European Environment and Sustainable Development Advisory Councils | Current Activities

Welcome to the Network of European Environment and Sustainable Development Advisory Councils (EEAC)
So far around 30 advisory councils for environmental policy and sustainable development from 15 countries in the European Union are participating in the EEAC network. The councils collaborate in this network for a number of reasons, in particular to enrich the quality of policy advice on national and regional level by exchanging information with colleagues from other countries and to exert, where appropriate, an influence on policy developments at EU level by acting cooperatively. More information about EEAC
NEWS:
UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY! Sustaining Sustainability, the benchmark study on national strategies towards sustainable development and the impact of councils in nine EU member states can now be ordered for only shipping and handling fee. For orders, please contact the EEAC Office at info[at]eeac-net.org More information about Sustaining Sustainability
In preparation for the EEAC Annual conference 2008 in Bordeaux the Working Group Sustainable Development (WG SD) has developed a statement, "Sustaining Europe for a long way ahead", which looks into challenges for the long-term policy making in Europe. It builds on eight theme papers, elaborated bu WG members on: Governance, Social Justice, Demography, Markets, Education, Culture, Diversity, and Budgets. It has by now been endorsed by almost all WG councils. The statement is currently in the endorsement phase within the wider EEAC. The WG is also finalising a background paper. This will be issued on behalf of the WG members only, without councils' endorsement. The WG SD is co-chaired by Michel Ricard (Chairman, French CNDD) and Tim O'Riordan (Council Member, UK SDC). During 2008 the WG is preparing the EEAC Annual Conference. Besides preparing for the annual conference the WG also follows-up on the EU SDS progress reporting and on the Dutch experience of the peer review of SD policies. More...	WG SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
The Working Group Marine (WG Marine) met in Lisbon on 5 May, kindly hosted by the Portuguese CNADS. This meeting set the WG's main strategic lines of action for selected marine-policy processes such as the implementation of the Marine Strategy Directive. The WG Marine analysed the latest developments in the EU Maritime Policy. The WG Marine also assessed the potential consequences of the newly created DG MARE. The WG Marine chair is currently Emmanuel Gonçalves (Portuguese CNADS). The WG plans to assess the implementation of the Marine Strategy Directive and how it correlates with the existing Water Framework Directive. More ...	WG MARINE
The Working Group Biodiversity (WG Biodiversity) met in Dublin on 24 April, kindly hosted by Comhar-Sustainable Development Council. The WG members presented their councils' latest developments on this policy field. The members also prepared for the EEAC Annual Conference 2008, commenting the theme paper prepared by the co-chair on diversity. The WG Biodiversity is assessing how to contribute to the next IUCN World Conservation "Shaping a Sustainable Future" Congress in Barcelona next October. The WG Biodiversity is currently co-chaired by Antonio Abreu (Council Member, Portuguese CNADS) and Xavier Cazorla (Staff Member, Catalan CADS). The main issue continues to be the follow-up of the implementation of the EU Communication Halting the loss of biodiversity by 2010 and beyond and its action plan published in May 2006. More...	WG BIODIVERSITY
The WG Agriculture (WG Agriculture) met on 11 March in Brussels, kindly hosted by the UK SNH at the Scotland House in Brussels. The WG chair opened the meeting with a presentation on the CAP reform. The WG chair also encouraged all WG members to contribute to the study on the implementation of the CAP in 27 Member States (www.rlg.nl/cap). The meeting’s agenda was built around two themes related to the CAP reform: the public debate and the EU-budget. The WG Agriculture's chairing council, the Dutch RLG, has drafted a report with the conclusions of the WG seminars organised in 2007 on Global Economic Drivers on land use and on CAP monitoring/assessment of impacts. This WG Activity Report 2007 was launched in March 2008. Huib Silvis (Council Member, Dutch RLG) is continuing as WG chair during 2008. More...	WG AGRICULTURE
The Working Group Governance (WG Governance) met on 25 February in Brussels, kindly hosted by the Belgian FRDO-CFDD. It was the third meeting concerning its input to the WG SD's preparation of the EEAC Annual Conference 2008. The WG's paper concentrates on the question “What can be learned from best practices and worst cases about the conditions under which governments may take wise decisions with a long term perspective?”. The WG Governance is chaired by Roel in 't Veld (Chairman, Dutch RMNO). This year the WG is focusing on giving input to the Annual Conference 2008 by producing a study/background report on this issue and a short 'background paper' that focus on the practical dimensions of long-term governance The Dutch RMNO co-ordinates this work. More...	WG GOVERNANCE
The Working Group Energy (WG Energy) held a seminar on agrofuels on 29 January in Brussels in the frame of the EU's Sustainable Energy Week (EUSEW), in the premises of the Environment and Nature Council of Flanders (Minaraad) that kindly offered to host and sponsor the event. It was a follow-up of an internal EEAC workshop last October, where many councils already raised concern about discussed targets for agrofuels use. More information on the Agrofuels Workshop presentations and conclusions. The Working Group Energy played a central role in the 15^th EEAC Annual Conference in October 2007 on Energy Efficiency and was responsible for the drafting of the EEAC Statement on Energy Efficiency. Christian Hey (Secretary-General, German SRU) continues as WG chair. The WG is following-up the EEAC Statement on Energy Efficiency with dissemination activities. The core topic for 2008 is biomass. More...	WG ENERGY
News from previous years Copyright © 2000-2008 by European Environment and Sustainable Development Advisory Councils, Den Haag. All Rights Reserved. Last update: 22 July 2008