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LETTER FROM THE UKRAINIAN NGO CLIMATE CHANGE WORKING GROUP TO THE GOVERNMENT OF UKRAINE AND INTERNATIONAL DONOR ORGANIZATIONS REGARDING NGO INVOLVEMENT IN INTERNATIONAL CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION ACTIVITIES
Kyiv, 31 July 2000
To:
Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada
Mr. Ivan PLUSHCH
Vice Prime-minister of Ukraine
Mr. Mykhajlo HLADIJ
Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine
Mr. Ivan ZAIETS
Minister of Fuel and Energy of Ukraine
Mr.
Serghiy YERMILOV
Minister of Emergency Situations of Ukraine Minister of Economy of Ukraine
Mr. Vasyl DURDYNETS
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine
Mr. Borys TARASIUK
Chairman of State Committee for Energy Conservation
Viktor MERKUSHOV
UNDP Resident Representative
Pedro Pablo VILLANUEVA
Director of USAID Mission in Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova
Chris CRAWLEY
Resident Representative of the World Bank Office in Ukraine
Mr. Gregory JEDRZEJCZAK
Country Program Manager of Canadian International Development
Agency
Ms. Nicole RIVARD-ROYER
Minister for Economic Affairs of the Netherlands
Annemarie JORRITSMA
Minister of the Environment of Finland
Ms. Satu HASSI
Esteemed Colleagues:
The undersigned non-governmental organizations of Ukraine that participated
in the Second Round Table on Global Climate Change on 15 June, 2000 in Kyiv
wish to encourage cooperation between Ukraine and other countries aimed at the
prevention of global climate change, and wish to participate, along withother
Ukrainian Ngos, in climate change mitigation activities. NGO participation will
promote public awareness of climate change issues, improve the quality of administrative
decision making, and create an atmosphere of transparency.
Ukrainian Ngos have considerable resources that Ukraine can draw upon to develop more innovative and effective relationships between the government and the public than we see today. Evidence of this potential can be seen in the successful work of the Public Council of Ukrainian Environmental Ngos at the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources (MENRU).
The legal basis for an enhanced NGO role in national and international climate
change mitigation activities includes:
- the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (Aarhus Convention);
- the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Article 4(i) and Article 6; and
- the Law of Ukraine "On Environment Protection"
Public participation in climate change mitigation activities should
apply to 1) development, 2) implementation and 3) monitoring of policies
and measures envisaged by the Government of Ukraine (GOU) and international
donors working in Ukraine.
WE THEREFORE APPEAL TO THE GOVERNMENT OF UKRAINE AND INTERNATIONAL
DONOR-ORGANIZATIONS TO INVOLVE UKRAINIAN NGOS:
1. IN NATIONAL POLICIES ON CLIMATE CHANGE, THROUGH INVOLVEMENT IN:
1.1. developing the National Action Plan on Climate Change;
1.2. preparing, together with the GOU, of Ukraine’s position at the November
Sixth Conference of Parties (Cop6)
1.3. the work of the official Ukrainian delegation to Cop6 (relevant NGO representative
will be proposed by the NGO Climate Change Working Group);
1.4. developing criteria for selection of Joint Implementation (JI) projects
and Activities Implemented Jointly (AIJ);
1.5. budgeting decisions regarding funds that Ukraine will receive for greenhouse
gases (GHG) emissions transactions;
1.6. consulting with the GOU and local authorities concerning development of
local action plans aimed at climate change mitigation; and
1.7. developing climate change-related items in national and local budgets.
2. IN IMPLEMENTING THE ABOVE POLICIES, THROUGH INVOLVEMENT IN:
2.1. the work of the Inter-ministerial Commission on Climate Change (а representative
to the Commission will be proposed by the NGO Climate Change Working Group);
2.2. calculating inventories of GHG emissions and land-based sinks such as forests;
2.3. evaluating draft laws, international programs and projects related to climate
change mitigation;
2.4. training seminars on climate change scheduled within relevant international
programs or projects;
2.5. all international climate change-related programs and projects implemented
in Ukraine, including invitation of Ngos to participate in tenders for particular
projects (as contractors or partners);
2.6. а competition for а project grant aimed at raising public awareness on
climate change and promoting domestic climate change mitigation activities;
2.7. informational/-educational climate change-related activities implemented
via the state mass media;
2. 8. organizing public hearings at the local and national levels concerning
energy policies, international cooperation and other issues related to climate
change mitigation.
3. IN MONITORING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ABOVE POLICIES, THROUGH INVOLVEMENT
IN:
3.1. Supervisory Councils or Steering Committees of international
climate change programs and projects carried out in Ukraine;
3.2. joint inspections of the state of implementation of pilot JI projects initiated
within the Netherlands’ PSO program;
3.3. joint efforts with the GOU to effect measures to monitor the use of funds
received from GHG emissions transactions;
3.4. analysis and public discussion of the results of international climate
change programs and projects, including auditing funds` expenditures;
3.5. disseminating the results of international and national climate change
mitigation acivities through the state mass media.
TO ENSURE MORE ACTIVE AND EFFECTIVE PARTICIPATION OF UKRAINIAN Ngos IN CLIMATE
CHANGE MITIGATION ACTIVITIES WE FURTHER PROPOSE:
1. A memorandum of cooperation between the Ukrainian Inter-ministerial Commission
on Climate Change, the Multilateral Climate Change Working Group and the Ukrainian
NGO Climate Change Working Group aimed at realizing the above-stated proposals.
Such an agreement should lay а foundation for dialogue and cooperation between
the GOU, the international climate change donor community and Ukrainian Ngos.
2. To include global climate change issues in the agenda of the next Ministerial
Conference "Environment for Europe", to be held in Kyiv in 2002.
3. To conduct а Third Roundtable on Global Climate Change in December, 2000
to be organized by the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine,
the Ministry on Emergency Situations of Ukraine, the State Committee for Energy
Conservation, the Alliance to Save Energy, Coalition "For Energy Security, Awareness
and Citizens` Rights", Western Centre of the Ukrainian branch of "World laboratory"
and other interested parties.
You may respond to these proposals by writing to us at 01001, Kyiv-1, P.o.b.
449, or by contacting Serghiy Fedorynchyk, Co-chairman of the Coalition "For
Energy Security, Awareness and Citizens` Rights" (phone/fax: 380-44-4563435)
or Stanislav Potapenko, Climate Change Specialist, the Alliance to Save Energy
(phone/fax: 380-44-2464799).
Sincerely
Roman KHIMKO
Chairman of the Public Council at the Ministry
of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine
Yury URBANSKY
Vice Chair of the National Ecological Centre of Ukraine
Co-chairman of the Coalition "For Energy Security
Awareness and Citizens` Rights"
Serghiy FEDORYNCHYK
Director of the Information Centre of the
Ukrainian Environmental Association "Zeleny Svit" (Kyiv)
Co-chairman of the Coalition "For Energy Security
Awareness and Citizens` Rights"
Volodymyr SHEVCHENKO
Chairman of the Energy Commission of the
Ukrainian Environmental Association
"Zeleny Svit" (Kyiv)
Tamara MALKOVA
Director of Charitable Informational-publishing
Center "Zelene Dossier" (Kyiv)
Volodymyr BEREZIN
Director of the Environmental-cultural Center
"Bakhmat" (Artemivsk, Donetsk oblast)
Yuri WASIDLOW
President of the Association
"Our Home " (Ivano-frankivsk)
Petro HRYTSYSHYN
Director of Western Center of the Ukrainian
Branch of "World laboratory" (Lviv)
Evhen KOLISHEVSKY
Director of the NGO "Holos Pryrody" (Dniprodzerzhynsk)
Vasyl LEVCHYSHYN
Department Head of the Center for
Municipal and Regional Development (Lviv)
Mykhajlo MAZHAROV
Executive Director of Dnipropetrovsk
Regionalenvironmental Association
Zeleny Svit" (Dnipropetrovsk)
Taras LYCHUK
Chairman of “Ecoclub” (Rivne)
Igor BUKSHA
Chairman of the NGO "Ekolis" (Kharkiv)
Olexiy SHUMYLO
Chairman of the NGO “Ecopravo-kharkiv” (Kharkiv)
Andrey ARTOV
Deputy Chairman of the Crimean Republican
Association "Ecologia I Myr " (Simferopol)