NATIONAL
CENTRE FOR THE ENVIRONMENT
and
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
One-day
Greek-Turkish NGO Conference
“The Environment
and Sustainable Development in the 21st Century”
23rd November 2001, Athens
The turn of the century has brought environmental
issues to the forefront of international attention. Issues such as habitat
protection, climate change, desertification and the depletion of natural
resources increasingly influence our societies at levels unimaginable till very
recently. As challenges become ever more pressing, international initiatives
become ever more imperative.
In fact, environmental issues present a privileged
area for international communication and cooperation. By their very nature, they
affect communities across national borders; they present questions of a
multidisciplinary nature requiring an approach of extensive sharing of
scientific information; and they influence economies at the regional or even
international scale. At the same time, as national economies and policies become
ever more interlinked, more and more issues require a cooperative approach.
Non-Governmental Organisations, from their part,
represent key players in the international field of environmental protection. In
many cases, through raising public awareness, NGOs have played an important role
in placing environmental issues on the international agenda. Thereon, their
lobbying and monitoring activities have promoted and advanced decision-making at
the national, regional and international levels. Last, but not least, NGOs
increasingly participate in the actual implementation of environmental
protection measures: conservation field work, environmental education,
monitoring and reporting, to name but a few examples.
The first Greek-Turkish NGO Conference on “The
Environment and Sustainable development in the 21st Century” aims to bring
organisations from both sides of the Aegean to the same table, in order to share
views and experience, and to discuss potential steps for cooperation.
In organising this event, the National Centre for
the Environment and Sustainable Development hopes to cover a broad range of
issues in a structured but versatile manner, both through an integrated and a
thematic approach to environmental protection and sustainability.
An important aim of the Conference is the
commencement of networking initiatives leading to bilateral and multilateral
cooperation. It is therefore essential that delegates of the participating
organisations come equipped with extensive information on their activities.
Written information following the structure of the Conference are highly
desirable, both in hard copy and electronic form, and will be included in the
Conference’s minutes, to be sent to all participating organisations, following
the Conference.
Villa Kazouli, Kifisias Avenue & G. Lambraki 1, 14561 Kifisia, Greece
tel.: ++ 30 1 80 89 271-2, fax: ++
30 1 80 84 707