Environment Group
Report from the NSC Environment Group to the NSC
Annual Business Meeting, June 20th, 2003.
This report is based on the Work
Programme of the NSCEG for 2003, which is available at the NSC website at:
http://www.northsea.org under Thematic Groups, then Environment Group.
Since the previous NSC General
Assembly the NSCEG has held one meeting of the full group, in Blankenberge,
West-Vlaanderen, Belgium (see below!).
The Project Working Group (PWG) has
had two meetings: in November 2002 in Blankenberge and in April 2003 in
Esbjerg, Ribe Amt, 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 a joint meeting with the Fisheries Group (see
below!) to follow up on the theme of the successful Conference 2002, Wind
Energy. To these meetings all members of the NSCEG, as well as other NSC
environmental contact persons, were invited. Most regular PWG members
participated, plus delegates from three - four additional regions.
The NSCEG Annual Meeting and
Conference 2002;
Hosted by Euregio Scheldemond, consisting of the two Belgian provinces
West- and Oost-Vlaanderen and the Dutch province of Zeeland. The event took
place in Blankenberge on the Belgian coast, November 7 - 9. The topic was
”Wind energy – how and where?”, which attracted some 100 regional and
local delegates who feel this is a topic with great relevance. A full report
has been distributed to all participants and other interested parties.
Additional copies can be obtained from the NSC Secretariat.
Five workshops concluded the first
Conference day, including a special session of ”Political Visioning”,
aimed particularly at elected members. This workshop was organised on
request, as a result of highly successful such workshops at Conferences 2000
and 2001. Two issues dealt with in this workshop were ”Involvement of the
local and regional level in planning and decision making” and
”Acceptance and participation by the public”. The other workshops dealt
with ”Planning procedures/methods on land”, ”Planning
procedures/methods off shore”, ”Wind Energy as part of regional
development; Business opportunities and employment aspects” and
”Ownership of wind energy production”.
The Conference issued a
”Statement” (attached), developed by the ”Political Visioning”
workshop, where the participating regional and local politicians call for
national and international guidance concerning the issuing of permits for
establishment of offshore wind energy. This statement was supported by the
NSC Executive Committee at its meeting on March 21st.
It has turned out that OSPAR is
currently preparing such guidelines at the request of the North Sea
Environmental Ministers at their 5th North Sea Conference in 2002.
Expert consultants demonstrated
various tools for planning and decision making and the Interreg secretariat
promoted the possibility to seek EU funding for North Sea wind energy
projects.
The study trip to two Belgian wind
energy farms showed the potential but also the difficulties of wind energy
establishment on land. These two were linked to other industrial activities
(including a major port), where disturbance of the public was small but the
opportunities for expansion also relatively small.
Wind Energy/Joint meeting with
NSC Fisheries Group, Esbjerg, April 3rd.
Both groups wanted to follow up on the NSCEG Conference 2002, not least
the development of OSPAR guidelines, and invited a number of speakers to
further illustrate the issue of planning for off shore wind energy
development. The meeting was considered very interesting and discussions
have started about another possible joint event in early 2004.
The speakers in Esbjerg a.o. gave a
comparison of the legal framework and procedures in Europe concerning the
establishment of offshore wind energy, reflected the concerns of the fishing
industry and presented a method for organisational, economical and technical
evaluation of proposed offshore wind energy parks.
NSCEG Member Profiles;
The NSCEG Member Profiles were updated in April 2003 and are now
available on the NSC website at: http://www.northsea.org under Thematic
Groups, then Environment Group.
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 are developed through the network of
NSCEG members. Among those having secured – or still aiming for –
Interreg IIIB support are:
- Water Cities International II,
- NOLIMP-WFD (implementation of EU´s
water framework directive)
- MOPARK (mobility and national
parks)
- Forum Skagerrak II
- Sustainable Transports (this
proposal is a result of NSC´s joint Conference on Sustainable
Transports in Aarhus, Denmark, in April 2002. An invitation, signed by
the chairs of the Environment and Communications Groups, was sent to all
NSC members in April.)
- Green Purchasing,
Observership at the North Sea Conference process;
The NSC was represented at the 5th North Sea Conference in Bergen
2002, where North Sea Environmental Ministers a.o. decided to meet again no
later than 2006 to specifically discuss the environmental impacts of
fisheries and shipping. This next Ministerial Meeting is to be hosted by
Sweden and preparations are already underway in CONSSO (Committee of North
Sea Senior Officials). The NSCEG is representing the NSC in an ”Issue
Group for Sustainable Shipping” (IGSS), where two experts provided by the
Region Västra Götaland, Sweden, report to the NSCEG co-ordinator about
progress in the preparations of the Ministerial Meeting. (A 2 page report
from the first meeting of the IGSS is attached to this report.)
Service to the NSC Executive
Committee and secretariat, as well as to CPMR.
In December 2002 CPMR´s political bureau adopted a declaration
regarding maritime safety, prompted by the accident with the oil tanker
Prestige in November 2002. The NSC wanted to support this statement, and in
February 2003 the Environment and Communications Groups together drafted a
letter to all governments of the North Sea states. There the NSC emphasized
the importance of improved sytems for maritime safety and in particular the
need for stringent Port State Control of
all ships with hazardous cargo and/or a bad safety record. Response
has so far (May ´03) been received from Denmark, Norway Germany and the UK.
The co-ordinator also took part in a
number of meetings with the secretariat and the other Thematic Group
co-ordinators, a.o. to prepare study visits and workshops in connection with
the NSC General Assembly. The co-ordinator also assisted the secretariat
with material for the NSC Newsletter and website, as well as in the
preparation of information material.
Contribution to CPMR work:
The co-ordinator has taken part in discussions with the CPMR
secretariat regarding for instance the starting of a new CPMR Intercom Group
on Sustainable Development.
The co-ordinator also co-operated
with CPMR in its preparations for the World Summit on Sustainable
Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg in August - September 2002 and followed
the work going on to create a global network of regions: the Network of
Regional Governments for Sustainable Development, ”NRG4SD”. (CPMR is one
of the signatories of the Gauteng Declaration, adopted during the WSSD,
which is a basis for this global network.)
Borås, May 19th, 2003.
Per Hörberg, co-ordinator of the NSCEG
per.horberg@vgregion.se
Start
