1. MED Forum News

The Mediterranean Council of MED Forum, will celebrate its meeting for year 2000, to be held in Amman (Jordan) on October1st, 2000.

The Mediterranean Council meeting will be held in Amman to coincide on place with the IUCN World Nature Congress (Amman, 4-11 October, 2000), and to facilitate the MED Forum participation on this very important event. In this sence MED Forum will organise a Mediterranean Conference preparatory to the IUCN World Nature Congress which will be held on the 2^nd and 3^rd of October, 2000.

MED Forum will also be involved in the Workshop: IUCN Mediterranean Programme. IUCN Mediterranean Bureau . Amman, Jordan (date to be confirmed, between 4-11 October).

An open debate was held in Barcelona on the subject "In the city without my car", organized by the Civic Commission bringing together Barcelona Provincial Council, the Environment Department of the Generalitat of Catalonia, Barcelona City Council, the Civic Platform and the RACC This workshop sought to raise the awareness of the representatives of the town councils and social movements to organize the European day without cars on September 20, 2000. There were several different talks which emphasized the need to take permanent measures, involving local, provincial and national government. The participation of the citizens and of the entities representing them was presented as the most powerful tool to implement these measures. All the institutions, some more than others, were in favour of making a great effort to ensure that once again participation in Catalonia will be high and exemplary. The European nature of this event was emphasized. The act finished with the public signing of the European Charter "In the City without my Car", written by Rafael Madueño in the name of MED Forum and EcoMediterrània.

Rafael Madueño, General Secretary of MED Forum, the Network of Mediterranean NGOs for Ecology and Sustainable Development, declared that we will participate in the next European Day "In the City, without my car" which will take place on Friday, September 22, 2000. In order to ensure the day is a success, we commit ourselves to take all the measures necessary, in keeping with the following principles.

The action has two objectives: to provide the citizens with the opportunity to practise other forms of mobility alternative to the private vehicle and give them a chance to rediscover the city, its inhabitants and its heritage.

The event seeks to be the first step in a long-term initiative, aiming to promote a greater awareness among the public of the need for new forms of urban mobility, avoiding the problems caused by the irrational use of the vehicle in the city (air pollution, noise, waste of energy resources, traffic jams).

We will organize the activities on Friday, September 22, in keeping with the following guidelines.

1. To encourage the local authorities of the neighbouring municipalities, as well the operators of public transports, to support and take part in the event.
2. To promote the interconnection of different forms of transport and to offer strengthened forms of alternative transport (alternative collective transport, non-polluting, vehicles, bicycles, shared cars) that allow the citizens to enjoy the event without limiting their mobility. The measures include increased number and frequency of collective transport and/or to redesign the urban space to favour alternative means of transport.
3. To plan the activities with the participation of the greatest possible number of social agents (shopkeepers, neighbourhood associations, educational centres, trades unions, etc.).
4. To reserve one or more areas of the city exclusively for pedestrians, cyclists and public transport.
5. To use all the resources necessary to limit the number of special permits to circulate n the restricted areas (emergencies).
6. To promote information, publicity and communication to encourage the citizens not to use their car in September 22.
7. To use all the means available (signing and parking facilities) to allow the citizens to park the cars in parking areas. It is necessary to foresee that most of the journeys from these areas will be made by public transport.
8. To organize the loading and unloading of merchandise within a specific period.
9. To give special support to one of the thematic initiatives included in this charter, so that the activities in each locality are clearly different. The initiative selected is (include proposal).
10. To organize well in advance the collection of data (on traffic, pollution, noise) in order to make it possible to assess adequately the impact of the event, in accordance with the European directives.
11. To follow the directives of the common information campaign and to use the tools prepared for the event.

List of Initiatives

a) a better city for children

b) a better city for cyclists

c) a better city for people with reduced mobility

d) a city with cleaner air

e) a less noisy city

f) a city with less traffic accidents

g) a Europe-wide event

h) new projects for pedestrian areas

i) ecological distribution of merchandise (unloading areas and a less contaminating fleet of vehicles)

j) encourage movement using less polluting alternative means of transport (public transport, bicycles, walking, sharing cars)

k) projects for sharing cars

l) public service vehicles using ecological fuels

m) other local initiatives: (include proposals)

• International Seminar on Sustainable Tourism and Competitiveness in the Islands of the Mediterranean. Capri (Italia), 17 - 21 de mayo de 2000.

MED Forum was present at the International Seminar on Sustainable Tourism and Competitiveness in the Islands of the Mediterranean, which was held on the island of Capri on May, 17-20, 2000. This seminar debated the main problems created by tourist development of the islands of the Mediterranean, and a large number of initiatives in favour of sustainability were presented by different branches of government, enterprises and NGOs. MED Forum’s campaign, Ulixes 21, for sustainable tourism in the Mediterranean was presented. The imminent introduction of an eco-tax in the Balearic Islands stimulated an interesting discussion on the limits to growth and on the viability of this proposal. The seminar was called by the World Tourism Organization (WTO), the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), the Blue Plan (MAP/BP) and Capri City Council.

Ecotrain Europe organbise des cours et des ateliers sur la formation à l´emploi. Dans cette optique Ecotrain Europe a organisé du 17 au 18 Mai 2000 un atelier international intitulé "Metiers Verts en Europe". Financé par l´UE dans le cadre du programme ADAPT, par le Green Job Pool et HK Nordic Committee, l´atelier avait pour objectifs de

• Pour animer les bonnes et les meilleures pratiques concernant la création de futures métiers verts
• Pour poser des questions telles que: Où sont les métiers verts du futur?, Les initiatives danoises, est ce quelles peuvent harmoniser et promouvoir les métiers verts en Europe avec des autres initiatives similaires? Role de l´UE?, Comment les ONG doivent coopérer avec des structures bien établies?

Des organisations ont assisté et ont participé à un programme chargé (voir programme attaché). MED Forum aprésenté ses activités dans le context méditerranéen vis à vis du processus de Barcelone et de la Convention de Barcelone. MED Forum a aussi présenté une description succinte du "Programme de Coopération Méditerranéenne". La deuxième partie de la présentation de MED Forum a centré sur le projet de la Fondation EcoMediterrania intitulé "Ecoles-Ateliers pour l´Environnement" lancées en 1989 et financées par le Ministère Espagnol de Travail à travers l´INEM à l´époque. Une présentation riche qui a couvert les aspects de:

1. profile des jeunes affectés
2. les objectifs spécifiques des Ecoles-Ateliers
3. les modules et les sorties des jeunes
4. conclusions finales, facteurs de développement et besoins

Parmi les autres intervenants les plus instructives et informatives fut celle de Mme Lisbeth Bahl Poulsen représentant la DG Emploi et Affaires sociales qui a présenté une série d´initiatives européennes dans le domaine. Mr. Olé Busck de PlanetVision a donné une présentation riche sur l´aspect civile et les actions menées par les Syndicats dans un context européen.. 4 études de cas

Sur : 1- Un village vert, 2- Green Focus, 3- Viva tex, 4- Commerce sur Internet ont été travaillées en quatre groupes respectifs.

L´un des moments non-formel organisé parallèlement à l´atelier fut la réunion de MED Forum avec des représentants de Ecotrain Europe et de quelques experts dans le monde d´informatique. Le but était d´échanger sur la possibilité de soumettre en commun un projet dans le cadre de EUMEDIS de la DG Société d´Information.

• Forum Millénaire "Nous sommes le peuple: les NNUU au 21ème siècle. Nova York, 22 au 26 Mai 2000.

1350 représentants de 1000 ONG et d´autres organisations de la société civile de plus de 100 pays se sont regroupées à New York du 22 Mai au 26 mai 2000 pour construire une vision communeaprès les conférences des 90s pour tracer l´attention des gouvernements d´une implantation urgente des engagements qui l´ont faits, et pour conduire à une synergie collective de reclamer une globalization par et pour le peuple.

A l´ouverture du Forum à l´Assemblée Générale des NNUU, les inaugurateurs ont partagé des thèmes communs liés à l´impact de la globalization des côtés négatif et positif, et ils ont souligné le rôle important de la société civile et des NNUU dans la reduction les mauvais effets de la globalization.

Ont donné l´ouverture: Mr. Kofi Annan (Secrétaire Général des NNUU), Mr. Techeste Ahderom (co-président du Forum), Mr. Juan Somavia (Directeur Général de l´Organisation Mondiale du Travail), Mme. Gracelia Robert (Représentante des Medecins du Monde), Prinvce Talal Bin Abdul Aziz (Président de Arab Gulf Programme for United nations Development Organisations), Mme Maj-Britt Theorin (Président du Conseil des Parlementaires de l´Action Global), Mr. Martin Khor (directeur Exécutif du Réseau du Tiers Monde).

"Nous Peuples..." sont les deux premiers mots de la Charte des NNUU, ils signifient que les NNUU dans leur fondements, reflètent et représentent les grands espoirs et aspirations des peuples du monde entier. Un nouveau texte "Nous les peuples Déclaration et Agenda d´Action : Forum Millénaire pour renforcer les NNUU au 21 ème siècle". Cette déclaration qui en a résulté va servir comme partie prenante de la préparation de l´Assemblée / Sommet du Millénaire; une déclaration qui insuflerait aussi une organisation structurelle où la société civile pourra devenir à pied d´égalité dans la prise de décisions mondiales.

Late on Saturday, a Syrian cargo boat discharged about 162 tonnes of concentrated nitric acid into the sea when it sank off the Egyptian coast, 6 km from the city of Alexandria. The boat, the Dalia S, sent an emergency message and the 12 crew members were rescued, but they required medical treatment as a result of respiratory problems due to inhaling nitric acid fumes. The accident was due to the escape of its load from one of the tanks, which ate away the ship’s hull and caused water to enter.