The Belgrade Conference - October, 2007

The Belgrade Conference was the 6th Ministerial Conference within the 'Environment for Europe' process since its launch in 1991. As usual, it brought together ministers, NGOs and other stakeholders to discuss environmental issues and adopt commitments for future cooperation and implementation. During the 15-year history of the EfE process the time has become ripe to evaluate the achievements of the process and reform this cooperation for more effective implementation.

NGOs could coordinate their positions, agree on messages to be delivered through the NGO interventions at the Belgarde Conference and discuss their views for future cooperation within the Environment for Europe process after Belgrade.

The NGO positions on specfic issues and about the process were summarised in the Brussels Declaration as the outcome of the ECO Forum Strategy Meeting in March, 2007, and further sharpened in the Belgrade Statement (the Belgrade Statement in Russian) adopted on 8 October in Belgrade. The Final Statement by European ECO-Forum (Final Statement in Russian) adopted on 12 October gives an NGO assessment of the Conference outcomes.

List of participants

The pre-conference prepared by CEEWEB and Integrative Strategies Forum on behalf of ECO Forum on one hand aimed deepen the understanding and raise awareness of biodiversity loss and its link to production, consumption patterns and thus to the economic and social processes underlying environmental problems. On other hand it gave opportunities to lively discussions with the invited speakers from the floor and in breakout groups, which resulted in recommendations for policy making, communication and research in relation to biodiversity and production and consumption.

Agenda of the pre-conference

Conserving Biodiversity Through Sustainable Production and Consumption (background document to the pre-conference)

Poster on the "environmental ice-berg" and the root causes of environmental problems in English (jgp, 726 KB)
Poster on the "environmental ice-berg" and the root causes of environmental problems in Russian (jpg, KB)

Poster on the SPAC schema in English (jgp, 1 MB)
Poster on the SPAC schema in Russian (jpg, KB)

Presentations:

Ecosystem services - Why are they essential for human life? - Ms. Marianne Kettunen, Institute for European Environmental Policy (pdf, 2,6 MB)

Biodiversity and Sustainable Consumption - Dr. Joachim H. Spangenberg (with input from the ALARM SE Team), Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research UFZ, Dept. Community Ecology (pdf, 752 KB)

Further reading:

Vision 2020 Arbeit, Umwelt, Gerechtigkeit – Strategien für ein zukunftsfähiges Deutschland (pdf, 69 KB)
Methoden zur Risikoabschätzung und Strategien zur Verringerung - Den Biodiversitätsverlust stoppen (pdf, 187 KB)
Biodiversity pressure and the driving forces behind (pdf, 245 KB)
ALARM: Assessing LArge-scale environmental Risks for biodiversity with tested Methods (pdf, 856 KB)
The society and its products (pdf, 162 KB)
The society, its products and the environmental role of consumption (pdf, 166 KB)
Indicators for environmentally sustainable household consumption (pdf, 68 KB)
Environmentally sustainable household consumption: from aggregate environmental pressures to priority fields of action (pdf, 229 KB)

Energy, climate change and biodiversity – Mr. Gunnar Boye Olesen, International Network for Sustainable Energy (INFORSE) (pdf, 775 KB)

The SPAC schema – Mr. Jeffrey Barber, Integrative Strategies Forum (pdf)

State of affairs regarding consumption, production and its relations to biodiversity changes in Eastern Europe and the Caucasus – Ms. Anna Golubovska-Onisimova, Mama-86 (pdf, 120 KB)

Central and East European initiative to change unsustainable consumption trends – Mr. Lewis Akenji, Association of Conscious Consumers (pdf)

Sustainable Consumption and Production in SEE and EECCA countries - Mr. Pawel Kazmierczyk, European Environmental Agency (pdf, 2,1 MB without pictures; pdf, 3,6 MB with pictures)

List of participants

Official opening

Item 2: Assessment and implementation

NGO keynote address:

Ms. Victoria Elias, Chair of Europan ECO Forum: on the ECO Forum the implementation report

Item 3: Joint session on education for sustainable development

NGO intervention:

Fikred Jafarov, For Sustainable Development, Azerbaijan: on education for sustainable development (in Russian)

Item 4: Biodiversity stakeholders' roundtable

The Biodiversity Stakeholders' Roundtable was organised jointly by ECO Forum with the coordination of CEEWEB, and the Pan-European Biological and Landscape Diversity Strategy (PEBLDS).

European ECO Forum's publication:
Delivering the Kyiv commitments: NGOs join forces in the Pan-Europan region (pdf, 359 KB)

Category II. document prepared by ECO Forum:
Biodiversity for Europe now! European ECO Forum's recommendations for Pan-European cooperation (in French, in Russian)

Pan-European Biodiversity Picnic (leaflet, pdf, 740 KB)

NGO interventions:

Ms. Liliana Josan, Biotica Ecological Society, Moldova: on High Nature Value farming
Mr. Nikolay Sobolev, Biodiversity Conservation Centre, Russia: on the Pan-European Ecological Network (in Russian)
Ms. Vera Coelho, GEOTA, Portugal: WE NGO intervention in the roundtable discussion
Mr. Sreten Djordevic, Gradac, Serbia: SEE NGO intervention in the roundtable discussion
Mr. Oleg Tsaruk, WWF Russia, Caucasus Office: EECCA NGO intervention in the roundtable discussion
Mr. Rustam Murzakhanov, Uzbekistan: reflection from the youth

ECO Forum daily newsletter - Wednesday (pdf, 1,5 MB)

Item 5: Capacity-building (Environment Strategy for EECCA and SEE perspectives)

NGO keynote address and interventions:

Ms. Olga Ponizova, Eco-Accord, Russia: keynote address on the EECCA Strategy
Mr. Oleg Pecheniuk, NGO “Independent ecological expertise”, Kyrgyzstan : intervention on the EECCA Strategy
Mr. Saydirasul Sanginov, Ecoforum of Uzbekistan: intervention on Central Asian perspectives
Mr. Lavdosh Ferunaj, Organic Agriculture Association, Albania: intervention on SEE perspectives

Item 6: Partnerships (Environmental policy and international competitiveness, and environmental finance and partnerships)

NGO keynote address and interventions:

Mr. John Hontelez, EEB: keynote address on environmental competitiveness
Mr. Gunnar Boye Olesen, International Network for Sustainable Energy (INFORSE): on finance
Mr. Janis Brizga, Green liberty, Lativa: on sustainable consumption and production

ECO Forum daily newsletter - Thursday (pdf, 2,6 MB)

Item 7: The future of the Environment for Europe process

NGO interventions:

Mr. John Hontelez, EEB: on the Ministerial Declaration
Ms. Anna Golubovska-Onisimova, Mama-86, Ukraine: on the future of the EfE process
Ms. Alla Lytvynenko, Youth and Environment Europe: on the future of the EfE process on behalf of youth

Item 8: Closure of the Conference

CEEWEB seminar on Natura 2000 for candidate and potential candidate countries organised on 12 October in Belgrade

ECO Forum daily newsletter - Friday (pdf, 3 MB)

Final Statement by European ECO-Forum (Final Statement in Russian)

Ministerial Declaration "Building Bridges to the Future”

European ECO Forum's preparation for and participation at the Belgrade Conference has been realised with the generous support of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, the FPS Health, Food Chain Safety and Environment, DG Environment of Belgium, Fundacion Biodiversidad (Spain) and the governments of Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden, as well as the UNECE Secretariat.