NGO STRATEGY SESSIONS ON EARTH SUMMIT 2002
In the first half of 2001, the Heinrich Boell Foundation organised, in
co-operation with the Stockholm Environmental Institute, several NGO strategic
sessions that brought together Brussels based environment and development
NGOs with the aim to forge greater solidarity and cooperation within the
NGO community in the run-up to the WSSD.
The sessions addressed the need to share respective WSSD plans, strategies
and advocacy and public awareness campaign ideas. The meetings further
developed concrete policy recommendations, which could be channelled into
various ongoing processes such as the European Rio+10 Coalition meeting
in May or the UNECE meeting in September. In particular, the NGO community
looked on how they can assist the EU to more meaningfully address Southern
priority concerns in their 2002 preparations.
The Brussels based NGOs formed an informal platform to
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exchange strategic ideas;
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refine substantive thinking;
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develop possible joint advocacy and media outreach initiatives; and
indeed
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forge a stronger NGO voice in the various multi-stakeholder processes
related to 2002.
The groups evaluated the European Commission's 2002 Communication and
produced a Draft Critique of the European Commission's Communication of
2002, which was later distilled to a joint NGO position [ rtf;
5 pages ] to be presented at the Conference of the European Rio+10
Coalition in May 2001.
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