THE NEWS FROM YESTERDAY:

EEAC 15th Annual Conference on Energy Efficiency, Évora (Portugal), 10-13 October 2007 

The EEAC network met on 10-13 October 2007 in its 15th Annual Conference on Energy Efficiency in Évora  hosted by the Portuguese National Council on Environment and Sustainable Development (CNADS) and co-organised by the German Advisory Council on the Environment (SRU). On this occasion, the EEAC network launched its Statement on Energy Efficiency, endorsed by 15 councils from ten different EU Member States. The EEAC Statement underlines that energy efficiency must be regarded as the largest factor in reducing emissions in the near and medium term and that it will be pivotal in limiting global warming to 2°C above pre-industrial levels, a widely accepted threshold politically and scientifically.

Press release on the launch of the EEAC Statement on Energy Efficiency

14-16 September 2006: 14th Annual Conference: Action for Sustainable Forest Management: From Coordination to Education

The Annual Conference took note with appreciation of the presentations that had been made to them of recent developments in Finland and in Poland where the forest industries are developing sustainable management practices in co-operation with non-governmental organisations and other stakeholders.

The participants identified the 2007 Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe as a key opportunity for advancing policy, commitment and action on many of the issues identified in the EU Forest Action Plan and in the present conference. The Conference participants urged that the Ministerial Conference should give attention to creating the necessary links with objectives in the fields of climate change, biodiversity, biomass and energy.

More information on the Annual Conference programme and presentations

24 May 2006: Working Group Governance publishes Statement on Impact Assessment

The new WG Statement: "Impact Assessment of European Commission Policies: Achievements And Prospects" is currently endorsed by 6 member councils. The paper evaluates the Commission’s Impact Assessment Guidelines and sets out some core principles to guide future impact assessments, including transparency, quality control, and a process of integration that clarifies, rather than conceals, important political choices. The Working Group Statement is still under wider consultation within the EEAC network and was sent to the Commission and to representatives of the Austrian Presidency.
More...

6-8 October 2005: Working Group Agriculture Statement on Sustainable Rural Development and EEAC Conference on Rural Development in Hungary.

The WG Agriculture has prepared a Statement on Sustainable Rural Development that highlights the need to reach the Gothenburg and Lisbon targets through European Rural Development Policies.

The EEAC Conference on Rural Development - organised by the Hungarian National Council (OKT) together with the Dutch Council for the Rural Areas (RLG) - took place in Vac , Hungary in October . The Conference presented the Statement on Sustainable Rural Development to an external group of involved participants from national and regional governments, scientists and NGOs. It started with a plenary meeting followed by thematic parallel workshops with inputs from Southern, Eastern and Western Europe, and it ended with a round up-session and an excursion. 

More information on EEAC Conference on Rural Development

7-10 September 2005: EEAC Annual Conference 2005 at Heythrop Park, Oxfordshire (UK): Climate Change and Biodiversity: Meeting the Challenge

‘Biodiversity, climate change and the need for adaptation’ was the theme for the 13th EEAC conference. Its focus was on adaptation measures to reduce the risks of climate change to biodiversity, and the conservation of ecosystems and the species we support. The conference contributed to the climate change discussions, which will take place in the European Union as part of the UK Presidency.
The conference kicked off on Wednesday 7th September with a meeting of the EEAC Steering Committee.
On Thursday 8th September, the EEAC Working Groups had their business meetings followed by a ‘Knowledge Sharing’ session.
The main conference day, Friday 9th September, began with two presentations to highlight key risks and opportunities for each sector by international experts on climate change. Later on, participants broke up into groups to consider key challenges for their sector/work area. These sessions were followed by a brief plenary session, to highlight key priorities. In the afternoon, there was a presentation on ecosystem resilience, and an introduction to the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment.  This was followed by two parallel sessions: one on national adaptation strategies, presented by the Finnish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, which is the first country to have produced a national climate change strategy.  The other session addressed regional impact assessments - the incorporation of biodiversity issues in multi-national, cross sectoral assessments.
The conference closed on Saturday 10th September, with the Annual Plenary Session followed by a ‘track and trailer’ tour in an organic farm.

More information and Press Release

January 2005: Publication of the EEAC benchmark study Sustaining Sustainability.

As the second issue of its publication series, the European Environment and Sustainable Development Advisory Council network published Sustaining Sustainability, a benchmark study on national strategies towards sustainable development in nine EU member states and their link to the EU SDS. It focuses on the governance of sustainability including horizontal and vertical coordination, and the links between government and non-governmental actors. It particularly explores the role and impact of advisory councils for sustainable development and environment in these SD processes.
This study was an initiative of the EEAC Working Group Sustainable Development, co-financed by the ten councils that took part, and supported by EEAC. The councils participated actively by facilitating the research in their own countries, through council and/or secretariat members having been interviewed, and the key contact persons have been engaged in reviewing drafts of the individual country analysis. With this setting the study created a true sense of ownership, and was itself a 'learning process' and 'capacity building', as the gained insights and knowledge remain in the network.
The book is published by Lemma, Utrecht (www.lemma.nl) and can be ordered there.

   Download Executive Summary / Full Study

Copyright © 2000-2007 by European Environment and Sustainable Development Advisory Councils, Den Haag. All Rights Reserved.
Last updated 10 October 2006