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MED Info 38 (JUIN 2002) June 2002 |
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Édition française / english edition
SOMMAIRE / TABLE OF CONTENT :
Ø Éditorial / Editorial:
-
MED Forum devant les défis
immédiats
-
MED Forum and its immediate
challenges
Ø Nouvelles de MED Forum / MED Forum News
-
Keeping our feet on the
ground: first steps towards a European policy on land protection
Ø D’autres nouvelles / Other News
- Summit event
information Johannesburg 2002
-
Programme Azahar / The Azahar
Programme
Ø Calendrier international / International calendar
MED Info est le bulletin électronique de MED
Forum, Réseau d'ONG de la Méditerranée pour l'Écologie et le Développement durable / MED
Info is the electronic bulletin of MED Forum, Mediterranean network of NGOs for
Ecology and Sustainable Development
Les éditeurs et les sponsors ne se responsabilisent pas des contenus
des articles signés. Les auteurs sont les
responsables des opinions exprimées. / The
editors and sponsors take no responsibility for the contents of the signed
articles; the authors alone are responsible for the opinions expressed.
Sécretariat de
MED Forum: / Secretariat of MED Forum:
EcoMediterrània:
TRAFALGAR nº 19, 1º - 1ª.
08010 Barcelone. Espagne / Spain.
Tel. +34934124309 Fax: +34934124622
E-mail: medforum@pangea.org Web site: www.medforum.org
Éditorial
MED
Forum devant les défis immédiats
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eux des grands et plus importants événements
programmés pour cette année 2002 se raprochent. Le Sommet de la Terre de
Johannesburg, le prochain août, et la Deuxième Conférence Ministérielle du
Partenariat Euro-méditerranéen sur l'Environnement. Pour les Méditerranéennes
et les Méditerranéens ces rendez-vous imminents représentent deux grandes
occasions pour poser des solutions aux problèmes que notre région subit. Il est
très important que nous hi participons activement, en faisant des propositions.
Précisément et justement pour cela, MED Forum a consacré le VIème
Forum Ambiental de la Méditerranée, célébré au novembre 2001 à
Barcelone, à ces deux grands sujets (voir MED núm. 34, dans: www.MEDForum.org).
Le Sommet de Johannesburg est une occasion
magnifique pour mettre en évidance l'existence de notre région, grâce aux
propositions valides de domaine global de la planète. Dans 'le Manifeste'
apparu à propos du VIème
Forum nous avons déjà affirme que "Nous constatons que les
propositions positives contenues dans l’Agenda 21 (...), ainsi que les grandes
conventions internationales (...) qui devaient permettre un développement
durable et respectueux de l’environnement de la région méditerranéenne n’ont
pas été appliquées pour la plupart du fait de l’absence de décisions
politiques, du manque de mesures concrètes et de l’extrême pauvreté des moyens
financiers utilisés. Nous rappelons que le Sommet de Johannesburg est une
conférence qui a pour but d’analyser l’application et les moyens utilisés pour
respecter les principes et réaliser les propositions contenus dans l’Agenda 21,
et celle-ci doit formuler de nouvelles propositions qui permettent un
développement durable pour éviter la dégradation permanente de la
planète". (Voir MED Info num.
35).
Dans le même document nous manifestons notre
avis sur le Processus Euroméditerranéen, qui pendant cette année tiendra deux
grandes réunions : celle de Valencia (avril 2002) et celle d'Athènes (juillet
2002). Dans Valencia, pendant le Forum Civil Euromed, MED Forum a organisé un
Séminaire sur Environnement, dans lequel on a arrivé à conclusions très
importants (voir MED Info num. 37).
Maintenant nous présenterons ces propositions devant la Conférence
Ministérielle sur le SMAP qui aura lieu à Athènes.
Ceux-ci sont les soucis les plus importants
dans lesquels se concentre maintenant le travail de MED Forum, conjointement à
la préparation du Projet Telemakos, projet que nous espérons mener à bien.
Le nouveau Comité exécutif avec le
Secrétariat Général travaillent pour que tous les membres de notre Réseau se
trouvent représentés aux réunions internationales et pour être capables de
faciliter l'information nécessaire qui rend possible saisir de toutes les
occasions qui offrent les organisations internationales pour l'accomplissement
de projets sur place. MED Forum est au service de leurs membres.
Mohamed Ali Abrougi Rafael
Madueño
Président Secrétaire
Général
.
Editorial
MED Forum and its immediate challenges
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wo of the biggest and most important events planned for
the year 2002 are coming up. The Earth Summit in Johannesburg, next August, and
the Second Conference of Ministers of the Euro-Mediterranean Environment
Partnership. For the people of the Mediterranean, these forthcoming events
represent two major opportunities to come up with solutions to the problems
that our region is suffering from. It is vital to take an active part and make
proposals. It is for this very reason that MED Forum devoted the 6th Mediterranean Environment Forum,
held last November in Barcelona, to these two big issues (see MED Info no. 34 at www.MEDForum.org).
The Johannesburg Summit is a splendid opportunity to
highlight the existence of our region in the form of valid proposals for the
planet as a whole. The Manifesto produced by the 6th Forum reads: “We state that the positive proposals contained in
the Agenda 21 (…), and the major international agreements (…) which were to
allow for the sustainable development of the Mediterranean region, have for the
most part not been implemented, due to the absence of political decisions, the
lack of specific measures and the paucity of financial means employed. Remember
that the Johannesburg Summit has to analyse the application and the means used
in order to ensure the principles and proposals contained in the Agenda 21, and
put forward new proposals to enable a form of sustainable development that
prevents the planet’s permanent degradation” (see MED Info no. 35).
The same document contains declarations about the
Euro-Mediterranean Process, which has held two important meetings this year:
one in Valencia (April 2002) and another in Athens (July 2002). In Valencia,
during the Euro-Med Civil Forum, MED Forum organised the Environment Seminar,
during which important conclusions were reached (see MED Info no. 37). We will now present these proposals to the
Conference of Ministers that is to be held in Athens about the SMAP.
These
are the main focuses for the work of MED Forum at this moment in time, along
with the preparation of the Telemakos
project, which we are hopeful of being able to carry out in the end.
The
new Executive Committee, together with the General Secretariat, is working to
make sure that all the members of our Network feel that they are represented at
international meetings, and to provide the necessary information to enable them
to make the most of the opportunities offered by international bodies for
on-site projects. MED Forum is at the service of its members.
Mohamed Ali ABROUGUI Rafael
MADUEÑO
President Secretary
General
Nouvelles de MED Forum / MED Forum news
Ø
Keeping our feet on the
ground: first steps towards a European policy on land protection
Palma
de Mallorca, 24 May 2002
By
Ramon Sanromà
Head
of MED Forum’s NGO Relations Service
Last
24 May, the city of Palma de Mallorca (Spain) hosted an informal meeting of
European Union Environment delegations, organised to discuss European land
protection policy. During the meeting, a delegation of the EEB (European
Environment Bureau) presented the delegations of the Environment Council with
its position on the communication presented by the European Commission. Having
communicated its stance to the official delegations of the various ministries
for the Environment, EEB representatives presented an informative address to
extend it to the media.
Air,
water and biodiversity were some of the issues addressed by the representatives
of environmental NGOs and government delegations, due to their obvious
deterioration as a result of anthropological causes and their fragility in the
face of impact. They are also spheres characterised by greater mobility. Yet
they are all subject to a common basic sphere — land. And land has been the
great forgotten issue, perhaps because the earth has prevented us from seeing
the land, just as we cannot see the wood for the trees.
Environmental
problems associated with land are different to those of the above-mentioned
spheres. Land is a limited resource in terms of space, and we might say it has
a huge memory: impacts on it remain recorded, making it difficult to treat or
to restore. We must not forget this special characteristic of land.
Furthermore,
in terms of variability, land may be likened to the various ecosystems which
host different biological groups according to the zone. The problems of and
solutions to land in one region are not always comparable to those in another.
To
carry out optimum interventions leading to a state of the land that minimises
the negative effects of impacts (extended run-off due to poor urban development
management, increase in the probability of damage due to adverse weather
conditions, etc.) and maximises the results of preventive and recovery
interventions, tools for diagnosis are required (co-ordination agencies, geographic
information systems or SIG, access to data collected by spatial telemetry
systems using satellite sensors, co-ordination of distributed databases,
thematic studies of specific geographic regions, etc.). Another vital
requirement is appropriate management instruments (land use planning,
integrated environmental policies, legislation on chemical products and waste,
etc.).
Aware
of all of the above, the delegations of Ministers for the Environment of the
European Union (EU) met in Palma de Mallorca to debate the question of land
protection at an informal meeting. The President of the Environmental Council
of the European Union, Jaume Matas, announced that at the Council’s next
meeting, to be held next 24 June in Luxembourg, a final decision will be made as
to the Community’s future land protection policy, with specific objectives and
future interventions for land conservation.
In
the course of the Palma de Mallorca meeting, as a working document the various
delegations were given the communication written by the European Commission: “Towards a thematic strategy for land
protection”. The EEB and its member organisations (including MED Forum) had
access to the document. After analysis and debate, the position paper was
written.
By
means of the representatives of the EEB, the EC allowed the position of civil
society to be presented to the delegations of the Ministers for the Environment
before the debate about the Communication drawn up by the EC by the official
delegations.
Leading
the EEB delegation, of which MED Forum formed part, the President of this
Office, Ralph Hallo, said: “We consider that the Commission has done a good job
on beginning to develop a new policy, but it has forgotten to establish key
strategic objectives that can provide a framework of reference to guide
effective intervention.”
From
its standpoint, the EEB specifies four main objectives to act as guidelines for
land protection: stopping and reverting the accumulation of land-based
pollutants up to 2020; reverting the alarming tendencies in land deterioration,
such as erosion; protecting the role of land as regards vital ecological
functions; and protecting them for their function of providing food and helping
sustainable human development.
The
EEB is asking for a clear commitment to a European policy that addresses land
protection with the same attention as other natural resources such as water,
air and nature.
“We
look forward to an EU approach that comes up with European answers to European
pressures, and provides greater integration of environmental policies. It is
equally important for this land protection strategy to contribute to obtaining
EU commitment to putting a stop to the loss of biodiversity, combating climate
change and ensuring the end of the dumping of dangerous substances”, said Ralph
Hallo.
The
conclusions of the informal meeting of the delegations of Ministers reflect
several of the demands of the EEB, although, up until the June meeting in
Luxembourg, no decisions will be made as to specific plans or timelines to be
followed. Given that the EC continues to be reluctant to establish criteria
which lead to supranational regional directives, it is foreseen that the land
question will have low-level legislation in the general scope (as manifested by
the study of the possibility of a directive on the management of coastal
zones), leaving the design and implementation of land protection systems within
a given territory to each individual country.
Land
protection is an issue that MED Forum addressed from the viewpoint of problems
of desertification, proposing dialogue between all the affected sectors,
seeking to encourage participatory action on the part of civil society in
drawing up Agendas 21 (including the Mediterranean A21), attempting to improve
dialogue with the scientific community, and the incorporation of scientific
advances into policies and action programmes, among other issues.
********
D’autres
nouvelles / Other news
Ø Summit event information Johannesburg 2002
The WSSD is being organised in two parts:
1.
Global Forum of the World Summit on Sustainable Development
The Global Forum is being organised by the
South African NGO Coalition (SANGOCO)
Dates :
Pre-Summit : 19 August 2002 - 23 August 2002
Opening Ceremony : 23 August 2002
Global Forum : 19 August 2002 - 4
September 2002
Johannesburg Summit : 26 August - 4 September 2002
Venue: Sandton Convention
Centre, Sandton, Johannesburg
You can contact the WSSD Civic
Society Secretariat using one of the many ways below:
16th Floor, Sable Centre, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, 2001.
Telephone
+27 11 403 4119
+27 11 403 0763
Facsimile
+27 11 403 4119
E-Mail
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Exhibitions: Side Events : |
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Web site : www.world.summit.org.za
2. World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSDD)
The UN Summit is being organised by the Johannesburg Summit Company
(JOWSCO) which was created for this purpose.
Dates:
Summit: 26 August 2002 - 4 September 2002
Venue: Sandton Convetion
Centre, Sandton, Johannesburg
More information on participation at the Summit and a copy of the
pre-registration and accreditation packet can be found on the Summit website,
or please send an e-mail to one of the following addresses:
2002participation@un.org (general questions)
summitregister@un.org (registration
questions)
summitaccredita@un.org (accreditation-related questions)
For the las information on
the Johannesburg Summit 2002, visit www.johannesburgsummit.org
Note: If some member of MED
Forum plans to attend at these international events, please inform the
Secretariat of the Net (e-mail. Medforum@medforum.org), in order to coordinate
the participation of our organization.
Ø
The AZAHAR programme
In December 2001, the Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional
(AECI – Spanish Agency for International Co-operation) launched the Azahar
programme in order to co-ordinate all public, private and civil society agents
in Spanish co-operation with development as regards sustainable development,
environmental protection and the conservation of natural resources in the
Mediterranean. The aim of Azahar is to achieve greater
coherence and more effective impact, pooling resources and assigning them more
efficiently, thereby achieving greater effectiveness and visibility of
intervention.
This
programme includes the participation of the Ministries of Agriculture,
Fisheries and Foodstuffs, the Environment, Economy, and Science and Technology,
and of the Autonomous Communities (AC) of Catalonia, Andalusia, Murcia,
Valencia, the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands. It is also open to the
participation of other ACs and local governments, and to civil society in the
form of development non-governmental organisations (DNGOs), academic and
research institutions which have developed or are working on interventions in
the programme’s field of action.
Azahar aims to generate an impact on human development in countries in the
Mediterranean basin, making the fight against poverty and human development
compatible with the conservation of their natural resources and environmental
protection.
The
project seeks to strengthen the element of environmental sustainability in
development projects carried out jointly by Spanish co-operation agents, to
promote training, research, development and innovation in co-operation projects
in the field of sustainable development and to sensitise beneficiary countries
to the importance of the principles and values of sustainable development.
Other
objectives are to strengthen the role of Spain in international organisations
in general, and particularly in the European Union; to encourage participation
in projects promoted by them and to promote the participation of Spanish firms
in the programme. Furthermore, it sets out to stimulate other donors,
particularly the European Union, to adopt programmes that facilitate the
co-ordination and coherence of policies affecting environmental sustainability.
The
actions included on the Azahar programme have to respond to
all 3 of the following basic principles or criteria:
·
the development of local populations and the
improvement of their living conditions in the framework of Spain’s policy of
international co-operation in development, with its aim of fighting poverty in
all its manifestations;
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the protection of the environment and the
conservation of natural resources, and
§
the strengthening of organisations and
institutions, with capacity building in planning and local management.
The Azahar programme includes actions on:
1.
Land conservation
2.
Sustainable water use
3.
Renewable energies and efficient energy use
4.
Sustainable tourism
5.
Sustainable production
6.
Environmental reorganisation
7.
Environmental planning and management
Beneficiary countries:
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MAGHREB: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Mauritania.
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MIDDLE EAST: Palestinian Territories, Egypt,
Jordan, Lebanon.
§