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The
process which culminated at the Stockholm Conference
in 1998 marked a turning point in ACOPS’ work. ACOPS’
activities shifted from an emphasis on policy,
institutional and environmental analysis to the application
of this expertise and knowledge for the development of
concrete proposals for projects and actions. Earlier
activities are described below.
Local Authorities
Meeting
for the Constitution of the Working Group on Protection of
the Marine Environment of European Municipalities held in
Lisbon, 30 June 1998.
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ACOPS organized a Workshop on the occasion of EXPO’ 98 to
commemorate the International Year of Oceans which dealt
with the Development and Implementation of Economic
Instruments for the Protection of the Marine and Coastal
Environment by Local Governments, June 1998. The Workshop
adopted the Lisbon Charter on Economic Instruments, and
constituted a Working Group on Protection of the Marine
Environment.
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Development of guidelines for the implementation of the
Draft Chapter 17 of Agenda 21 - ACOPS Conference held in
the European Parliament, Brussels, 3 - 5 July, 1991.
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In the
1980s, ACOPS provided the technical secretariat to the
Working Group on Marine Pollution to the Council of
European Municipalities and Regions, principally on
public awareness campaigns on various aspects of marine
pollution. Following the adoption of Agenda 21, a special
charter was devoted to the so-called Local Agenda 21
(Chapter 28), which recognized the important role and
responsibilities of local authorities.
South
East Asia
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Participation in 1992 in the Asian and Pacific branch of
the International Union of Local Authorities in Jakarta
for the implementation of Chapter 28 of Agenda 21 (the so
called "Local Agenda 21"). Following this initiative
ACOPS ran a series of training seminars with LOGODEF in
the Philippines in 1993 and 1994. Over 60 mayors,
governors and other local and central government
officials from Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore,
Vietnam, Cambodia, the Philippines and New Zealand were
assembled at ACOPS first capacity building programme for
South East Asian local authorities that was held in
Pattaya, Thailand from 8 - 10 August, 1994.
It
was sponsored by the Urban
Management Programme of UNDP, HABITAT, the World Bank,
and the Regional Coordinating Unit of the East Asian Seas
Programme of UNEP, the IOC of UNESCO and the Government
of Sweden. Results of ACOPS' work were reported to the
11th meeting of Plenipotentiaries on the East Asian Seas
Action Plan (COBSEA), 27 - 28 October, 1994.
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Meeting
of the environment ministers of East Asian countries
entitled "National and Regional Application of the
Washington Global Programme of Action in the East Asian
Seas" held in Manila, Philippines in 1996. The meeting
explored measures for regional implementation of the
Global Programme of Action (GPA) in East Asian Seas and
proposed principles, strategies and elements for a
regional programme of action. In November 1997,
Philippine President Ramos reviewed the level of
implementation of programmes on protection of marine
environment, which had been carried out in the
Philippines since ACOPS' Manila Conference in 1996 during
the Asia-Pacific Clean up the World Conference and El
Niño Summit, also held in Manila.
The Wider
Caribbean
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With
the support of ACOPS, the National Environment and
Planning Agency (NEPA) of Jamaica held a first meeting in
November 2000, in Kingston, during which a
multidisciplinary and widely representative group of
stakeholders formally decided to undertake the
development of a National Programme of Action in the
framework of the GPA. These developments constitute
important benchmarks towards fulfilment of the LBS
Protocol to the Cartagena Convention, adopted in 1999.
ACOPS developed a proposed structure for development of a
NPA-LBA, and prepared a paper “Tools and Methods for
Identification and Prioritisation of Issues and Causes of
Environmental Degradation”.
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Previously, ACOPS’
focus in the region had been
on the Sustainable Development of Tourism. A workshop,
assembling some 100 participants from Antigua and
Barbuda, Belize, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Guatemala,
Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Trinidad and
Tobago, Venezuela and Jamaica, was held in Mexico City,
18 - 20 April, 1995.
It was sponsored by the
Commission of the European Union, UNEP, Puerto Rico, IOC
of UNESCO and UNDP, and its recommendations were geared
towards strengthening the preparatory work for the
Washington Conference that adopted the GPA at the end of
1995. ACOPS’ work in this field was welcomed by the 11th
Meeting of Environment Ministers from Latin America and
the Caribbean, held in Lima, 10 to 13 March 1998.
East
Africa
The
Middle East
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ACOPS’
work
aimed at the promotion of
inter-regional co-operation amongst countries that are
members of the Regional Organisation for the Protection
of the Marine Environment (ROPME) and members of the
Programme for the Protection of the Environment of the
Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden (PERSGA). More than 200
representatives from the region assembled in Jeddah,
Saudi Arabia, 9 - 12 October 1995 at an ACOPS "Sea to
Sea" Conference. One of the main purposes was to provide
assistance to countries of the PERSGA area to develop
their programmes on the protection of the coastal and
marine environment and thus assist the effective
implementation of the 1982 Jeddah Convention.
It
was sponsored by the Government of Saudi Arabia, private
companies from the region, UNEP, UNDP, PERSGA and the
Governing Council of ROPME, Kuwait.
Basel Convention
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ACOPS
Conference on Implementation of the Basel Convention on
the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous
Wastes, held at IMO, London, 3 - 5 October, 1989.
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