Results of the European Ministerial Conference on the Environment (Vienna, 28-30 March 1973)

Recommendation 720 (1973)

Author(s):

Parliamentary Assembly

Origin

Assembly debate on 28 September 1973 (15th Sitting) (see Doc. 3338, report of the Committee on Regional Planning and Local Authorities). Text adopted by the Assembly on 28 September 1973 (15th Sitting).

The Assembly,

1. Having taken note of the report of its Committee on Regional Planning and Local Authorities on the results of the European Ministerial Conference on the Environment held in Vienna from 28 to 30 March 1973 (Doc. 3338) ;

2. Welcoming the willingness of the Ministers to discuss environmental problems as such, and also in the geographic context of Europe, while nevertheless paying particular attention to certain more specific questions coming within the purview of the Council of Europe ;

3. Gratified by the appreciation expressed by the Ministers of the Council of Europe's work in the environmental field ;

4. Agreeing in this respect with the Ministers participating in the Vienna Conference that one of the major justifications for a second Ministerial Conference would be the opportunity to discuss and compare problems of environment protection and national experiments in this field, and then examine particular questions pertaining to European cooperation ;

5. Convinced that such ministerial conferences will provide impetus and direction beneficial to all intergovernmental activities in Europe, and will thus lead to improved coordination of the activities of international organisations ;

6. Welcoming the opportunity provided for its representatives and for a delegate of the European Parliament to review environment policy in Europe during a colloquy with the Ministers,

7. Recommends that the Committee of Ministers :

I. Ministerial conferences

(a) follow up the resolutions and recommendations of the Vienna Conference, and thus contribute at the European level to the implementation of certain aspects of the United Nations' Action Plan for the Human Environment ;

(b) organise as soon as possible a second Ministerial Conference on the basis of the foregoing considerations, bringing in the largest possible number of European non-member States of the Council of Europe, as well as European and international organisations working in the environment field ;

II. Action Programme of the Council of Europe

(a) establish a European network of recreational and protected areas within the context of a joint European countryside management policy ;

(b) define a coherent policy for the protection of wildlife, with a view to establishing European regulations - if possible by means of a convention - and involving severe restrictions on hunting, shooting, capture of animals needing protection, fishing and egg collecting, and the prohibition of bird netting ;

(c) intensify information and education activities, for instance by strengthening the role of the European Information Centre for Nature Conservation as :

a clearing-house for information for the national departments concerned ;

a centre for disseminating a new philosophy of the environment and the quality of life ;

(d) formulate principles governing the rights and duties of the individual with regard to his environment ;

(e) associate local and regional authorities closely with the preparation and implementation of environment policy falling within their sphere of competence ;

III. Administrative and institutional ; structures of the Council of Europe

(a) reorganise the intergovernmental committees of the Council of Europe, as has become necessary in the light of the development of European cooperation in the environment and regional planning fields ;

(b) set up for this purpose - as soon as circumstances allow - a single committee for cooperation in regional planning and environmental matters, whose brief, with regard to the implementation of the Council of Europe Work Programme, would include responsibilities in the field of regional planning as well as the functions of the three intergovernmental committees at present working in the field of nature conservation, water conservation and air pollution ;

(c) continue and intensify the activities pertaining to the environment in which the Council of Europe has already gained some experience, in drawing up European conventions designed to avoid economic disparities ;

(d) provide the Council of Europe with the means essential for achieving the objectives formulated in this recommendation ;

IV. Assembly and specialised ministerial conferences

in general, create increased opportunities for dialogue between the Assembly and the specialised ministerial conferences, for instance by arranging colloquies.