Information & Meetings
	Conferences & Events
	Coastal Publications
	New Internet portal for sustainable recreation in coastal regions

Environment
	Climate talks formally resumed in Bonn
	Experts discussed marine applications of Natura 2000

Development & Trends
	Europe's wind energy sector optimistic

Policy
	European Parliament adopted renewable energy directive
	Belgian Presidency's green European agenda
	Rio+10 will deal with migratory fish stocks

Events recently announded

Please note:
The overview of the Coastal Guide conference and event  meeting list can be found at http://www.coastalguide.org/meetings/

New Coastal Publications

New Internet portal for sustainable recreation in coastal regions

CoastInfo International and the EUCC will establish a partnership for the development of a new Internet portal for sustainable recreation and tourism: the Visitors' Coastal Guide. The Guide will focus on coastal landscapes and wildlife as well as coastal and maritime culture in Europe. A series of projects will be developed aimed at the development of (1) a user driven information system, including an Internet database and GIS, and (2) applications to make this information accessible to users world wide. The Visitors' Coastal Guide will offer information about coastal regions and towns, historical cities, monuments and museums, landscapes, nature areas and wildlife, recreation areas, hiking & biking and much more. With the support of the DOEN foundation (Dutch Postcode Lottery) provisional information pages have been prepared for the region around Leiden, the Netherlands (now online in http://www.coastalguide.to) and negotiations are underway with other partners on tourist information, IT-development and website hosting.
Non-governmental organisations, companies, local authorities and tourist boards that would like to participate in the development of local or regional applications are invited to contact Ms. Hanneke Mesters (EUCC) or Mr. Arnoud van der Meulen (CoastInfo), tel. +3171 5122900, fax +3171 5124069, e-mail: info@coastalguide.to.

Climate talks formally resumed in Bonn

Mr. Pronk, chairman of the Sixth Session of the Conference of the Parties to the Climate Change Convention, started the high-level meeting on 19 July by calling on governments to finish the work begun in The Hague. "It is crucial that we bring our four years of work to completion," he said. "The public is waiting to see results." The high-level segment of the COP for Ministers and senior officials will run through Sunday. The Bonn talks could be the last chance to rescue the historic international agreement signed in Kyoto in 1997, which committed industrialised countries to making cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. Work will proceed over the next several days within four negotiating groups. These groups - closed to press and observers - will address financial and technological support to developing countries, the Kyoto Protocol's flexible mechanisms, carbon sinks, and compliance.
COP 6, PART 2: http://www.unfccc.de/cop6_2/index.html
UNFCCC: http://www.unfccc.de/index.html
IPCC "Climate Change 2001": http://www.ipcc.ch/

Experts discussed marine applications of Natura 2000

From June 27 until July 1, an OSPAR expert workshop took place in Vilm, Germany, on the implementation of Natura 2000 in the marine environment. Both EU Bird and Habitat Directives are not specially designed for the marine environment. Only two specific habitats are mentioned: reefs and sand banks. Another point of concern is that all member states are five to six years behind in designating protected areas at sea. It is also difficult to appoint borders for protected areas because many species are highly mobile.
For further information and a brief report e-mail Systke van den Akker, North Sea Foundation s.vandenakker@noordzee.nl

Europe's wind energy sector optimistic

The world's largest international wind energy event, the European Wind Energy Conference and Exhibition, closed in Copenhagen on 6 July with positive conclusions. Wind power has become the world's fastest growing source of energy with an annual growth rate of 40 percent over the past seven years. According to estimates of the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA), wind power could account for 39 % of the EU's newly installed power generation capacity by 2010, one third of which produced off-shore. Europe is at the forefront of the booming wind power market. More information on http://www.ewea.org

European Parliament adopted renewable energy directive

The European Parliament adopted the directive on the promotion of electricity produced from renewable energy sources in the internal electricity market (5583/1/2001 - C5-0133/2001). It aims to reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel use and will thus provide the legal framework for an accelerated development of electricity produced from wind, solar, hydro, and biomass sources. The aim is to double the total energy consumption that comes from renewables to 12 percent in 2010. The law still has to be approved by EU governments but no major obstacles are to be expected. http://www3.europarl.eu.int/omk/omnsapir.so/calendar?APP=PV2&LANGUE=EN : select 4 July

Belgian Presidency's green European agenda

During its European Presidency from July to December 2001, Belgium wants to focus on pressing ahead with the Kyoto Protocol and on stricter maritime safety measures as a reaction to the tanker Erica disaster in December 1999. Belgium will also try to seal ministerial agreement on draft EU laws on emissions from pleasure boats. You can follow the development of the European policy agenda under Belgium leadership at http://www.eu2001.be

Rio+10 will deal with migratory fish stocks

The UN Agreement on Highly Migratory and Straddeling Fish Stocks will be on the agenda of the Earth Summit Rio + 10 in Johannesburg next year. Although adopted for several years, it is yet to come into force because some signatures - e.g. the European Commission's - are still missing. "The agreement is important as it give substance to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, the main legislative framework regulating ocean space around the world", says Chris Tompkins, UK Department for Environment, Transport and the Regions. Specifically, it establishes a duty on coastal states and states fishing on the high seas to cooperate either directly or through regional fisheries organisations to ensure the long term sustainability of straddling and highly migratory fish stocks. It sets out proposed management measures including limitations on catches and establishes the precautionary approach as a key part of fisheries management in this area. "Strategically, it is important because we see the regional fisheries organisations as key delivery mechanisms for sustainable fisheries and the Agreement gives them a big push forward", states Tompkins. Another point the Earth Summit is likely to address is land-based sources of marine pollution.
Further information on the Earth Summit preparations can be found at http://www.earthsummit2002.org, (in partiuclar, Newsletter 2002 July).
Full text of the Law and Agreement can be found on http://www.un.org/depts/los/index.htm.
Chris Tompkins' e-mail address is chris.tompkins@defra.gsi.gov.uk

Deadline for submitting contributions to Coastal Guide News No 15: August 1, 2001

COASTAL GUIDE NEWS is a biweekly newsletter published by the European Union for Coastal Conservation (EUCC) with financial support of Stichting DOEN, the foundation of the Dutch lottery "Postcode Loterij". For free subscriptions, comments or contributions to this newsletter, please contact news@coastalguide.org. 

© Articles may be reproduced free of charge with acknowledgement and citation of Coastal Guide News and the URL of the Coastal Guide (http://www.coastalguide.org). The articles of this and previous issues of Coastal Guide News can be found at http://www.coastalguide.org/news

Members of the Coastal Guide News editorial team: Hanna-Maria Baerlund, Erik Devilee, Irene Lucius, Hanneke Mesters, Albert Salman.

Established in 1989, the European Union for Coastal Conservation (EUCC) is an association involving the largest coastal network in Europe with 750 members and member organisations in 40 countries. For more information please contact EUCC International Secretariat, POBox 11232, NL-2301 EE Leiden, the Netherlands, tel.: +31-71-5122900, internet: http://www.eucc.nl

© EUCC, 2001