R E C I N V O L M E N T
The next summit of the Environment for Europe process will be the Fourth Ministerial Conference to be held in Aarhus, Denmark, in June of next year Ð expected to be a crucial step forward in the process which began at the 1991 conference in Dobris in the former Czechoslovakia. Its context will be cooperation between Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries themselves, cooperation between CEE and Western European countries, and ultimately, Pan-European environmental cooperation.During the conference, major political decisions are expected to be made concerning present priority environmental problems in the Newly Independent States (NIS), especially in the area of environmental financing, and concerning the use of economic instruments, public participation practices and agreements, and the future of the Environment for Europe process in the Pan-European context.
A number of important documents are now in the process of being prepared for signing or adoption by the ministers including, among others, the Convention on Access to Environmental Information and Public Participation in Environmental Decisionmaking, the European Strategy on Phasing Out Lead in Petrol, and new protocols under the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution.
The Regional Environmental Center regularly contributes to this process and preparations for the Aarhus Conference. In fact, by reviewing the Ministerial Declaration adopted during the 1995 Environment for Europe Conference in Sofia, Bulgaria, one discovers that nearly all of REC's activities are directly or indirectly linked to the Environment for Europe process. Activities include the Sofia Initiatives on Local Air Pollution, Environmental Impact Assessment, Economic instruments, Biodiversity conservation; National and Local Environmental Action Programs; capacity building activities; grants for NGOs; business-oriented initiatives; monitoring of public participation and participation in the negotiations of the Public Participation Convention; informal cooperation with the EU Accession countries; assistance to the establishment of the new REC for the NIS countries, and more.
Having extensively reported on the Sofia Initiatives in our Winter 1996 issue, The Bulletin will continue to highlight REC's main activities on the road to Aarhus, with this issue focusing on the initiative of the REC and the Danish Ministry of Environment and Energy to help NGOs prepare for the upcoming conference.
During the Sofia Conference, NGO representatives from CEE and the NIS played a significant role, exchanging official preparatory documents with governmental representatives, participating in official preparatory meetings and working groups, and attending the Ministerial Conference through elected delegations. NGOs also recommended that an NGO representative be included in the national delegation of every country - a suggestion which was respected by at least 20 countries. Successes of CEE and NIS NGOs were somewhat hampered, however, by the difficulties of reaching the conference and by the presence of the more experienced Western NGOs who tended to dominate the proceedings.
But the best practices and existing problems related to the implementation of international agreements, their reflection in national legislation and practices, mechanisms for NGO participation and access to justice in the field of public participation are yet to be discussed at the Aarhus conference, but much remains to be achieved.
Learning from the lessons of the Sofia Conference, the REC and the Danish Ministry of Environment and Energy prepared a Special Grant to address a request by CEE and NIS NGOs for international assistance to help them better prepare for the Aarhus Conference. This May, the REC grants program announced a Special Call for Tender on The Road to Aarhus, with a postmark deadline of July 7. The Call for Tender asks NGOs to form coalitions, communicate with the special NGO steering committee to the Aarhus conference, exchange information and data, meet to prepare position papers and try to reach consensus on priority issues, and develop and implement methods of informing and involving the public in the process - all of those elements which make up public participation in the environmental arena.
In order to ensure that NGO participation in the conference and the special session is effective and inclusive, the REC will provide grants of up to ECU 25,000 per project to allow NGOs to fully prepare for the Aarhus meeting and beyond.
The REC will convene an expert panel to evaluate the proposals with the evaluation based mainly on the quality of the action plan and budget, the capability of the lead NGO to perform the tasks described and to organize and manage a coalition, and the number of NGOs and stakeholders involved in the project. Grants will be awarded in the beginning of August this year.
