The Convention will enter into force on 30 October 2001!
With the ratifications of Armenia on 1 August 2001 and
Estonia on 2 August 2001, the total number of parties required
for the Convention to enter into force has been achieved.
According to the Convention, this happens 90 days after
deposit of the sixteenth instrument of ratification, and will
therefore take effect on 30 October this year. Only two EU
countries - Denmark and Italy - have so far ratified, though
preparations are being made by others, as well as the EU as a
whole. For further information, see the UNECE press
release.
Workshop on the Implementation of the Aarhus Convention in
Belarus, Moldova, and Ukraine
A workshop with special emphasis on the information pillar
of the Convention and the e-Aarhus initiative will take place
in Kiev, Ukraine between 3-5th October, 2001 and will review:
- activities in these countries to implement the Aarhus
Convention;
- electronic tools supporting national environmental
information systems; and
- experiences to date with environmental information
systems and forthcoming opportunities.
Further information is available from the organisers.
Conference on e-Government: "From Policy to
Practice"
The Belgian Presidency and the European Commission will
jointly organise a high-level ministerial
conference on e-Government applications in Brussels,
Belgium during 29-30 November this year. The conference aims
to show how citizens and businesses can reap concrete benefits
from on-line public services. It will also demonstrate leading
examples of currently used interactive e-Government
applications in Europe at all levels of government
(central, regional, local), as well as provide a framework to
address e-Government issues.
The eContent
Programme meanwhile will launch its second call for
proposals 1 November. The call's total fund is in the order of
EUR 30 million, and under Action Line 1 will be:
"Improving access to and use of public sector
information." Subline: AL 1.1.1 will focus on
Demonstration Projects.
Guide on Environmental Reporting at the Local Government
Level
According to the recent snapshot
assessment detailing priority needs for electronic tools
in the UN/ECE region, West European countries highlighted the
increasing local and regional collection and dissemination of
environmental information as a constraint to harmonising the
exchange and dissemination of environmental information.
A report from the European Environment Agency (EEA)
meanwhile entitled Environmental
benchmarking for local authorities: from concept to practice
suggests environmental performance and process benchmarking
(regular self-assessment according to a series of indicators)
should be an integral part of local environmental management
systems. The report gives an overview of existing approaches
and suggests further developments.
On a related note, in 2000 the European Commission
published a report entitled: Towards a local sustainability
profile: European common indicators. The 12-pg report is
available at the EC's
Sustainable Cities project website for download and will
shortly be pilot-tested in a number of European cities.
Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for Rural
and Less-developed Regions
The EC Joint Research Center's Institute
for Prospective Technological Studies has just published
an article entitled: Connecting
the Unconnected. The article reviews the potential
education, market, health, environment and empowerment
benefits associated with implementation of ICT's in rural and
remote regions.
Earlier this year, the UN
Non-governmental Liaison Service also published a report
entitled Voices
from Africa: Information and Communication Technologies.
The report examines the use of ICT's in Africa through a range
of contributions that include: Opportunities and Challenges
of the Internet in Africa; experiences of the Telematics for
African Development Consortium and the Dakar Declaration on
the Internet and African Media. All articles can be
accessed online in full-text.
Lastly, in 2000, Econews
Africa examined telecommunications capacity, Internet
policy and related costs within a survey entitled: How the
Internet can be used to promote Sustainable Development in
Kenya (PDF file, 201 KByte).
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