Annual meeting of Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum Working Group 3 “ENVIRONMENT, CLIMATE CHANGE AND ENERGY SECURITY” was held in Kyiv on 23^rd June, 2011.

It gathered Civil Society Organisations – members of EaP CSF WG3 from the EU and 6 partner countries Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, guests and observers. The meeting was hosted by Ukrainian National Environmental  NGO “MAMA-86” and  financed by the European Union and co-funded by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation.

It was opened by WG3 Co-ordinators Wojciech Borodzicz-Smoliński, Foundation Centre for International Relations, Poland (Energy) and Anna Golubovska-Onisimova, MAMA-86, Ukraine (Environment). David Stulik of the Political and Press and Information Section, Delegation of the European Union to Ukraine, on behalf of EEAS welcomed participants and made the Eastern Partnership political activities update. Inter alia, he emphasised on paramount importance of CSF National Platforms active involvement into three-partite dialogue between National Governments of 6 partner countries, EU Delegations there and CSOs on implementing prioritised reforms in the course of the cooperation with European Union. He referred to recent example of Ukrainian EaP CSF National Platform, which prepared the Assessment of the European Commission Report on the ENP implementation in Ukraine in 2010 and initiated the discussion on it with the Delegation.

Hans Rhein, Head of Operation Section 3 “Energy, Transport and Environment” of the Delegation of the European Union to Ukraine, on behalf of DG Energy presented the update on the EaP Platform on Energy Security. He presented priorities and highlights of the EU Energy Strategy and the prospective on providing the security of energy supply. Then, he continued on Environment and Climate Change pillar update of the EaP.

Current priority of Flagship Initiative on Environmental Governance – building Shared Environmental Information System (SEIS) – and the update on SEIS project implementation in 6 partner countries was presented by Malak Shukurova, Director of the Regional Environmental Centre for the Caucasus. Then, WG3 Annual meeting participants had questions to presenters of 2 ENPI Projects: on Waste Governance and Air Quality Governance, offices of which are based in Kyiv.

Second half of the day, the Panel Discussion “Shale Gas Prospective: Energy Security and Environment” with 4 panellists took place. In May 2011, US Energy Information Administration published a report on shale gas deposits in 32 countries. It states that shale gas deposits may add up to 40 % to currently available deposits of gas. Wojciech Borodzicz-Smoliński, Foundation Centre for International Relations and co-ordinator of WG3 (Energy), Hans Rhein, Head of Operation Section 3, Delegation of the European Union to Ukraine, Hanna Homechko, International Public Interest NGO “Environment-People-Law”, Ukraine and Andriy Chiubik, Center for Global Studies “Strategy XXI” presented their view on whether shale gas deposits in Ukraine and Poland could really be the alternative source of supply in Europe and which environmental risks it could entail. Besides economic aspects, issues to be considered were defined as:

• Technology used for drilling;
• Chemicals used;
• Control over quality of well construction;
• Wastewater treatment;
• Informing local population on potential threats;
• Ensuring public participation in the process of decision-making;
• Compensation for environmental harm.

Last part of the WG 3 Annual meeting was dedicated to organizational matters. Issue discussed included: new SCF Strategy being drafted by the EaP CSF Steering Committee, SC proposal on how to involve Social partners, participation in the Environment and Climate Change Governmental Panel on 29 September, possible organization of side-event back-to-back with EaP Summit and CSF Conference, preparation to the next meeting of Energy Security Platform and to Poznan’ CSF III. The discussion resulted into draft work plan. Participants agreed that WG3 efforts to prepare CSOs Assessment report on the EaP environmental pillar implementation and present it to CSF III should result into regular monitoring and assessment activities.

For contacts:

WG3 Co-ordinators

Wojciech Borodzicz-Smoliński, Foundation Centre for International Relations, Poland (Energy)  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Anna Golubovska – Onisimova, MAMA-86, Ukraine (Environment) This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it