::: Thematic Approaches
In the following, you will find thematic approaches and projects leading towards a better managment of the Aalborg Commitments' implementation.
BISE – Better Integration for Sustainable Energy
Partners involved
- National energy agencies, associations of local authorities, NGOs and other stakeholders active in local energy management
- From 17 countries of Central and Eastern-Europe as well as Western Balkans
Funding programme
- Own sources and the French national energy agency ADEME for the process and creating national networks
- For BISE Forums in 2005 and 2006: Intelligent Energy Europe (Type 3)
- For BISE Forums in 2004 and 2005: TAIEX
Short description of the initiative
BISE aims at encouraging the creation and strengthening of networks of towns and cities promoting energy efficiency in the New Member States, Candidate Countries, Western Balkan Countries and Ukraine.
It is a pan-European process that brings together local, national and European partners involved in energy efficiency in order to:
- reduce the gap between these countries and the former EU15 countries,
- accelerate the integration of the EU acquis,
- highlight the importance of municipalities and improve local capacities.
In practical terms, three key areas of action have been identified:
- hiring energy managers in all municipalities,
- improvement of energy management in municipal properties,
- funding of municipal projects and networking activities.
Where to find more information?
www.bise-europe.org
Availability
- All Alborg Commitments signatories from the above mentioned 17 countries are invited to join the BISE process.
- How? By contacting Energie-Cités or his/her country`s national co-ordinator
European Charter for equality of women and men in local life
Partners involved
CEMR and its member associations
In May 2006, CEMR launched its European charter for equality of women and men in local life, at its general assembly in Innsbruck. The charter aims at inciting local and regional governments in Europe to commit themselves to concrete measures for gender equality at all levels of local life.
This charter is first and foremost a political document aimed at Europe's local and regional leaders. It includes suggestions of concrete measures that can be implemented at the local level. The charter also shows that the issue of equal opportunities is linked to most local policies, and that municipalities have a role to play towards a genuine equality between women and men in Europe.
Throughout 2005, CEMR, with the financial support of the European Commission, led a project on The town for equality (also available in French, German, Italian and Spanish). That project aimed mainly at collecting best practice cases of gender equality in European local governments as well as at setting up a methodology to help local representatives achieve true gender equality in their municipalities.
At the end of the project, CEMR, with the support of the European Commission, started a new project to draft a European charter for equality of women and men in local life. Its aim was to encourage local politicians to sign it, thus committing themselves publicly to implement the measures in the charter in their municipalities.
The European charter for equality of women and men in local life is currently available in English, French, German, Italian, Greek, Spanish, Basque and Portuguese.
Euro-Mediterranean partnership (EUROMED)
The Euro-Mediterranean Conference of Ministers of Foreign Affairs, held in Barcelona on 27-28 November 1995, marked the starting point of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (Barcelona Process), a wide framework of political, economic and social relations between the Member States of the European Union and Partners of the Southern Mediterranean.
The latest EU enlargement, on 1st May 2004, has brought two Mediterranean Partners (Cyprus and Malta) into the European Union, while adding a total of 10 to the number of Member States. The Euro-Mediterranean Partnership thus comprises 35 members, 25 EU Member States and 10 Mediterranean Partners (Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestinian Authority, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey). Libya has observer status since 1999.
The existing MEDA programme is the main financial instrument for the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership. From 1995 to 2003, MEDA committed € 5,458 million in co-operation programmes, projects and other supporting activities, the regional activities comprising around 15% of this budget. The other important source of funding is the European Investment Bank that has lent € 14 billion for developing activities in the Euro-Mediterranean Partners since 1974 (€ 3.7 billion in 2002-2003).
The Euro-Mediterranean Partnership comprises two complementary dimensions:
Bilateral dimension. The European Union carries out a number of activities bilaterally with each country. The most important are the Euro-Mediterranean Association Agreements that the Union negotiates with the Mediterranean Partners individually. They reflect the general principles governing the new Euro-Mediterranean relationship, although they each contain characteristics specific to the relations between the EU and each Mediterranean Partner.
Regional dimension. Regional dialogue represents one of the most innovative aspects of the Partnership, covering at the same time the political, economic and cultural fields (regional co-operation). Regional co-operation has a considerable strategic impact as it deals with problems that are common to many Mediterranean Partners while it emphasises the national complementarities.
Where to find further information?
http://ec.europa.eu/comm/external_relations/euromed/
The Euromedina urban network
Partners involved
Initiators: the City of Marseilles and the World Bank.
The Consultative Committee:
- The World Bank
- The City of Marseilles
- United Cities and Local Governments (Lebanon, Jordan and Syria)
- MedCités
- The City of Barcelona
- The City of Rome
- Qualified person: Tarik Yahya, President of the Nador Chamber of Commerce
The role of the consultative committee is to propose areas for action, to examine and select requests received by the network and to make those requests known to partner local authorities and institutions.
On 15 March 2004, the Europe-MENA urban network cooperation charter was signed by 16 Mediterranean municipalities who thereby undertook to play a lasting role in the life of the network. Moreover, a number of municipalities have announced their participation in the network officially by letter.
Description of the initiative
The Euromedina urban network is a multilateral response to a local development challenge
Good governance and giving responsibility to local authorities are among the keys to sustainable development. Citizens are less isolated and participate more fully in decisions that concern them, which means that better use is made of local energy and commitment. One of the major challenges facing local authorities is that of rapid urban expansion. The number of city dwellers is rising very rapidly everywhere, and particularly in developing countries. Local authorities are faced with growing demand for public services such as housing, transport, water and sanitation. These challenges are particularly acute in the Middle East / North Africa region, where decentralisation is in its infancy and the populations of urban centres are growing exponentially (up from 40% of overall population in the 1970s to more than 70% in certain countries today).
The Europe-MENA urban network emphasises a collective approach to reflection and action aimed at addressing urban management challenges.
The partnership focuses on:
- fostering the sharing of knowledge, experience and successful practice,
- optimising training entities for elected representatives and territorial managers,
- making expertise available to help partner municipalities to identify, evaluate, or implement urban development projects,
- facilitating contacts liable to lead to collaborative development projects.
Central to this partnership is the idea that municipalities have become essential players in the fields of development and cooperation, and a determination to foster interaction, compare policies and transfer expertise relating to concrete urban-management questions.
Where to find further information?
http://www.euromedina.org
South-EU urban ENVIPLANS
Partners involved
- The City of Bristol
- Ambiente Italia S.r.l. - Research Institute
- Municipality of Ancona and A.N.C.I. (National Association of Italian Municipalities), started up the Forum of Adriatic and Ionian Cities & Towns.
- Comité 21, French Committee for Environment and Sustainable Development,
- The Italian Local Agendas 21 Association
Short description of the initiative
The project aims at encouraging, particularly in the South European area, the conception, exchange and implementation of good practices in the field of preparation of Urban Environmental Management Plans, as expected by the Call for Proposals published in the Official Journal n° C20 of 24/01/2004 under a Community Framework (point 2, 2.2, ii) and by the Communication from the Commission to the Council (COM(2004) 60 final) (the project approach with regard to the Plans is described at point 2.1.3).
The need for a specific and common action in the South European area comes from the fact that this area registers a sort of delay in the conception and implementation of those Plans and is characterised by some common facts (and common differences in comparison with many of Central and Northern European countries): environmental aspects (e.g. climatic conditions, the role of Mediterranean/Adriatic sea, historical heritage and urban design), trends of the main driving forces (e.g. urban mobility patterns strongly oriented to private motorised mode) and delays and weaknesses in institutional/policy responses.
The Project core action (and really concrete output) will be the launch and development of 5 planning processes in 5 Southern cities and the involvement of more then 20 Southern cities in an 'auditor' exercise, supporting the 5 and strengthening their own planning processes.
The project final products/outputs, viable for local authorities once the project and EC co-funding has ended, will be Technical Guidelines, Manual and Training materials useful to promote and support the practical implementation of Urban Environmental Management Plans in the South European area.
Where to find more information?
ENVIPLANS_homepage or via email
