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INECE News |
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INECE welcomes new Co-Chair |
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We welcome Gerard Wolters, the new Inspector General for the Environment from the Netherlands who is serving as co-chair of the Exeuctive Planning Committee along with Steve Herman of U.S. EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. Mr. Wolters brings to his new post years of experience as a public prosecutor. Long time INECE co-chair, Pieter Verkerk, with us from the beginning has taken on a new challenge as Counselor for the Environment at The Netherlands Embassy in Washington D.C. for Canada and the United States. We will sorely miss Pieter and wish him well, but know that he will still be striving to advance environmental enforcement. |
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Fifth INECE Conference: Another Success! |
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The
Fifth International Conference was another important stepping stone, and
catalyst for making environmental compliance and enforcement happen. Two hundred fifty participants including government officials
and NGOs from 100 countries and international organizations actively
participated in five days of both plenary sessions on six themes and 32
related workshops, and site visits with inspection demonstrations at
state-of-the-art wastewater and solid waste management facilities, site
cleanup and laboratory facilities. The
results of these discussions along with papers from 41 different countries
and international organizations are published in two volumes of Conference
Proceedings. These
proceedings are available on the INECE website, www.inece.org, and
also will be distributed in hard copy to INECE contacts in over 200
countries and organizations. The
presentations at the conference and papers generously prepared by
colleagues to share their practical experiences demonstrate the increasing
commitment to and level of sophistication of programs and new initiatives
around the world to achieve the protection of public health and the
environment we seek. Opening remarks delivered by Pieter Verkerk,
Inspector General of the Dutch Environment Inspectorate, stressed the
significance of the conference in light of other recent gatherings
including the G-8 summits in Miami (1997) and Birmingham (1998) and
emphasized the importance of international and regional environmental
enforcement networks. Steve
Herman, USEPA’s Assistant Administrator for Enforcement, presented an
overview and vision on behalf of the Executive Planning Committee on where
enforcement has been and where it is heading in the next millennium,
including the need for public involvement and the balanced use of carrots
and sticks. A keynote address
by USEPA Administrator Carol Browner described enforcement as a
cornerstone to a new generation of environmental protection. Participants
were inspired by compelling accounts of ecosystem improvements through
enforcement in British Columbia in Canada; of heroic efforts to prosecute
and convict, on site, illegal logging operations in the Philippines; and
of innovative use of compliance schedules and action plans in Egypt and
the Czech Republic to gain environmental improvements and make compliance
happen in the face of serious economic and institutional impediments to
compliance. We were excited by the report from Vietnam on how they began,
following the Fourth International Conference, to initiate their
environmental compliance and enforcement program with a nation-wide
inspection of all facilities, drawing upon the resources of all levels of
government and cooperation across several ministries with a range of
consequences. We saw the
importance of national networks in Ghana, of international cooperation in
addressing transboundary hazardous waste to stem illegal exports to China,
and within both North America and the European Union, and in addressing
control of new chemicals in Europe and the Americas.
These are but a few examples of the many stories contained within
the volumes of the Conference Proceedings. The
Conference not only inspired enforcement officials and NGOs but also
allowed participants the opportunity to work together to overcome common
obstacles to environmental compliance and enforcement. Participants shared
their experiences with traditional compliance and enforcement tools in
areas such as compliance monitoring, multi-media inspections, and criminal
enforcement. Workshops
discussed strategies for public accountability, access to information, and
access to justice. Participants
explored how to best take advantage of communications technology and
market incentives. One consistent theme from the conference was the need for ongoing and interlocking networks at the national, regional and global levels to sustain capacity building, share experiences and technical information, and provide mechanisms for efficient and informal international cooperation. These efforts are needed in order to build the most effective environmental compliance and enforcement systems possible. The Conference resulted in a stronger commitment to international and regional cooperation. Participants agreed that, in order to undertake these efforts, plans for a future conference, concentrating on the development of regional enforcement networks, should be explored. |