During the stakeholders meeting in June it was determined that there must be at least 75 per cent coverage of the budget for the pilot phase to go ahead. Commitments for funding stand now at about 71 % for the first year and around 43 % for the second and third year. Although these levels combined do not meet the level of 75 % for the total budget, it must be taken into account that the number of contributors is steadily growing and therefore, these commitments are sufficiently en-couraging to move forward. ICIA flies!
We�ll be launching the ICIA on 1 September 2002 at a parallel event during the WSSD Conference at Johannesburg. The task force invites you all to attend the launching event, which will start at 12.30 sharp and will last until 14.00 o�clock. It will take place at Johannesburg Woodmead Country Club Estate, Building 2, Woodlands Drive, Woodmead. This meeting place is 10 minutes from the Sandton Convention Centre where the WSSD takes place and it is 30 minutes from the international airport. Participants are welcome from 12.00 o� clock.
The programme of the launching event is as follows:
* Introduction by Niek Ketting
* Presentation by Mrs. M. Wallstr�m, EC Commissioner for Environment
* Presentation by Prof. Dominic Kwaku Fobih, Minister of Environment and Science, Ghana
* Presentation by Mr. Carlos Manuel Rodriguez, Minister of Environment and Energy of Costa Rica
* Presentation by Mrs. Kristalina Georgieva, Director Environment World Bank
* Presentation by Mr. Frank Vorhies, Business Initiative Co-ordinator IUCN
Niek Ketting: Closing remarks.
Meanwhile, preparatory work for the operational phase of the ICIA has continued. The task force adapted the mission statement of the ICIA accord-ing to the instructions of the stakeholder meeting, held on 17 June at The Hague and the outcome of the 2002 Annual Conference of the International Association for Impact Assessment. It now includes a substantial element of capacity building, a �hot� wish of many stakeholders. The ICIA will help to establish and will co-operate with regional independent advisory bodies for Impact Assessment like the Southern African Institute for Environ-mental Assessment (SAIEA) at Windhoek, Namibia. Also, the task force is further detailing the operational principles of the ICIA. Moreover, fol-lowing the stakeholders� decision to establish the secretariat of the ICIA in the Netherlands, exploratory talks have been held with the city governments of The Hague and Amsterdam and with the provincial and city governments of Utrecht and Limburg / Maastricht. So far, the province of Limburg and the city of Maastricht have made the most attractive proposal to the ICIA: they offer to house and equip the ICIA secretariat of 5 persons for the full three years pilot phase free of charge. |
