Outlook opinion of the Committee of the Regions on the contribution of local and regional authorities to the European Union's sustainable development strategy
Date: 2007-06-06
Institutions: European Committee of the Regions
Subjects: environmental cooperation, environmental policy, local government, regional government, sustainable development

24.8.2007

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Official Journal of the European Union

C 197/21

Outlook opinion of the Committee of the Regions on the contribution of local and regional authori-
ties to the European Union's sustainable development strategy

(2007/C 197/05)

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS

— recommends that the provisions of EC Treaty Articles 99 and 128, which underpin the three-year
policy cycle and the definition of the integrated guidelines for economic and employment policies,
should be implemented in a comprehensive context including environmental and institutional as well
as economic and social aspects in the integrated package of guidelines, so as to enable the Sustainable
Development Strategy to put the cross-cutting and overarching nature of sustainable development
into practice;

— proposes that the Commission develop stronger cooperation when it comes to assessing the contri-
bution of local and regional authorities to sustainability policies, as part of a multi-annual institutional
partnership;

— calls on the Commission to propose appropriate policies, such as ceilings for the production of
certain pollutants or exploitation of certain resources,
including farming and fishing practices, to
accompany market regulation mechanisms and environmental tax policy. As far as the latter is
concerned, there is an urgent need to eliminate the market distortions generated by subsidies that
encourage forms of production or products that have a high environmental impact or risk level;

— believes that the Strategy should make it clear that in order to break the link between economic
growth and environmental decline, it will be necessary to monitor, reduce and stabilise the flow of
energy, materials and associated waste that feeds the economic system before returning to the
ecosystem in less useable forms;

— stresses the important role that local and regional authorities can play in achieving sustainable
development; recommends promoting Local Agenda 21 as the main instrument for the implementa-
tion of broad participatory processes, not least in the use of European funds; recommends promoting
the full implementation and extension of the Aarhus Convention provisions on access to information,
public participation in decision-making and access to justice with reference to all areas of sustainable
development.

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1. Views of the Committee of the Regions

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS

General comments

1.1 warmly welcomes
Union's new Sustainable Development Strategy (SDS);

the approval of

the European

road and other

supplies and sewage,

1.8
reiterates the attention that should be given to environ-
mental requirements in public contracts — in the technology
sector, and especially in the area of waste, energy, transport,
infrastructure
water
networks — and to the promotion of green public procurement.
The Eco-Management and Audit scheme (EMAS) should be
extended to local areas and public offices, and should be
improved and tailored to the issues and demands of sustainable
development, taking into account the economic, ecological and
social dimensions. In this context, further consideration should
be given to the possibility of taking the environmental benefits
of locally-produced goods and services into account;

1.2
is pleased to see that the new strategy reaffirms the
cross-cutting nature of the sustainable development objective,
which overarches (1) and governs all the Union's policies and
activities;

echoes the conclusions of the European Council of 16
1.3
and 17 June 2006 in stressing that the progress made since the
adoption of the sustainable development strategy in Gothenburg
in 2001 is insufficient; and expresses its concern at
the
absence of an in-depth study of the causes of this unsatisfactory
progress and the negative trends in the main environmental
variables;

agrees with the Commission that it is time to focus on a
1.4
proactive approach to sustainable development, on practical
action in the field and on the decisive role that local and
regional authorities can play in order to achieve a sustainable
society both within the European Union and in the rest of the
world;

1.5
points out, as in a previous opinion, the importance of
highlighting sustainable development and building it into all
sectors of EU policy. The call for cohesion policy to underpin
the economic, ecological,
institutional and social dimensions
and for the long-term effects of all policies to be properly
assessed is still relevant today;

1.6 wishes to stress that safety and security are important
to achieving a good quality of life. Together with a broad public
health perspective, safety and security provide the necessary
basis for sustainable development efforts. Safety and security
encompass everything from the impact of climate change and
war, to violence against women and children. The Committee
would also emphasise the need to include an equal opportu-
nities perspective in sustainable development work;

1.7
recalls the various fields in which local and regional
authorities play a key part. These include spatial planning,
where many of the measures necessary to promote develop-
ment, concerning for instance land use, water resources, waste
management and urban environmental policies,
largely
within the local and regional domain; and believes that local
and regional authorities should play leading roles in the process
of implementing, monitoring and reviewing the Strategy;

fall

1.9
considers that the possibility of pooling experiences and
acquiring new knowledge by means of cooperation and interac-
tion between the various players is a major part of the drive
towards sustainable development;

with regard to the key objectives

1.10
which need to be further fleshed out;

endorses the key objectives set out in the new strategy,

1.11
believes that it should be made clear that if the link
between economic growth and environmental decline is to be
broken, the rate of regeneration of renewable resources must be
equal to or more than the sum of the rate of use of renewable
and non-renewable resources; and the rate of waste production
must be lower than the rate at which it is regenerated by means
of natural systems; therefore, strategies should focus not only on
preventing the decline of ecosystems but also, above all, on
helping to fully restore their functions, by promoting manage-
ment measures to recover and safeguard their health and inte-
grity, and thus ensure that the consumption of environmental
goods and services is compatible with the socio-ecological func-
tionality of the area;

1.12 maintains that it is not enough to speak of an eco-effi-
cient economy:
it must be made clear that eco-efficient here
means that the prosperity generated by growth is commensurate
with, or is not outweighed by the associated social and environ-
mental costs;

1.13 would clarify that in this context sustainability requires
equity in the use of resources and the production of pollution.
A world in which the rich (11 % of the world's population) own
over 80 % of the natural resources and a corresponding share of
global income is not sustainable;

with regard to the policy guiding pr inciples

(1) CdR 66/2005 fin.

1.14
strategy, which need to be further fleshed out;

endorses the guiding principles set out in the new

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1.15
believes, with regard to citizen, business and social
partner involvement, that there should be more specific re-
ference to types of participatory and deliberative democracy, i.e.
for participation and decision-making that
to mechanisms
depending on the circumstances can be combined with forms of
traditional representative democracy; and maintains that the
promotion of corporate social responsibility should include
experimentation with measures regarding business ownership
structure, such as cooperatives and programmes for the distribu-
tion of shares to the workers or communities concerned;

1.16
agrees that it is necessary to secure coherence between
governance policies, policy mainstreaming and the use of the
best available knowledge; feels, however, that this coherence has
yet to be achieved, that there is a lack of integration, and that
the best knowledge is geared primarily towards competitiveness
and innovation serving economic growth and the conquest of
new markets and much less towards the requirements of
sustainable development;

1.17
to this end states that it is necessary to clarify that
sustainable development refers to a quality of life that can be
achieved even in the absence of economic growth understood in
terms of greater production of goods and services or per capita
gross domestic profit. This means above all sustainable develop-
ment that responds to current demands while also taking into
account the needs of future generations;

confined to the environmental dimension, with the sustainable
development strategy relegated to second position by the Lisbon
strategy and its key words of growth, competitiveness and inno-
vation;

1.22
notes that the call for greater synergy appears faint and
is not backed up by the governance of the two processes. The
Lisbon strategy is founded on the procedures provided for by
Treaty Articles 99 and 128. It has an impact on the framing of
economic and employment policies in the various countries and
on the decisions of the council meetings that define EU policy;

1.23
regrets that the Spring Council meeting, which should
have been the time to assess the implementation of internal and
external commitments in the realm of sustainable develop-
ment (2) has so far been given over entirely to the cycle of
Lisbon economic and social policies;

1.24
notes the intention of the Commission to present an
annual report on the environment, to feed into the work of the
Environment Council in the Spring Summit preparation phase;

with regard to the key challenges

agrees that all the European institutions and Member
1.18
States, at all levels, should ensure that the main policy decisions
are based on proposals that have been subject to a high-quality
impact evaluation, that weighs up the social, environmental,
institutional and economic dimensions of sustainable develop-
ment;

1.25
notes the seven key challenges identified by the strategy
and the corresponding targets, operational objectives and
actions; considers, however, that there is a danger that the divi-
sion of tasks could lead to a neglect of the deep interconnection
between the various areas of action identified, diluting the main
issue of the integrated and comprehensive control of the flow
of materials and energy that feeds the economic system;

recalls, in terms of the potential synergy between the
1.19
Lisbon and Gothenburg strategies, a point it made in a previous
opinion, stressing that the Lisbon strategy provides the basis for
the EU's response to the impact of globalisation on competition,
the economy and the workforce in Europe but should also
reflect the impact on sustainable development in Europe and
internationally;

1.20 would contend that the link between the two strate-
gies has lost its way; the Gothenburg strategy should have been
a synthesis of the Lisbon strategy and the process of reviewing
the Fifth Environmental Action Programme and defining the
sixth;

1.21
regrets that this has not been the case, and that the
two strategies are implemented through separate decision-
making procedures and that sustainability has effectively been

1.26
is concerned that the targets and operational objectives
make no reference to precisely defined goals, as might have
been hoped, but rather to principles and guidelines, and notes
that the objectives relating to climate change should be reviewed
in the light of the findings of working groups I and II of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the
guidelines that arose recently from the March 2007 European
Council;

calls for the promotion of the use of biomass as a
1.27
means of diversifying EU fuel supply sources to be reconsidered
in the light of the most recent studies;

(2) ‘RECALLING that, in accordance with the strategy for sustainable de-
velopment adopted at the Gothenburg European Council, the Spring
European Councils will review the progress achieved in the implemen-
tation of this strategy and give further policy guidance to promote
sustainable development; that the Barcelona European Council will
start this new policy approach on the basis of a balanced and coordi-
nated analysis of the three dimensions of the strategy (social, economic
and environmental) when defining, reviewing, assessing and moni-
toring the strategic policy orientations of
the European Union;’
Presidency Conclusions from the Barcelona European Council, 15 and
16 March 2002.

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1.28
notes the recent Eurobarometer survey, which indicates
that 61 % of the EU population believes that the share of
energy produced using nuclear technology should be reduced;
and considers that the strategy should indicate the need to
eliminate market distortions generated by EU budget support
for nuclear energy (over EUR 550 million a year), which is four
times higher
renewable energies and
energy efficiency (EUR 168 million);

than the support

for

regrets that

the objectives given for

1.29
transport are
limited to the characteristics of cars and do not cover the modes
of transport themselves. Specific targets should be set for the
relationship between the various modes of transport, market
rules should be introduced to make rail transport more compe-
titive, not least by introducing innovative instruments such as
ceilings for kilometres travelled/year for individual means of
transport and exchangeable permits for goods transport. When
defining targets consideration should be given to the specific
situations of different
families, companies and
individuals,
economies, and different geographical factors and the differing
ranges of transport options and other infrastructure currently
available;

1.30
carefully considers the role that local government can
play, as indicated in the strategy, in shaping and implementing
transport plans and systems in the context of
the urban
environment thematic strategy;

1.31 welcomes the importance placed on the challenge of
world poverty and development, but expresses concern at the
delays in meeting the aid quotas for developing countries;
believes that the strategy should reconsider the approach to aid
for developing countries and trade policies, in the light of the
broadening gap between the world's rich and poor and also of
the looming ecological crisis;

with regard to the
buting to the knowledge society

cross-cutting policies

contr i-

1.32
agrees that education is a prerequisite for promoting
changes in consumption models and in patterns of behaviour in
general and is aware that these can be at odds with the require-
ments of sustainability if nothing is done in the areas that influ-
ence or determine them; there is a need to establish a value
system that is more easily applicable to lifestyle (and therefore
production and consumption models);

1.33 welcomes the current initiatives in the context of the
UN decade of education for sustainable development; but is
aware that more than education is needed to make market
behaviour consistent with the requirements of sustainability and
that there is a need for market regulation and social control
mechanisms;

1.34
education and training sectors and believes that

considers that a distinction must be made between the
life–long

training is one of
the most important instruments when it
comes to securing equal opportunities for all in the context of a
market
to promote
society,
sustainable development;

strengthening the social pillar

agrees that

1.35
research into sustainable development
should include short-term projects to back up decision making,
as well as long-term projects, and that it should address regional
and global issues;

1.36
considers it urgent and necessary to develop new tech-
nologies that are kinder to the environment. In this context the
objectives of the Seventh Research Framework Programme seem
useful, as do measures which can foster schemes to promote
the
local
sustainable development at
development of environment-minded companies, SMEs in par-
ticular; such measures ought to be stepped up;

level and to support

agrees on the need to promote

1.37
interdisciplinary
approaches in the light of the constant changes in the relation-
ship between the various economic, ecological, social and insti-
tutional systems; and considers that maximum transparency
and participation are vital, given the level of uncertainty
surrounding the development of the systems, the many interests
vested in the decision-making processes, the need to respond to
issues concerning scientific research itself
the premises
underpinning it), as well as the need to safeguard health and the
quality of the environment and ensure that decision-making
processes adhere to ethical principles and values;

(e.g.

1.38
agrees on the need for greater understanding of the
connection between income generation, income accounting and
wellbeing. More specifically, the Committee considers that the
calculation of national
indicators
designed to cost the flow of energy and materials that feeds the
economic system and to assess the full range of economic
activity;

should include

income

with regard to financing and economic instr uments

considers that the range of sustainability policy instru-
1.39
ments cannot be limited to market
regulation measures,
however useful and necessary these may be. The search, through
transparency and corrective measures, for the ‘right price’ —
one that reflects social and environmental costs — takes no
account of the fact that it is impossible to gain an accurate
enough picture of changing trends in the various systems;

1.40
agrees on the need for greater coordination between
Member States and the Commission to ensure or a better use of
European funds; on that note, expresses concern regarding the
possibility that the 2007-2013 Structural Funds may end up
contributing to an increase in CO2 emissions, as stated in a
recent report of the CEE Bankwatch Network;

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with regard to communication, mobilising actors and
multiplying success

2. Recommendations of the Committee of the Regions

that

agrees

appropriate

1.41
communication measures
should be used to facilitate information and raise awareness
regarding sustainability issues and that the latter should tie in
with the shaping of a coherent and realistic EU vision for
sustainable development in the long term;

agrees on the role that local and regional authorities
1.42
can play in achieving sustainable development with community
action in urban and rural areas: Local Agenda 21 is the prime
tool for implementing policies that are designed and carried out
through broad participatory processes; believes, however, that
these participatory processes cannot be fully developed unless
they are accorded real importance in the budget management of
the corresponding tiers of government, particularly when mana-
ging resources from the Community budget;

1.43
considers that monitoring should focus not only on
defining and tracking the progress of indicators, but also on
tracking the policies and actions of the EU, individual Member
States and even local and regional authorities;

1.44
believes that this will require changes to the current
decision-making procedures in the sphere of European gover-
nance for sustainable development;

is convinced that this demands an about-turn in the
1.45
relationship between the Lisbon and Gothenburg processes,
it was originally intended to be. By way of
back to what
example:
it should not be results from the EU's SDS contri-
buting to the work in the Lisbon context, as stated in Point 38
of the Sustainable Development Strategy, but rather the results
of the Lisbon strategy contributing to the objectives of sustaina-
ble development, bearing in mind the latter's overarching posi-
tion among European policies;

1.46
underlines the need to frame and take forward the
Commission's proposed sustainable development measures in a
way that facilitates their implementation at local and regional
level in the 27 Member States. It is important that the suggested
measures can be implemented at local and regional level what-
ever
the different circumstances that apply in the various
Member States;

expresses concern at

1.47
the Commission's suggestion
that an SDS governance plan should be referred to the
December European Council; this would serve to worsen the
decoupling of the Gothenburg and Lisbon strategies and further
marginalise sustainability in European governance;

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS

2.1
is convinced that an approach to sustainable develop-
ment encompassing the economic, ecological, social and institu-
tional aspects is a precondition for increased well-being, a high
level of good-quality employment, and economic growth that
does not generate greater environmental costs and hence only
illusory well-being; for such an approach to take root, there
must be a thorough reform of the EU's governance of sustaina-
bility;

2.2
recommends that the provisions of EC Treaty Articles
99 and 128, which underpin the three-year policy cycle and the
definition of the integrated guidelines for economic and employ-
ment policies, should be implemented in a comprehensive
context including environmental and institutional as well as
economic and social aspects in the integrated package of guide-
lines, so as to enable the SDS to put the cross-cutting and over-
arching nature of sustainable development into practice;

also recommends that

2.3
local and regional authorities
should be given a key role in the various phases of this new
cycle when it comes to shaping and implementing the global
objectives and changes necessary for achieving a sustainable
society, when necessary starting from a local standpoint. In this
light, a report on the implementation of the Sixth Environ-
mental Action Programme should be added to the reports on
economic and employment policies that all Member States have
to submit by October of every year. The three reports should
interlink and show how each policy is contributing to the
sustainability objectives set by the SDS;

2.4
believes that the Strategy should make it clear that in
order to break the link between economic growth and environ-
mental decline, it will be necessary to monitor, reduce and stabi-
lise the flow of energy, materials and associated waste that feeds
the economic system before returning to the ecosystem in less
useable forms;

2.5
recommends that the programme documents be accom-
panied by an analysis of those flows, so as to verify their contri-
bution to the decoupling of economic growth from environ-
mental impact; and that the aims of cohesion measures should
refer first and foremost to achieving the sustainable develop-
ment strategy objectives, and should only refer to the Lisbon
agenda's integrated guidelines for growth and employment
insofar as these are consistent with the SDS;

recalls on this note how, at the time of the Lisbon
1.48
strategy relaunch, the 2005 Spring Council reaffirmed that it
fitted into the broader context of the sustainable development
imperative.

2.6
therefore calls on the Commission to make a proposal
to this end, and asks the Council and the European Parliament
to give it early consideration;

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2.7
calls on the Commission to propose appropriate poli-
cies, such as ceilings for the production of certain pollutants or
exploitation of certain resources, including farming and fishing
to accompany market regulation mechanisms and
practices,
environmental tax policy. As far as the latter is concerned, there
is an urgent need to eliminate the market distortions generated
by subsidies that encourage forms of production or products
that have a high environmental impact or risk level;

recommends that

2.8
the SDS set precise quantitative
targets with precise deadlines; and calls on the Member States
to develop sustainable development strategies that are consistent
with the European strategy and that can contribute to it. In this
context, commits regional and local authorities to defining
their own strategies in line with the strategic objectives set at
national and European level, with appropriate feedback me-
chanisms;

calls on the Commission to consider a climate change
2.9
response plan to address the impact of rising temperatures on
fisheries, the protection of coasts and inland waters, and of rain-
fall fluctuations and other adverse events on arable and livestock
farming, aquaculture,
fires, droughts, biodiversity and
forests, tourism, coastal protection, health, etc.;

forest

2.10
recommends defining procedures and strengthening
institutional capacity for assessing the environmental sustain-
ability of plans, programmes and projects so as to allow for
proper public information and participation; believes that the
primary objective of these procedures should be to ascertain
whether the planned measures are consistent with, and contri-
bute to, the objectives set at all relevant levels of the sustain-
ability strategy;

stresses the important role that

2.11
local and regional
authorities can play in achieving sustainable development; calls
on the Commission to shape initiatives to boost the social,
urban and environmental
regeneration of city peripheries;
recommends promoting Local Agenda 21 as the main instru-
ment for the implementation of broad participatory processes,
not least in the use of European funds; to that end, considers it
necessary to extend participation processes, both to ensure that
the values
the relevant decision-making processes
systems of
the
market, given its nature, cannot do) and to improve the quality

the communities concerned (something that

respect

and

extension

of scientific practice; recommends promoting the full imple-
mentation
the Aarhus Convention
of
provisions on access to information, public participation in deci-
sion-making and access to justice with reference to all areas of
sustainable development: the economy, society, the environment
and institutions;

2.12
recommends, with regard to the participation of the
public, business and the social partners, that more specific refe-
rence be made to forms of participatory and deliberative de-
mocracy and experimentation with measures regarding owner-
ship structure, such as programmes for the distribution of
shares to workers and communities, and cooperatives;

2.13
calls for a review of: i) the scale of and procedures for
development aid, since the trickle down approach is no longer
an option given the growing gap between rich and poor coun-
tries and the limits on economic growth imposed by the finite
nature of the ecosystem;
ii) the growth model deriving from
globalisation and its sustainability; iii) the relative priority and
the relations between the European regional market and its
capital and international markets and capital: iv) the drive, in
WTO negotiations, to privatise public services and goods, such
as water, and calls for this to be definitively abandoned; v) subsi-
dies, incentives and other measures that create trade barriers for
developing countries;

trusts that the Commission will develop and deepen its
2.14
dialogue with local and regional authorities in the course of its
evaluation of the sustainable development strategy and its work
on the action programme; the Committee intends to play an
active role in efforts to achieve a sustainable society both within
the European Union and in the rest of the world;

institutional partnership.

2.15
proposes that the Commission develop stronger coo-
peration when it comes to assessing the contribution of local
and regional authorities to sustainability policies, as part of a
this
multi-annual
cooperation the Committee of the Regions would inter alia (see
Appendix I) draw up specific opinions on a series of dossiers,
taken from the Commission work programme for 2007-2009
and considered by regional and local authorities to be especially
relevant to sustainable development, and would also make prac-
tical proposals for carrying out joint initiatives.

In the context of

Brussels, 6 June 2007.

The President

of the Committee of the Regions

Michel DELEBARRE

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3. Procedure

Title

References

Legal basis

The contribution of local and regional authorities to the
European Union's Sustainable Development Strategy

—

Article 265, first para

Procedural basis

Rule 40(2) of the Rules of Procedure

Date of Commission referral

Date of President's decision

11.12.2006

9.1.2007

Commission responsible

Commission for Sustainable Development (DEVE)

Rapporteur-general

Analysis

Discussed in commission

Date adopted by commission

Result of the vote in commission

Nichi Vendola (IT/PES), President of the Apulia Region

26.2.2007

—

—

—

Date adopted in plenary

6.6.2007

Previous Committee opinion

(1) OJ C 81, 4.4.2006, p. 18.

Opinion on the Communication from the Commission to the
Council and the European Parliament — The 2005 Review of
the EU Sustainable Development Strategy:
Initial Stocktaking
and Future Orientations

CdR 66/2005 fin (1) — COM(2005) 37 final.

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Committee of the Regions' schedule regarding the European Union's Sustainable Development Strategy —
2007-2009

APPENDIX I

Types of activity

1. Consultative activities

1a. I n p r e p a r a t i o n fo r t h e D e c e m b e r 2 0 0 7 E u r o p e a n C o u n c i l

European Commission
document reference

European Commission document title

Procedure

2006/ENV/012

Green Paper on adaptation to climate change

Non-legislative
proposal

1b. I n p r e p a r a t i o n fo r t h e M a r c h 2 0 0 8 E u r o p e a n C o u n c i l

European Commission
document reference

European Commission document title

Procedure

2006/ENV/012

Green Paper on adaptation to climate change

Non-legislative
proposal

Possible adoption by
CoR

November 2007

Possible adoption by
CoR

November 2007

—

Outlook opinion on the future of the common
agricultural policy

—

February 2008

2007/EMPL/013

Communication on the mid-term review of the
social policy agenda (2005-2010)

Non-legislative
proposal

February 2008

1c. O t h e r c o n s u l t a t i v e a c t i v i t i e s

European Commission
document reference

European Commission document title

Procedure

Possible adoption by
CoR

COM(2006) 571
final

Commission Communication — The demographic
future of Europe — from challenge to opportunity

Non-legislative
proposal

June 2007

—

—

Outlook opinion on the situation of migrant
women in the European Union

Outlook opinion on education and sustainable
development

—

—

October 2007

November 2007

2007/ENV/012

Action plan on sustainable production and
consumption

Non-legislative
proposal

February 2008

2007/FISH/001

Commission Communication — Towards a future
maritime policy for the Union: conclusions of the
green paper consultation

Non-legislative
proposal

February 2008

2007/FISH/003

Communication and Proposal for a Council Regu-
lation on stepping up the fight against
illegal,
unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing

Legislative proposal

February 2008

2007/TREN/005

Green paper on urban transport

2006/SANCO/004

White Paper on health strategy

Non-legislative
proposal

Non-legislative
proposal

2006/SANCO/005

Community Framework for
health services

safe and efficient

Legislative proposal

Second
2008

Second
2008

Second
2008

quarter

of

quarter

of

quarter

of

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2. Complementary activities

Type of activity

Possible date of execution

Analysis of the possibility of establishing a permanent joint observatory to monitor the
contribution of regional and local authorities to sustainability policies (possibly in
conjunction with the European Economic and Social Committee)

Second half of 2007

Committee of the Regions study on ‘The contribution of the regional and local authorities
to sustainable development strategies’

Second quarter of 2008

2009 Territorial Dialogue: inclusion of relevant aspects of the European Union Sustainable
Development Strategy in the Lisbon Strategy's Mutual Learning Platform

First quarter of 2009

Participation in thematic conferences and working groups on sustainable development

2007-2009