in the preparation of information material.
Contribution to Executive Committee ”Political Visioning”:
The NSCEG has, along with other thematic groups, taken part in the
drafting of the new ”From Vision to Action” document, prepared by the
Executive Committee and the NSC secretariat.
Contribution to information meeting for English members:
The NSCEG participated in an NSC event to inform English members of
its activities, through PWG member Hans van Meerendonk, Friesland, who
related the positive Dutch experiences from project co-operation.
Contribution to CPMR work:
The
co-ordinator has co-operated with the CPMR secretariat in the preparation of
various statements, presentations and position papers on topics like Agenda
21, EU Governance, Northern Dimension.
Members of the NSCEG have
taken part in the starting work of the new CPMR Intercom Group on
Environment.
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