R O A D  T O  A A R H U S

• Next step for NGOs on Road to Aarhus could have been better

  In order to create a common agenda for the upcoming European Environmental Ministers' Conference in Aarhus next year, some 150 environmental citizen organizations (ECOs) met on the beautiful but rainy shore of Lake Bled in Slovenia for the European ECO Forum-NGO Strategy Meeting. A significant achievement for ECOs which have been striving for years to participate more actively in environmental decisionmaking in the region, the conference also highlighted the need for ECOs to improve participation practices among themselves.

  Held from November 7-10 and funded through support from the Danish government and the REC, the conference was attended by ECOs from Western Europe, all of the CEE and NIS countries, and from countries as far flung as Costa Rica, Israel and Uzbekistan. The first two days were devoted to preparations for Aarhus while the second two focused on public participation and right-to-know issues (see next story).

  Proceedings began with remarks by Theresa Herzog, Chair of the European ECO Forum Steering Committee which served as the key facilitating group for the conference activities (the conference's technical logistics were organized by Albin Keuc of Slovenian NGO Gaja). The European ECO Forum's 10-member Steering Committee was elected in October 1996 at an early Aarhus preparation meeting in Brussels, where they received the mandate to facilitate NGO involvement in the preparatory process for Aarhus, operate as an informational crossroads for the European NGO community, and coordinate funding. Herzog identified the need for NGOs to present a common strategy and political demands to the ministers at Aarhus. "Quality Benchmarks" reflecting those demands would be created at Bled to track the progress of the ministers' responses. Preparations would begin for the parallel ECO conference which was to take place at Aarhus. And lastly, discussions would also concern how ECOs should continue their work after Aarhus.

  During the first two days of strategic sessions, the appearance of Leo Bjornskov, Chairman of the Senior Governmental Officials Working Group (the official organizers of the Aarhus Conference), was considered an indicator of the success of ECOs striving to be taken seriously within the Environment for Europe process. Bjornskov presented the planned agenda for Aarhus, emphasizing that NGOs and not ministers would be the organizers of a special three-hour NGO-Ministers Session also scheduled for Aarhus.

A lukewarm look

  The workshops, however, were perceived by some participants as ineffective, including a group of REC Junior Fellows who attended the conference. Junior Fellows are young ECO activists from CEE and the NIS who come to the REC for education and training. Invited to Bled as representatives of their ECOs, the Fellows were not very knowledgeable about ECO preparations for Aarhus before they arrived at Bled and unfortunately, remained so after the conference as well. Most Issue Groups, argued the Fellows, failed to clearly explain their goals. Other downfalls included a lack of focus and poor facilitation. "Only the people who were friends and who had been in the process for a long time knew what was happening," said one Fellow. "I felt like an outsider."

  Among the workshop results was the Issue Group on Environmental Action Plans agreeing to assess the needs of NIS countries as part of refocusing the activities of the EAP Task Force. The Issue Group on an Energy Convention Strategy stressed that ECOs should only support energy projects which use renewable energy sources. And participants decided to establish two new issue groups - one on Local Agenda 21s, the other on Environment and Health.

Partial participation

  A case in point occurred during the conference's second day, when a 2.5-hour plenary session devoted to the "Future of the NGO/ECO process in Environment for Europe" actually transformed into a discussion of the Steering Committee's suggestion for a "slight formalization" of the Steering Committee structure - by converting it into a formal NGO with new statutes and membership. While regional subgroups from the West and the NIS were supportive, the CEE working group felt that formalization might create a new bureaucracy.

  While a decision was postponed in this matter, some argue that the Steering Committee offered the suggestion in order to perpetuate their function after Aarhus. In fact, while participants had hoped to discuss pre-Aarhus efforts at Bled, they were surprised at the time devoted to discussing work to be done after Aarhus. Interestingly, the final minutes of the conference were devoted to confirming the Steering Committee's mandate in leading ECOs to Aarhus, after many participants had already left from the meeting room.