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Conference on Sustainable Development in
the Balkans
15-17 June 2000, Struga, Macedonia
Organised by:
Dvizhenje na Ekologistite na Makedonija (Friends of the Earth
Macedonia), Friends of the Earth Europe and Heinrich Boell Foundation
Participants:
60 Representatives of environmental NGOs from Albania, Bosnia
and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, FR of Yugoslavia (Serbia,
Kosovo, Montenegro), Macedonia, Romania, Slovenia, as well as
50 representatives of environmental NGOs from other European
countries.
We, the environmental NGOs, gathered here
in Struga, Macedonia, on the occasion of the First Conference
on Sustainable Development in the Balkans, express the following
positions:
- We consider the Regional Environmental Reconstruction
Programme (REReP) a useful initiative and support the inclusion
of environment protection and sustainable development into the
objectives of the Stability Pact. We are ready to take active
part in this process, in cooperation with Ministries of Environment,
with coordination of REC as the secretariat of the REReP. In
order for the process to provide fair opportunity of productive
cooperation, we hold that it should:
- ensure more transparency in defining strategies,
selecting priorities, and setting criteria of support to projects;
- provide room for active participation of NGOs
from the Region as implementing agencies, active members of consulting
and decision-making bodies etc., and not only as recipients of
grants, education, and other kinds of assistance;
- involve ongoing projects and use NGOs for
implementation wherever possible, particularly priority Number
Two of REReP under the title "Environmental Civil Society
Building".
- Hereby, we are establishing ourselves as
an environmental civil society SEE regional network to ensure
constant active participation of the NGOs of the Region in further
development and implementation of REReP, as well as of the Stability
Pact as a whole. We invite all the environmental NGOs from the
region to join the network.
- Our network appoints the NGO representatives
to the REReP task force to take part in deliberations and decisions
of the REReP Task Force. As an interim solution, we appoint the
following as additional representatives to the taskforce: Lavdosh
Ferruni from Albania, Polina Kirova from Bulgaria, Sonja Karoglan
from Croatia, and Daniela Stojanova and Saska Petrova from Macedonia.
A mechanism to appoint all 8 environmental NGO representatives
will be worked out later by the network.
- To ensure that the Stability Pact is used
for sustainable development and to ensure active participation
of NGOs in all of the Stability Pact, we will act as the REReP
and Stability Pact watchdog. We welcome the participation of
NGOs outside the region in this aspect.
- We propose the following amendments to the
text of REReP:
- inclusion of sustainable rural
development and agriculture, with an emphasis on organic types
of agriculture;
- support to NGOs from Serbia and Montenegro and civil
society, who should not be held hostage by their government;
- Environmental Impact Assessments
for all Stability Pact projects with the participation of NGOs;
- Inclusion of criteria of priority
for NGO projects to be supported:
a. democratic public involvement
b. creating concrete tools and mechanisms of sustainable development.
We hope and expect further development of
the REReP and other similar initiatives in order to promote sustainable
development for South-Eastern Europe
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Contact
the REReP Task Force Secretariat
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