Fourth Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health

The role of Civil Society in the 4th Budapest Ministerial Conference

The European Environment and Health Committee (EEHC) - the steering committee of the Ministerial Conference - has consistently encouraged the participation of NGOs and Civil Society Groups in the lead-up to the Fourth Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health.

Key roles for civil society:
• organising an independent parallel event designed to overlap and complement the more political ministerial agenda

• participating in the ministerial process – by assisting in the development of the Ministerial Declaration and commenting on ministerial policy documents such as CEHAPE - the action plan . CEHAPE is a framework for countries' national plans and policies, in place to identify effective action aimed at protecting children's health, then monitor and implement it. It incorporates feedback for effective follow-up.

• adopting a parallel civil society Conference Declaration
• commenting and adding to the agenda
• helping raise awareness of the issues on the agenda
• covering other Environment and Health related topics that are not on the ministerial agenda
• mobilising support for the goals of the conference
• acting as local level grass-roots partners
• monitoring the implementation of ministerial decisions

Who’s involved?

Civil Society is well represented in the Healthy Planet Forum by a broad spectrum of local, national and international organizations and individuals, including:

• representatives from health ministries and environment ministries
• intergovernmental organisations
• non-governmental organisations
• environmental organizations, including those specifically focused on gender
• environment, medicine and health professionals

For further details of participants, see Contacts

Organisers

European ECO-Forum is an open coalition of environmental NGOs in ALL UNECE region. ECO-forum Environment and Health Issue Group has now over 40 NGOs from throughout Europe that are interested and committed to work on Budapest Conference. http://www.eco-forum.org/He_ig/index.htm

EPHA - The European Public Health Alliance represents over 90 non-governmental and other not-for-profit organisations working in support of health in Europe. EPHA aims to promote and protect the health interests of all people living in Europe and to strengthen the dialogue between the EU institutions, citizens and NGOs in support of healthy public policies. http://www.epha.org

REC - The Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC) is an independent, international, non-advocacy, not-for-profit organisation with 16 Country Offices all across CEE. REC Charter signed 27 governments and the European Commission. REC fulfils its mission through encouraging cooperation among non-governmental organisations, governments and businesses, supporting the free exchange of information and promoting public participation in environmental decision-making. http://www.rec.org

Other involved organization:

EEHC - The European Environment and Health Committee is a unique coalition of countries and organizations, in the WHO European Region bringing together representatives from health ministries, environment ministries, intergovernmental organizations and civil-society organizations. Its role is to provide a forum for the discussion of environment and health policy, and it serves as the steering committee for the series of ministerial conferences on environment and health. http://www.eehc.dk

EEN - The EPHA Environment Network is a new European NGO platform open to organisations from the not-for-profit sector. Its mission is to protect the European environment as a means of promoting the health of all people living in Europe, as well as to ensure the participation of citizens in environment and health-related policy making at the European level. EEN has over 100 NGOs (including 15 European NGO networks) throughout Europe that are interested in contributing to the Budapest Conference.

IFEH – The International Federation of Environmental Health is an organisation of national organisations of environment and health professionals who are trained and employed to implement and enforce environmental health legislation and political decisions mainly at local and regional level. Associate members of IFEH are institutions and agencies in the field of environmental health training and promotion. http://www.ifeh.org/

ISDE is a global network of medical and health professionals that undertakes capacity building, education, training and research for all sectors to address the link between human health and environmental factors. Possessing official consultative status with the World Health Organization and the United Nations, the professional and scientific base of ISDE plays an important role in setting the local and global agenda for human health. http://www.isde.org

WECF – Women in Europe for a Common Future is a network of 50 women’s environmental organisations in 25 countries across Europe and the EECCA working on practical improvement projects in the areas of health and environment and on joint advocacy to add a gender perspective to health and environment policy making. http://www.wecf.org

Bjorn Erikson
berikson.lo@loit.no

Erik Petersen
oekologischer.aerztebund@t-online.de 

Hans Moshammer
hanns.moshammer@univie.ac.at

Kia Regner
kia@xpress.se

Peter Illig
pillig@isde.org

Peter Rudnai
rudnai.oki@antsz.gov.hu

Peter van den Hazel
peter.van.den.hazel@hvdgm.nl

Viktoria Elias
elias@ntserver.cis.lead.org

Wolfgang Teubner
wolfgang.teubner@iclei-europe.org

Joanne Vincenten
J.Vincenten@consafe.nl

Marie-Christine DeWolf
mcdw@skynet.be