SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT THROUGH INTERACTION BETWEEN EUROPEAN POLICY, RESEARCH AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

Efficient communication and interaction between policy makers, administrative agencies and the scientific community is needed to create a more sustainable society. Only through a network of these different actors is it possible to identify needs and potential solutions. Because there is a substantial, but dispersed body of SCP experience among European countries, it is necessary to collect, organise and evolve this knowledge. Since 2009 the CSCP has coordinated central elements of the EIONET European network of environmental research institutions. The principal objective of this network is to ensure an effective information exchange on environmental issues.

 

To address the challenge of knowledge transfer the CSCP, in collaboration with partners in the European Topic Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production (ETC/SCP), is developing several focused projects for the European Environment Agency (EEA). All activities deal with sustainable consumption and production issues and relationships between policy and the scientific community.

A European SCP network

The first aspect of this project is to improve the transfer of information and cooperation among different scientific research areas through the creation of a communication network. The project will support a variety of activities including the analysis of SCP, resource efficiency and the green economy.  Moreover the project will strengthen the contribution of SCP experience towards other policy areas such as climate change, biodiversity and resource protection.

To ensure an interactive cooperation among members countries and an effective exchange of knowledge, the CSCP in collaboration with the EEA organizes an annual workshop on SCP and waste for all the European EIONET environmental research affiliates.

In 2010, the CSCP also developed and launched a web-based platform the "EIONET Forum on SCP" which has been strengthening and supporting the collection and exchange of information on SCP including resource use and waste. The forum has enabled an increased information exchange among EIONET member countries.

 

Stakeholder involvement for powerful partnerships

Due to the increasing importance of different stakeholders in the SCP area, the project will also be developing recommendations for the European Environment Agency (EEA) on mechanisms to support the evolution of interactive cooperation models for diverse stakeholder groups. To accomplish this task, the CSCP and partners in the European Topic Centre on SCP analysed a range of opportunities for stakeholder involvement. The results of the analysis formed the basis for five video interviews with high-level stakeholders. These interviews will serve as a starting point for a stronger communication, cooperation and media-based stakeholder involvement in European SCP debates.

Background

The project is financed by the European Environment Agency (EEA). Project partners are the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy (WI), the German Federal Environment Agency (UBA) and the Copenhagen Resource Institute (CRI).

• EIONET is a partnership network that includes the European Environment Agency (EEA) and its member and cooperating countries. This network engages approximately 900 experts and more than 300 national institutions. The network supports the collection and organisation of data and the development and dissemination of information concerning Europe’s environment.

• The European Topic Centre on SCP (ETC/SCP) is a consortium of the CSCP and seven other specialist partner organisations drawn from environmental authorities and research communities in Europe working on behalf of the EEA. The ETC/SCP is one of five European Environment Agency Topic Centres.