International Conference on the Renewable Energy

The International Conference on Renewable Energy, held on June 1-4, 2004, has been successfully completed in Bonn. During the latest years the Conference became the most significant event in the attempts of the world community to achieve the sustainable development.

The status of the participants also witnessed the magnitude of the event: ministers and government members of both developed and developing countries and of the countries with economies in transition took part in the Conference. Practically all international organizations of the UN system including World Health Organization and UNESCO sent their heads as representatives. At the same time and, perhaps, for the first time in the practice of conferences of this level the joint plenary discussions of different NGO representatives and members of national governments were organized.

More than 2000 delegates from 154 countries took part in the work of the Conference. Simultaneously over 150 events, such as scientific and financial conferences, exhibitions, meetings with delegations of the countries and mayors of the cities, were held. On the 1st of June the intersectoral dialog "The Importance and the Possibilities of the Renewable Energy" was held in the course of the Conference. Non-governmental organizations called for the countries to establish clear and differentiated goals for the renewable energy development, and to elaborate a policy to advance it. They emphasized the necessity of doing all the best in order to prevent rising of the Earth temperature, caused by the climate change, over 20?C. According to their opinion, the renewable energy contributes a lot into the climate change diminution. The participants of the dialog noted that the increase of costs on the fossil fuel and the depletion of resources will make the technologies of the renewable energy source use more profitable.

The significance of the renewable power engineering for the remote region energy supply was accentuated.

During the discussion the key role of the renewable power engineering in the development of rural settlements was considered. The participants of the dialog noted that for many countries the renewable energy indeed represents a real opportunity to survive under the growth of petroleum costs. In accordance with the viewpoint of the representatives of many organizations, private sector must be actively engaged in activity related to the transfer of the renewable energy technologies. Several statements mentioned the importance of international fund creation in order to finance the projects on the renewable energy development in the developing countries.

Local and regional authorities addressed the governments suggesting replacement of fossil fuel production grants into the measures to increase the access to the renewable energy sources. Many applications told about the necessity of enforcing projects on the increasing of public awareness of the groups concerned in the questions of renewable energy source development, applications to the governments were expressed containing the demands to determine legally binding objectives on the renewable energy use, and the appeals to the international financial institutes - to augment the support of the renewable energy development.

Discussing financing problems NGOs stressed the necessity to provide the access to the credit facilities and to enlarge the financing of the renewable power engineering in the developing countries by means of creating of banks, export-credit agencies and international institutes. The importance of the long-range strategy elaboration concerning capital formation in the renewable energy sector was emphasized. The actuality of low-cost small technologies financing in the use of renewable energy sources was noted. The representatives of some countries spoke in support of the elaboration of a protocol or a convention on the renewable energy.

The new lines and directions of the human civilization development for the nearest years and the necessary actions to achieve them were actually designated at the Conference. The main accent is made on the increase of the renewable energy source and energy efficiency portions.

The Chancellor of Germany Gerhard Schroder speaking at the Conference noted in particular the success of Germany in the sphere of power engineering. During the latest 6 years the production of energy from the renewable sources doubled. As a result the greenhouse gas emissions reduced by 19%. At the same time about 6 milliard Euro is annually invested in the renewable energy sources.

We should mention that the European Union made it its aim to obtain the 20% portion of the electric energy production from the renewable energy sources up to the year 2020. The seriousness of the intentions is confirmed by the fact of Schroder's announcement at the Conference about the allotment of the additional 500 million Euro by Germany for the upcoming 5 years with the aims of the crediting of the programme on the renewable power engineering in the developing countries at the low bearing interest.

The World Bank Adjusts Figures

The World Bank admitted that its recent promise to increase the issue of loans for the renewable energy and efficacy projects was based on the inconsistent statistics use.

At the beginning of June the Executive Director of the World Bank Group Peter Woicke stated that the obligation to enlarge sector crediting by 20 per cent per year will mean the double increase of investment up to the 500 million dollars per year by the year 2010. In the same statement he noted that the Bank has already lent 6 milliard dollars to the sector since the year 1990, and that meant 430 million dollars of average annual investment what is only 14 per cent lower than the goal for the 2010.

Later, the Bank informed that contradictions resulted from the fact that the data about the past included the loans given by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Financial Corporation (IFC) while the figures predicted were based on the IBRD loans only. The World Bank confessed that despite these forecast defects the promise of 20 per cent per year applies to the IFC as well. According to the commentators' note it is still unclear whether the Bank in its further calculations will consider major projects on hydro-electric engineering as falling within the category of renewable power engineering.

UNEP on Renewable Energy

The renewable energy sources are the key to the solution of the two-fold problem of environment degradation and poverty - "the double-headed hydra" threatening to the structure of the economic and democratic systems of the world states itself, claimed the Executive Director of the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP) Klaus Topfer. Addressing the participants of the International Conference on the Renewable Energy Sources in Bonn the head of the UNEP noted that even a marginal improvement of the type and quality of energy available for the rural economies in the developing countries may produce significant environmental, economic and social results.

Changes in the global policy of power engineering, according to Topfer, are only going to happen under firm and immutable willingness to strive for their implementation. The stable power engineering is necessary for the sustainable development, but investment is necessary for the stable power engineering, he said, stressing that it does not obligatorily means investment in technologies - there may be investment in the human resources and also in the training of these technologies use with a view of the sustainable development.

"Let us say ultimately clear, those numerous and varied renewable energy forms won't be able to become the basis for the power engineering without more substantial support of the scientific-research activities, more active stimulation and further development of the market situation in the direction where environmental and social expenses are included in the energy charges", Klaus Topfer said.

Scientific Conference on Renewable Energy Sources in Trieste

The International Conference on the Renewable Sources and the Renewable Energy, devoted to the renewable resource use in industry and power engineering, in particular, in the developing countries, took place on June 10-12 in Trieste (Italy). Russia was represented at this international forum by the Director of the Boreskov Catalysis Institute (Novosibirsk) academician Valentin Parmon.

EU Support for the Renewable Energy Is Insufficient

The technical report about the power engineering grants in the European Union countries has been published. It contains data from various sources for the assessment of grant size, given to the power engineering sector the in 15 EU states.

The report makes the conclusion that the grant level for the fossil fuel production remains high in spite of the negative impact on environment. At the same time renewable energy support stays on the same position.

The Workshop "Greenhouse Gases: Environmental Resource of Russia"

Within the framework of the small environmental projects scheme (SEPS-3) by the Great Britain Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), implemented via the British Council, with the assistance of WWF Russia and National Organization for Support of Carbon Sink Projects (NOSCSP) the international Workshop "Greenhouse Gases: Environmental Resource of Russia" took place.

The representatives of the Russian Federation ministries and departments (MNR of Russia, Ministry of Education of Russia), those of the governments of the Federation subjects (Sverdlovsk, Novgorod, Nizhny Novgorod, Irkutsk Regions, Saint-Petersburg), of the scientific and non-governmental organizations participated in the Workshop. Besides, the representatives of Canada, Denmark and the Great Britain gave their reports at the Workshop.

The Workshop participants from the regions of the Russian Federation expressed almost unanimous opinion that as against the federal centre the regions are concerned about the steepest start of the Kyoto mechanisms. They gave examples of the performed activity which in case of the Kyoto Protocol ratification could become a component part of the national strategy on the fulfillment of obligations imposed by the Protocol. In the statements of V.B.Milyaev (Scientific Research Institute "Atmosfera"), A.S.Isaev (RAS Centre for Environmental Problems and Productivity of Forests), A.I.Ilyinsky (the Finance Academy), S.N. Kuraev (RREC), I.G. Gritsevich (Centre for Energy Efficiency), A.V.Hanykov (NOSCSP) and S.V.Vasilyev (National Carbon Agreement) the practical questions connected with the realization of specific actions and projects concerning the Kyoto Protocol theme were enlightened. Foreign participants presented information about the national programmes and strategies related to the greenhouse gase emission reduction with the use of the Kyoto mechanisms.

The presentation of the reference instruction guide "Greenhouse gases: the global environmental resource", prepared by WWF Russia, took place at the Workshop.

No special application or resolution was taken in compliance with the results of the Workshop. In the near future WWF Russia will prepare a digest containing the statements of the Workshop participants, on a CD.

Environment in the EPC CIS and EURELECTRIC Agenda

The "Environment" meeting of the Joint Working Group of the Commonwealth of the Independent States Electric Power Council (EPC CIS) and of EURELECTRIC, the Union of the Electricity Industry of European Union countries, was held in Moscow on June 4, 2004. The Group was created in November of the year 2002 for the research and analysis of environmental legislation questions and of the environmental policy in the CIS countries and EURELECTRIC region.

The aim of the current meeting consisted in the discussion of main indices allowing to compare environmental indices in the electric power engineering of separate regions. It was also planned to co-ordinate the final structure of the joint report concerning the choice of the common indices and the crucial questions of the environmental legislation.

The representatives of the electric power organizations and companies of Byelorussia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the Russian Federation, Ukraine, executive members and specialists of the EPC CIS Executive Council and of the EURELECTRIC Secretariat took part in the Group meeting.

The head of the EURELECTRIC Secretariate Department "Environment and the Sustainable Development" John Scowcroft spoke at the meeting. During the meeting of the Joint Working Group the participants listened to the speeches related to the following topics: "Environmental Indicators"; "Environmental Legislation in the Electric Power Sector of the CIS Countries" (by the example of the Russian Federation) and "The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol. Legislation and Indicators".

Members of the Joint Working Group discussed in detail the suggested environmental indicators and approved the work on their calculation, performed in accordance with the technical task agreed by the EPC CIS and EURELECTRIC presidents on the 13th of November of 2003 at the joint meeting in Brussels. The preliminary report containing generalized data on the environmental indices is to be prepared in September, 2004 with the objective to present it at the ordinary meeting of the Electric Power Council and EURELECTRIC presidents.

In the course of the discussion the members of the Joint Working Group came to the agreement about the final structure of the joint report on the choice of the common indices and the crucial questions of the environmental legislations. The final joint report will be prepared early in the year 2005.

Results of the in-depth Examination of the Third National Report of the Russian Federation

On the 10th of June, 2004 the Secretariat of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change published the report of the in-depth examination of the Third National Report of the Russian Federation on Climate Change, represented by the latter in November, 2002.

The assessment took place in the period from May to December of the year 2003 and was made by the team of experts representing Ecuador, the European Community, Hungary, International Energy Agency and the FCCC Secretariat.

The document contains basic data on: the institutional basis of the climate policy in Russia; the condition of national cadastre preparation; the tendencies in the greenhouse gas emissions; politics; measures and programmes in the sphere of climate change; the predicted emissions. It also makes several conclusions about the process of the information provision by Russia within the FCCC framework.

The general information assessment given by the expert team contained in the Third National Report shows that this information objectively reflects the steps taken for the FCCC implementation and for the preparation to implement the Kyoto Protocol when the latter comes into force. Also, the document says, very roughly the provision of this information corresponds with the guiding FCCC principals.

The team of experts notes that the increasing of the financial support of the cadastre preparation may help to terminate the work on the national system of its preparation with the aim to provide the quality improvement of the cadastre data and completeness, and also promote the collaboration between the Institute of Global Climate and Environment and the respective ministries and organizations participating in the cadastre preparation. The experts also call for Russia to follow the guiding FCCC principals more seriously while providing the information on policy and measures on the Convention implementation, and also while predicting.

Norwegian Scientists Analyzed "Mini-Kyoto"

Norwegian scientists issued the report "Kyoto Protocol Implementation without the participation of Russia". In the conditions when all countries from the Kyoto Protocol Appendix B except Australia, Russia and the USA have ratified the Protocol, and given the actual dismissal of Australia and the USA, it will take effect only when ratified by Russia, Norwegian scientists analyze several variants of the alternative Kyoto Protocol performing in case of Russia's decision not to ratify the document.

The report considers the situation where the remaining states from the Appendix B reply to the dismissal of Russia by the creation of the new multilateral agreement ("Mini-Kyoto"), where they assume obligations on the upper bounds of emissions, the emission trading rules etcetera, the way all the forementioned is stipulated in the Protocol. At that the authors separately detach the situation where all remaining states from the Appendix B except Ukraine enter into the agreement. Besides, the situation is being considered where Canada, Japan and New Zealand do not wish to participate in the new agreement and the remaining sides are represented only by 25 EU countries, Bulgaria, Iceland, Romania, Norway, and Switzerland. For each of the geographical variants of the "Mini-Kyoto" agreement the conclusions about the emissions and the emission quota costs are given.

The authors note that in case of the non-participation of Russia and Ukraine the environmental benefit from the new agreement implementation will significantly increase. The final result of the dismissal of Russia and Ukraine, however, may become the secession of countries with obligations on emission reduction, such as Canada, Japan and New Zealand, what to some extent will neutralize the environmental benefit caused by the withdrawal of Russia and Ukraine. The report says that in any case the environmental effect of the agreement with the membership of 27 EU countries (25 present members and also Bulgaria and Romania in the future), Norway and Switzerland, is still higher than in the variant when only Australia and the USA don't participate in the agreement.

The authors also review the change of expenses on emission reduction depending on the geographical coverage of the agreement, and tell about the role of the clean development mechanism in this connection. In case of the disaffiliation of Russia and Ukraine the price for the emission quota costs will grow. If at that the emission quotas don't come through the clear development mechanism the costs for emission quotas will grow even higher. For the importers of emission quotas, such as EU, Japan and the USA, the "Mini-Kyoto" implementation will therefore mean the significant increase of expenses. Nevertheless, if Canada, Japan and New Zealand do not participate in the agreement, the three importers leave the market and that reduces the emission quota price meaning lower outlay for EU.

International Denmark Collaboration on Climate

Denmark Ministry of Environment published the information about the international projects in the sphere of climate change. On the basis of the Agreement on Climate Collaboration signed by Denmark and Romania in March, 2003 and presuming Danish investment in the sum of 2.6 million Euros, the first project started in May, 2004 in Romanian town of Vatra Dornei. In conformity with the bilateral agreement, oil and natural gas are going to be replaced into the offal timber heating in the five Romanian towns, what will allow to escape the emission of 720 tons of carbonic dioxide.

Romania and Denmark have also agreed upon the project in the geothermal resource sphere, the project providing the geothermal energy use in the towns of Oradea and Beius. Denmark finances part of investment in the sum of 0.9 million Euros and can get the emission quotas instead corresponding approximately to the 190 thousand tons of carbonic dioxide.

In May, 2004 Denmark Ministry of Environment has also made a contract about the purchase of carbonic credits via "Eco Securities and Standard Bank London" (ESSB) on the sum of 8 million Euros. By dint of the projects in Eastern Europe Denmark is expected to be able to acquire from 1.2 to 1.7 million tones of carbonic dioxide in the years 2008-2012. The bank must find at least five projects of joint implementation in the Eastern Europe countries, leading to the greenhouse gas emission reduction.

Carbon Fair and Expo

On June 9-11, 2004 the World Bank, International Emission Trading Association and Koelnmesse company was held the first fair and expo for carbon emission market players. The fair was accompanied by a conference on greenhouse gas emissions quota trading.

To be eligible to attend at the fair and expo a participant (business or private institution) might have its application approved by the organizers. The carbon expo provided the exchange platform for companies subject to EU Emissions Trading Scheme, project developers, government experts from developed and developing countries, technology providers, verifiers, financial intermediaries, brokers, bilateral aid agencies, carbon market advisors, law firms.

World Bank's technical assistance facility for carbon market capacity building, donation organizations and multilateral development agencies supported participation of private and government sector delegates from developing countries and countries with economics in transition. A training for journalists was organized.

Agricultural Carbon Utilization Symposium

The Energy & Agricultural Carbon Utilization Symposium under the motto "Sustainable Alternative Sequestration" was held on June 10-11 in the University of Georgia, USA. It brought together energy producers and policy makers together with agricultural ecologists, soil scientists and environmental communities.

In the opinion of Symposium participants, considering today's high degree of expertise in energy production and the increasing capabilities of sustainable agriculture, an alliance between these diverse groups is not only beneficial for the industries themselves but is an essential step toward environmental stewardship.

14th Meeting of the UNFCCC CDM Executive Body

The 14th Meeting of the Executive Board of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change was held in Bonn on June 12-14.

The agenda included accreditation of operational entities for sector-specific validation, consideration of methodologies for baselines and monitoring plans, matters related to the registration of CDM project activities, resources for the work on the CDM. The particular attention was given to procedures for afforestation and reforestation under the CDM and relationship with accredited observers of intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations.

Conference "Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Abrupt Climate Change"

The conference "Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Abrupt Climate Change" organized by the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis was held on June 24-26 in Paris.

The objective of the Conference was the critical review of the scientific knowledge about climate change forced by the greenhouse gases and the search for the reasons impeding the more sustainable policy enforcement.

Conference on Economic Growth and Energy Efficacy in Moscow

"Goals and Possibilities for the Increase of Energy Efficacy and Power Safety in Russian Economics", that was the title of the international conference, held on July 21, 2004 in the Higher School of Economics in Moscow.

Problems of economic growth and energy efficacy; questions of power consumption and power safety were discussed at the conference. Besides, the possibilities for Russia in case of the Kyoto Protocol ratification, basic provisions of the Russian Power Strategy, Russian Joint-Stock Venture "Unified Energy Systems" projects on the energy efficacy improvement, regional experience in the energy efficacy projects implementation, the private sector role in the improvement of Russian economics energy efficacy were examined.

Conference "Climate Protection as Development Opportunity

The Conference "Climate Protection as Development Opportunity" was held on June 7-8 in the Hamburg Institute of International Economics. The goal of the conference is to pave the way for projects that combine credible greenhouse gas reduction with promotion of development opportunities in countries of the South. In the opinion of the conference organizers such projects are an important step towards achieving sustainable development.

Russia again Promices to Ratify the Kyoto Protocol

Russian Security Council Secretary Igor Ivanov at the meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan Yoriko Kawaguchi stated that Russia may ratify the Kyoto Protocol soon.

"The preparation in the direction desirable for Japan is in progress. I hope that we will be able to answer in the affirmative in the not very distant future", the Kyodo Agency cites Ivanov's words.

5th Baltic Sea States Summit

5th Baltic Sea States Summit of the Heads of Government was held on June 21 in Laulasmaa (Estonia).

In the sphere of Environment Protection the Heads of Government emphasized the need to further protect and preserve the sensitive marine environment of the Baltic Sea area and indicated that ensuring maritime safety is the common responsibility of all the Baltic Sea states. Taking note of the initiative by a number of participating states within the IMO and the decision by the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) to designate in principle a large part of the Baltic Sea as a Particularly Sensitive Sea Area, the Heads of Government undertook to follow up on the identification of Associated Protective Measures in line with IMO decisions.

The Heads of Government welcomed the steps taken by the IMO to accelerate the phasing-out of single-hull tankers, and supported a ban on the carriage of heavy grades of oil in single-hull tankers to/from all the ports of the Baltic Sea no later than 5 April 2005 in accordance with IMO regulations. The Baltic Sea states had in several fora voiced their concerns over the traffic of such vessels.

There was stressed the need to maintain a proactive approach to avoid irreparable damage to our marine environment by enacting further measures and providing fully adequate resources in order to prevent and respond to pollution from land-based sources, shipping and other marine activities, i.e. oil drilling and extraction. The Heads of Government expressed their adherence to enhance co-operation and capacity-building in this regard, and also called for more effective measures against illegal oil discharges and emphasized the need to develop information exchanges against offenders and on legal proceedings.

In the conclusions the chairman confirmed the importance of the work of the Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission (HELCOM) and welcomed co-operation to protect the Baltic marine environment as established by the HELCOM ministerial meeting in Bremen 2003 and followed up at the 25th annual meeting of the HELCOM in March 2004.

The Heads of Government welcomed the progress made through efforts within the Northern Dimension Environmental Partnership (NDEP). The environmental and nuclear windows of the NDEP Support Fund become successful tools for mobilizing resources for priority environmental investments in north-west Russia, including Kaliningrad Oblast. But there was noticed that consideration should be given in due course to an appropriate replenishment of the Support Fund.

The Heads of Government noted that the entry into force of the Baltic Sea regional testing ground agreement for flexible mechanisms of the Kyoto protocol and the complementing financial facility for energy sector investments that reduce anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases would permit the accomplishment of concrete joint implementation projects in the near future.

In the conclusions the chairman noted that the Heads of Government welcomed the results of the EU-Russia Summit in Moscow on 21 May 2004 and expressed their conviction that joint activities by the enlarged EU, other members of the European Economic Area, and the Russian Federation would enhance political stability and economic dynamism around the Baltic Sea, and the presence of all Baltic Sea countries in the WTO would make an important contribution to the region's economy. The Heads of Government underlined that regional policy initiatives among the Baltic Sea states would contribute to the EU-Russia strategic partnership through intensified cross-border co-operation at regional and sub-regional levels, encompassing civil society at large.

The Forum "Baltic 21" whose members include governments of all the 11 countries from this region, the European Commission, intergovernmental organizations, international financial institutions as well as non-governmental organizations, having reviewed progress towards sustainable development in the region contributed a special report to the Summit.

To date, Baltic 21 has made three assessments of sustainable development trends in the Baltic Sea Region. Two of them, based on over 100 indicators, deliver comprehensive information. The third one, submitted to the Summit, aims to deliver an essential message to Prime Ministers.

The strategic analysis made by Baltic 21 reveals the most critical points of challenge for sustainable development in the Baltic Sea Region. These challenges are safeguarding the Baltic marine ecosystem; technology change and demand management in energy use, particularly in the fossil fuel-driven transport sector; controlling greenhouse gas emissions; continued and accelerated improvements in agricultural practice and policy; and continued attention to reducing the gaps in economic and social conditions between older and newer market economies.

UNCTAD-XI Results

XI UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD-XI) was terminated in Sao Paulo (Brazil). Two basic documents were adopted, "The Spirit of Sao Paulo" (which is the session declaration) and "The Consensus of Sao Paulo" (UNCTAD plan of actions for the nearest years). Both documents cover the four main blocks of the meeting issues: the strategies of the development under the world economy globalization; productive potential creation and international competitive ability; providing of benefits gaining from international trade and trading negotiation system; creation of partner relations in an effort of development.

The questions, connected with the role of trade in the movement on the path to the sustainable development, eradication of poverty and hunger, and to the achievement of equal and equitable conditions while holding multilateral trading negotiations, were broadly discussed at the session. It was stressed that development must be in the centre of the international economic relations agenda. It is necessary to obtain correlation between the national development strategies on the one hand, and international obligations on the other. The questions related to the role of trade in the solution of gender problems and also to the importance of the creative branches (music, cinema, publishing industry and the software production for computers) for the development promotion were considered. In the field of creative branches the contribution of poor countries may be really significant because of the wealth of their cultures.

77 and China Group notes that they expected from the session more valuable, than was achieved, results on the questions of "political space", corporate liability, raw material products, capital flows, debts, official aid in development, innovative financial mechanisms and trade.

Non-governmental organizations also expressed their regret because of the fact that the Conference failed to solve adequately serious questions connected with the development, in particular, the strengthening of the corporate liability.

At the same time NGOs positively estimated the beginning of the "South-South" negotiations and the creation of the group on the raw material products. The representatives of the civil society also willingly took the suggestion of the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, addressed to the non-governmental organizations, to propose the new UNCTAD Secretary.

Despite the fact that the major attention was focused on the developing states, the problems of the countries with transitive economy had a certain reflection. Thus, "The Spirit of Sao Paulo" declaration contains the appeal to promote entering of the developing countries, especially the least developed states, and also the countries with transitive economy, into WTO. "The Consensus of Sao Paulo" emphasizes the importance of the expanding and strengthening of the developing countries and the countries with transitive economy in the process of economic decision making and the elaboration of rules on the international level. The importance of potential strengthening, including the scientific-analytical potential not only of developing countries but also of the states with transitive economy, is noted. But the countries with transitive economy aren't mentioned in the number of important paragraphs, in particular, connected with the potential strengthening in the sphere of trade and environment correlation; at the several parallel events, however, the possibility of extension of the UNCTAD work in this direction in NIS countries was talked about.

The importance of the of problem solution concerning the landlocked countries is noted. Including of these provisions into the UNCTAD-XI documents was actively supported by Kazakhstan playing an important role in the activity of this group of countries.

The forum of the civil society, confined to UNCTAD-XI, addressed the Conference with a number of specified suggestions in order that trade would serve the principles of the sustainable development.

Civil forum thinks that the UN Conference on Trade and Development must become multilateral platform for the critical estimation of the liberalization policy influence. A system of the "agreed" policies in various spheres which would refine international economic order in the interests of satisfaction of development sphere needs, existing in the population groups most of all influenced by the globalization process put in action by the efforts of corporations, must underlie UNCTAD. Civil society hopes that the governments will strengthen UNCTAD as an independent analytical institution in contrast to the liberal consensus, and will authorize it with the powers necessary to perform this role.

Equal to the former large-scale international forums related to the international trading the CIS region was underrepresented: none but one Russian non-governmental organization takes part in it. Nevertheless, in many cases the links to the countries with transitive economy could be included into the civil society forum application to the UNCTAD.

Group 77 Celebrates the 40th Anniversary

The ministers for trade of the states - members of the Group 77 and China gathered in Sao Paulo (Brazil) on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Group 77.

The Group 77 was established by the developing states on terminating the first UNCTAD session on June 15, 1964 in Algeria for the joint actions in the sphere of advancing of their economic interests. Presently the number of its members has increased to 130, and the strength of its influence on the international agenda has significantly grown, what would have been impossible to obtain acting separately. The Group used its collective will to achieve common goals not only in the trade sphere but also in such adjacent branches as finances, direct foreign investment, markets of capital, external debt, foodstuffs, agriculture, industrialization, intellectual property rights, social development, public health, education, sustainable development, science and engineering, and information-communication technologies. The Group 77 promotes the interests of the developing countries in the UN system organizations, the Bretton Woods institutions included.

A whole set of questions present in the agenda of the Group 77 in the year 1964 remains actual till nowadays, among them the asymmetries in multilateral trading system, resource transfer between the developing and developed countries, including the insufficient flows of the official aid with the goal of development, and the debt burden, the fluctuation of raw material markets and the dismantling of the protectionist barriers in the access path to the markets of the developed countries. Besides, according to the opinion of the ministers of the Group 77 member nations, coordinated global measures of response from the international community are required in such new problems as sustainable development, social development and justice, the increase of financial crises frequency, trade funding, in particular, with agricultural products, the role of information-communication technologies, and the illegal international operations.

According to the opinion of the ministers of the Group 77 member nations, the developing countries must be rendered assistance in the field of effective participation and response to the present-day challenges, and in the gaining of benefits from international trading and multilateral trading negotiations. It is necessary to provide the international economic conditions favourable for the development, which would give the opportunity to ease integration of the developing countries into the world economy. This will contribute a lot to the realization of the millennium development goals, including the forming of open, just, based on the clear rules, predictable and nondiscriminatory trading system, allowing to take into account key interests and anxieties of the developing countries.

The Meeting in Urumqi Concerning the Creating of Four-Sided Nature Reserve in Altai

In the capital of the Xinjiang-Uighur Autonomous Region in China, the city of Urumqi, the international conference on the biosphere reserve creation in Altai took place.

The representatives of China, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Russia discussed the prospect, plans and questions of the transboundary biosphere territory creation at the turn of four states' borders. There is no precedent to this for never before anything similar was created anywhere in the world.

The uniqueness of biodiversity in Altai, its cultural wealth and the importance of sustainable development of the territory was emphasized by all participants of the conference who assumed their responsibility for the specific actions aimed to preserve these values. One of the steps towards the sustainable development and conservation of Altai is the creation of a transboundary biosphere territory.

The necessity to create such a territory at the turn of the borders of China, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Russia within the limits of the mountain Altai country has been discussed for 6 years. The discussion was initiated at the international conference in Urumqi in 1998. During the following years international multi- and bilateral meetings and consultations were held, in the course of which the intention of certain countries to perform the specialized territorial planning as a basis for the environmentally oriented use of land in the region was confirmed.

The participants of the conference listened to the conclusions of the two-year research concerning the possibility of the transboundary biosphere territory creation, made by the consulting company "Eco" supported by the German Agency for Technical Co-operation (GTZ), and drafted further steps for the transboundary reserve creation in Altai.

The necessity of the transboundary territory creation emerges from the exclusively favourable conditions; the major of them are: the high level of biodiversity and the conservation of natural landscapes; traditional way of life of the residential population and the desire to preserve the environment; low concentration of population; the net of specially protected territories existing in the region and the necessity of their optimal structurization; the existence of political preconditions for the land use optimization and for harmonization of environmental legislation in the neighbouring countries.

In conformity with the results of the conference the signing of the agreement among the four states about the creation of the biosphere reserve in Altai was scheduled. It was decided to establish the state mechanism on the territory management, to assign the coordinator in every state for the further co-operation and consultations; to create the joint expert group, begin the search for financing sources in order to organize and maintain the territory, provide all necessary information for the analysis and planning, and also for the correction of the first plan variant by the end of July, and by the end of September to revise and elaborate the final analysis version of the territory creation plan.

"It's time to go to action," were the concluding words in the final speech of the president of the German Federal Environmental Agency Hartmut Fogtman.

RECs Meeting in Szentendre

The representatives of the Regional Environmental Centres for Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia (EECCA) region gathered in Szentendre (Hungary) for the ordinary working meeting.

The main topic of the meeting became the preparation to the Environmental Ministerial Conference within the framework of the "Environment for Europe" process (Kyiv+1) which is to take place in October 2004 in Tbilisi.

RECs' representatives specified the order for the presentation of the common working programme on the realization of the EECCA region environmental strategy at the Ministerial Conference and at the preparatory meeting in Chisinau.

Special attention was focused on the questions of the practical use of the Regional Environmental Centre mandate which was significantly extended at the Kyiv Environmental Ministerial Conference. It is also planned to present at the Conference the results of the net of RECs' practical activities and to submit the questions of its development for discussion.

Conference "The Future for Our Children"

"The Future for Our Children" - it's the name of Fourth Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health, which was held in Budapest, Hungary, 23-25 June 2004.

The effects of a degraded environment on children's health raise increasing concern. Every year, unhealthy environments cause the death of over 5 million children worldwide.

The Budapest Conference is the European response to this situation. WHO/Europe has taken the lead in the action for children and has focused the Conference on 'The future for our children'.

The Budapest Conference is the fourth in a series started in 1989, bringing together ministers of health and of the environment as well as major stakeholders. European ministers are expected to reach consensus and make political commitments to ensure safer environments for children, through the adoption of a Conference declaration and of a children's environment and health action plan for Europe (CEHAPE).

The Navigation Route "Danube - the Black Sea" Became a Stumbling-Block in Ukrainian-Romanian Relations

The Compliance Committee of the Aarhus Convention required that the Ukrainian government and Environmental Ministry should clarify the reasons for the Ukrainian non-compliance with the requirements of the Convention when constructing the navigational route on the Bystroe branch situated on the territory of the Danube biosphere reserve.

Also, the government of Romania has addressed the Compliance Committee of the Espo Convention with the complaint that Ukraine does not abide by the requirements of this Convention when constructing the Danube - Black Sea channel. MFA of Romania sent Ukraine the formal note of protest concerning the navigational route construction on Bystroe.

The Prime Minister of Romania Adrian Nastase called for the Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich to the "open and constructive dialog" concerning the question of the Danube - Black Sea channel construction. The Romanian side thinks that the channel construction threatens the environment of the region. Aside from that, Bucharest is alarmed because of the fact that Ukraine began the construction in the near-frontier zone without consulting with the Romanian authorities.

Ukrainian authorities following the conclusion of the state environmental expertise think that the forementioned project won't have the transboundary impact. In reality the mouth of the Bystroe branch via which the channel is being constructed is situated little more than in 20 kilometres from the Romanian Sulina branch. And for the alongshore south-northern current the distance is sufficient to transfer the slit stirred-up by the dredging. We can add to this streamflow redistribution, sturgeon and herring migrations and the descent of their whitebait.

In connection with the protests of Romania the president of Ukraine obliged the government to create the working group jointly with the Romania government in order to discuss the construction of the Danube - Black Sea navigational route. Ministers of Environment of both countries will take part in this working group.

The 3rd Meeting of the Parties to the Espoo Convention

The Third Meeting of the Parties to the Espoo Convention on the Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context and to the Protocol on the Strategic Environmental Assessment to the forementioned Convention took place at the Croatian resort Cavtat.

Approximately 170 delegates took part in the Meeting, including those from the countries which didn't send their representatives to this international forum earlier (Iran, Lebanon). A special appeal to the Russian Federation with the request to ratify the Convention, signed by Russia back in 1991, as soon as possible, was approved at the Meeting. The Russian Regional Environmental Centre was represented at the Meeting by the administrator for institutional development Andrey Terentyev. During the forum the joint RECs' application was adopted. We should remind that a special programme for the countries of Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus is being implemented within the framework of the Convention, coordinated by the REC for Central and Eastern Europe situated in Hungary.

The Joint Activity Strategy of WWF Russia and WWF China

The joint activity strategy of WWF Russia and WWF China Forest Programme is elaborated in the course of the WWF China and the Asian Forest Programme members' visit to Primorye, the first in the World Wildlife Fund history, which took place on June 13-17, 2004.

It is generally known that the market of the neighbouring countries, especially that of China, exerts significant negative impact on the Russian Far East forests. There exists a wide range of problems beginning with the uncontrolled timber-logging and forest buying-up for cash payments by the Chinese agents, and concluding with the exportation abroad of the valuable protected animal species and plants and their derivatives. China and Russia have more than 3000 kilometres of the common land frontier what presumes the necessity of environmental organization activity coordination in the analysis of the situation, creation of the new and effectiveness strengthening of the existing protected nature territories on the each side of the frontier, of experience and specialist exchange. First steps towards such collaboration were made by the Russia and China World Wildlife Fund in October, 2003 during the working trip of the WWF Russia Forest Programme members to Harbin. Present visit is the first meeting on the Russian land.

According to the results of the meeting the general priority tasks of the WWF Russia and WWF China were marked out and the plans for the joint actions in order to solve them were prepared.

Symposium on Forest Law in Brasov

The International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) held on June 13-20 in Brasov (Romania) a symposium on legal aspects of European forests sustainable management.

The main objective of the symposium organized by the IUFRO forest law and environmental legislation research group was to promote exchange of information amongst researchers and practitioners active in forest law and environmental legislation all over the world and to review the state of the subject, thereby identifying trends concerning research and practice.

Conference of the International Water Association in Prague

The second conference on water and wastewater treatment technologies organized by the International Water Association (IWA) was held in Prague on June 1-4. Once again, the event included two parallel themes (drinking water and wastewater). This year they were complemented by workshops on topics of critical interest.

One of IWA's goals is to promote the exchange of ideas and knowledge about breakthroughs and developments amongst its global membership. The Leading-Edge Conference series is a means to achieve this goal. By gathering together leading researchers and practitioners, IWA helps to facilitate the adoption of new, innovative approaches across the water and wastewater treatment spectrum.

Conference on Social Responsibility in Stockholm

International Organization for Standardization (ISO) held an international conference on social responsibility on 21-22 June 2004 in Stockholm, Sweden. The aim of the conference was to complement the current exploration by ISO of social responsibility initiatives around the world and issues arising; and to form the basis for a decision by ISO on whether or not to propose the development of International Standards or other ISO tools addressing the social responsibility of organizations. Any such proposal would be subject to a vote by the full ISO membership.

Conference on Agricultural Biotechnology in Durango

Instituto Tecnologico de Durango, Mexico, hold on June 20-23 a conference on agricultural biotechnology. The general objective of the conference was to present research and motivate discussion on research carried out in developing countries that strength food science and biotechnology.

Among the specific objectives of this congress were to gather experts working on problems related to developing countries on the different topics of the congress; to facilitate international joint projects; to discuss common problems associated with food science and biotechnology that need to be addressed; to promote exchange of information and personal interaction; to establish the basis for future congresses on these topics.

Symposium on Forest Certification in New Haven

A symposium on social, ecological and economic effects of forest certification in developing and transitioning societies took place on June 11-12 at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, in New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.

The symposium disseminated and provided feedback on 16 draft case studies developed by in-country scholars, exploring the various effects of forest certification within four regions: Asia-Pacific, Eastern Europe, Latin America and Africa. A case study concerning Russia was presented by Maria Tysiachniouk, the chair of the Environmental Sociology group at the Center for Independent Social Research, St. Petersburg, Russia. Dr.Tysiachniouk studied the emergence of forest certification in Russia, the reaction of stakeholders to it, social, environmental and economic effects of certification.

Immediately following the Symposium, the case study authors and project team held a closed workshop, where authors revised their case studies according to symposium input.

One of the goals of the symposium was to draw an interdisciplinary group of experts, including practitioners, the private sector, donor agency representatives, NGOs, and the academic community. The organizers hope that the methodological approach established for this process would be applicable to other forest policy.