UBC EnvCom and Agenda 21 Working Group Meeting

Friday 31 May 2002 (10.00-12.00), Augustendahl, Nacka Strand, Nacka, Sweden

Mr. Guldbrand Skjönberg, Manager to the Boards, City of Nacka, and Co-chairman of the EnvCom, opened the meeting at 10.05, and informed that due to unexpected reasons, the Mayor of Nacka, Mr. Erik Langby, unfortunately would be late and maybe could not join the meeting (which was the case).

Mr. Skjönberg proposed that the meeting would proceed next with item 3. Self introductions, and then would be item 2. Introduction to the meeting.

This order was agreed upon.

Due to the limited time and the great number of participants, each participant was just expected to say her/his name and city/organisation. Over 60 people were present, and in addition to UBC members and experts from the Baltic Sea Region, also two American experts, Prof. Timothy Beatley, and Director John Phillips, joined the meeting.

The exact information and contacts of all participants are available in the attached list of participants.

The Co-chairmen of the Commission on Environment introduced the agenda of the meeting, and the program of the two-day UBC Agenda 21 Event.

The UBC EnvCom had its annual meeting 2001 in Rostock in October, and the next annual meeting will be organised during Autumn 2002. Therefore the agenda for the Nacka meeting did not contain annual reports, election of chair-persons, or any other issues of the annual meetings.

The meeting adopted the agenda and added 100% Nacka slide show into item 9. Other Issues.

Following the great success of the implementation of the UBC Local Agenda 21 Action Program 2000-2003, the UBC Agenda 21 Action Program 2002-2003 was approved by the VI UBC General Conference in Rostock 12-13 October 2001.

The UBC Executive Board updated the Program in its meeting in Tonsberg, Norway, 1-2 February 2002, and with the same decision delegated further updates to be decided by the EnvCom. Such updates would mainly deal with technical issues (like updating list of projects), as the decision of the General Conference should be considered binding on the basic strategic approaches.

The updated version of the program was distributed at the meeting, and the meeting was expected to discuss and decide about the update.

The program consist of policy, project and network service elements. Each of them was briefly presented and discussed under the following points.

The UBC Agenda 21 Survey 2001 provided useful information about the performance of the network services. Member cities are mainly quite satisfied with the UBC services on Agenda 21 and environmental issues. According to the survey results, 85% of members are currently engaged in their own Local Agenda 21.

It is also very encouraging that the cities highly appreciate the services provided by the UBC. The Union is considered by members as the most important channel for getting models and new ideas for local Agenda 21 work. This is especially strongly the case in member cities in the Baltic States.

Copies of the survey report were distributed to participants (and are available to all interested from the EnvCom Seceretariat).

The UBC Agenda 21 Action Program defines the strategies of the UBC in international policy co-operation on Agenda 21. The meeting was given a brief overview how the implementation of these startegies in the different policy fora is proceeding.

Currently the most important policy frameworks where the UBC is involved with regard to Agenda 21 are the ones listed below. In each of those, according to the EnvCom decision in the annual meeting in Rostock 2001, on the occasion of the VI UBC General Conference, the UBC is represented by a different person (see below).

Each responsible UBC representative, Skjönberg, Jokinen, Veivo and Nőmmann, reported briefly about the recent developments in the different policy fora, concentrating on how UBC’s points of interest (as described in the UBC Agenda 21 Action Program) have proceeded.

• Baltic 21 (Skjönberg). The Baltic 21 Secretariat is currently in the process of preparing the triennial report. The SOG Chairmanship has changes, the new chair being Valdis Bisters from Latvia. UBC contibues to lead JO4 and to contribute to JO5 and JO7. All interested are welcome to contact Mr. Skjönberg.
• HELCOM (Mrs. Tea Nőmmann, UBC Project Officer). The UBC has renewed its observer status in HELCOM and continues active work in PITF. New directions are currently being discussed for the PITF. Many of the UBC’s activities contribute to the HELCOM Action Program (JCP).
• Co-operation with Eurocities (Jokinen). Eurocities is more than the UBC oriented towards European policy developments. With regard to this, co-operation may provide the UBC with possibilities of better information on EU policies. Co-operation will be taken into formal level by a co-operation agreement between the two organisations. Future co-operation might include joint projects in the implementation of the 6^th Environmental Action Plan of the European Union.
• European Sustainable Cities and Towns Campaign (Veivo). The UBC is one of the ten networks in the new Steering Committee and Political Board of the Campaign. Co-operation with the Campaign has been very active since Turku Conference 1998. The Campaign offers the UBC with good co-operation and policy forum. In the bodies of the Campaign, the UBC is representing its members points of view, as defined in the UBC Agenda 21 Action Program.

The UBC Agenda 21 Action Program contains several projects. The project element in the program has been highly successful during recent years. However, the reporting at this meeting did not concentrate on past glory, but on active on-going and soo-to-be-started projects, as follows:

• Harbours’ Agenda 21 (Jokinen). The project with the leadership of Lübeck is proceeding. Over 20 people from 10 cities and harbours participated in the last project seminar in Lübeck 15-16 March 2002. Interreg III B proposal is under preparation for including more partners into the work. The goal is to develop the environmental policies and practices of harbours in co-operation with cities, harbours, shipping companies and researchers.
• Environment Pedagogic Centres (Skjönberg). As this issues was actually the main common topic for the whole UBC Agenda 21 event, Mr. Skjönberg just briefly refered to the coming theme sessions.
• Co-operation with Lake Victoria Cities (Skjönberg). The UBC is involved in extensive co-operation in several fields with Lake Victoria cities. The work is financed by the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA), and environment and sustainable development are one of the focuses in it. This work will concentrate on practical environmental education by demonstration techniques. All interested were welcomed to contact Mr. Skjönberg.

• EMAS Peer Review for Cities (Nőmmann). The main focus of the project is on developing and extending the use of EC Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) in local authorities. The “EMAS-peer review” method as an innovative approach will be used to encourage cities to work together. The project builds upon, among other things, the Municipal Environmental Audit (MEA) project developed by the Union of Baltic Cities. An important outcome of the project will be the start and extension of an EMAS process in 16 European cities. Eight cities from EU member states and eight from the Newly Associated States (NAS) - Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. The project application is under consideration in the European Commission DG Environment. If approved, activities will start in October 2002. The project is to be coordinated by the UBC Commission on Environment Secretariat.

• INTEGAIRE (Nőmmann). This project, Integrated Urban Governance and Air Quality Management in Europe, aims to explore solutions to key challenges for urban governance and air quality management throughout Europe. The large project Consortium is coordinated by Eurocities. The UBC will mainly contribute to dissemination activities. The project is co-funded by European Commission DG Research. All interested are welcome to contact Mrs. Nőmmann for more information.

• TBestC (Veivo). The Transfering Best Environmental Practices between Towns and Cities Project aims at concrete transfer of good practices between 5-10 city couples, concentrating on the themes of biodiversity, air quality, environmental health, energy, and education and information. The project application has been submitted to Nordic Council of Ministers and, depending on their decision, activities are planned to be started during Autumn 2002. Co-operation on the project activities has been planned also with ECAT-Lithuania and the U.S. Regional Environmental Office for Baltic Sea Region.

The basic approach in the project element of the UBC Agenda 21 Action Program is that different UBC bodies and member cities are welcomed to take leading responsibilities for different projects. In addition to the UBC Commission on Environment Secretariat, project leaders so far have been:

• UBC Women’s Network: Gender Equality and Local Agenda 21 Project,
• City of Nacka: Environment Pedagigic Centres, and Sustainable Development Co-operation with Lake Victoria Cities,
• City of Lübeck: Harbours’ Agenda 21 Project, and
• Municipality of Gotland: Lifestyle 2020 Project.

Project parners have included numerous cities and several other organisations. The projects have been mainly co-funded by different EU sources, the Nordic Council of Ministers and national minitries of the environment.

New initiatives for network projects are always welcome, and new cities can assume leading responsibilities. All interested are encouraged to come up at the meeting and/or contact the EnvCom Secretariat later on. Such proposals would then be consulted between the interested city and the EnvCom Secretariat, and possibly included in the next update of the UBC Agenda 21 Action Program.

The requirements for UBC Agenda 21 projects are that they need to be real network projects, i.e., have several partners/participants within the UBC, as well as benefit the UBC network largely, and benefit from being implemented within the network. Naturally, they also need to be related to the UBC Agenda 21 Action Program and strongly contribute to its implementation.

The Environmental Centre for Administration and Technology Lithuania has taken up the idea of creating a partnership agreement with the UBC Commission on Environment.

The UBC and Eurocities are in the process of preparing a general co-operation agreement with each other. According to the information of the EnvCom Secretariat this is so far the only example of co-operation agreements with other organisations (not withcounting agreements for projects) within the UBC.

The EnvCom and ECAT-LT have extensively co-operated during recent years in several projects and organising of events. ECAT-LT has been an excellent partner and its involvement and co-operation has been highly beneficial for the UBC.

The meeting was expected to discuss the idea and possibly delegate the EnvCom Secretariat to carry out further preparation. The decision on the matter may need to be taken to the UBC Executive Board (or at least be discussed with the UBC Presidium).

Director of ECAT-LT, Ms. Audrone Alijosiute briefly presented ECAT and the issue.

The EnvCom Co-chairman Mr. Mikko Jokinen commented the proposal positively and asked if the meeting could agree to delegate the EnvCom Secretariat to prepare the matter further.

The EnvCom Secretariat is preparing a small-scale library with special emphasis on the environmental and Agenda 21 information and work of the member cities. All member cities are welcomed to send materials to be included in the library.

Michael Spittlehouse, who is responsible for this project at the EnvCom secretariat, briefly introduced the topic and gave guidelines for materials to be send.

The following publications were briefly presented and distributed (or circulated):

• Baltic Cities Environmental Bulletin 1/2002
• Best City Practices Report
• Local Agenda 21 Good Practice Review
• EnvCom Leaflet.

The environmental bulletin is very much based on contributions from member cities and partner organisations. The EnvCom Secretariat warmly thanks all those who have contributed so far, and encourages everyone to contribute in the future. The next edition will come out in the Autumn, and materials can allready be e-mailed to the secretariat to Sari Bowie (sari.bowie@saunalahti.fi).

Member cities were welcomed to briefly present new ideas for all fields of UBC environmental and Agenda 21 activities. However, due to time constraints, this discussion was mainly carried out during the following theme sessions of the two-day UBC Agenda 21 Event.

The meeting enjoyed the slide show 100% Nacka.

The Co-chairmen closed the official / formal UBC EnvCom and Agenda 21 Working Group meeting at 12.00. However, discussions were continued and conclusions documented during the whole two-day event. Further information on these discussions (icluding new project ideas) can be found in the complete report of the UBC Agenda 21 Event in Nacka, 31 May – 1 June 2002.

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