WORLD FEDERATION OF ENGINEERING ORGANIZATIONS

Transcription

1 DRAFT World Federation of Engineering Organizations Committee on Engineering and the Environment Teleconference Meeting #4 July 5, 2011 Meeting Summary 1. WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS The following persons were present at the teleconference: Chair: D. Danyluk Past-Chair: B. Vasoya Secretary: D. Lapp Members: C. Mak (HKIE), F. Thabet (Tunisia), O. Ajibola (Nigeria for initial part of meeting), Observers: D. Shields (United States) 2. REVIEW AND APPROVAL OF AGENDA Agenda approved The agenda was approved as proposed. 3. APPROVAL OF WFEO-CEE MEETING SUMMARY The summary from the face-to-face meeting of October 16, 2011 was reviewed. There were no suggested changes or edits. (Secretary s Note: Due to the limited number of members participating in the teleconference, it is proposed that formal approval of the meeting summary is deferred until the September meeting when more members will be present.) Meeting summary received. Formal approval at September 2011 face-to-face meeting. 4. CHAIR S ACTIVITY REPORT The Chair summarized the work and accomplishments of the committee over the past 3 ½ years beginning with the concept of its work being accomplished through six task groups. One of these groups Disaster Risk Management (DRM) (the original Theme 3), led by Japan, and became its own standing committee nearly two years ago. The CEE maintains a close working relationship with this standing committee. As for the remaining themes. Theme 1 Environmental Impacts of Major Sporting Events has successfully completed its work with the publication of its report. Theme 2 Climate Change Adaptation has been actively engaged at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) for the past four years. When this was started engineering had zero profile but our exposure and engagement has dramatically improved through our participation in meetings and with the Nairobi Work Program. Theme 5 Environment and Sustainability Guideline will be tabling a draft for our consideration September. Progress on the remaining themes has not all been rosy. Theme 4 Sustainability Evaluation Framework could not get going. The dissemination of work under Theme 6 Infrastructure in Developing Countries has been limited to India as technical webinars to other countries could not be arranged. WFEO-CEE Meeting Summary Teleconference Meeting #4 July 5, 2011 Page 1 of 6

2 What has been learned overall is that strategic planning and execution of that plan through task groups led by individual countries is a sound approach and one that is appropriate for the next four years of the committee. The next meeting of the Parties (COP-16) will be held in Cancun Mexico Canada and Costa Rica representatives will attend but no side event will be delivered as the results from the Costa Rican infrastructure climate risk assessment project will not be available in time. It was agreed that CEE needs to develop a two to three page fact sheet of arguments in favour of adaptation of infrastructure to climate change for the use of CEE members. There is an action item for the Chair and Secretariat to prepare a draft for the review of CEE. 4.1 WFEO EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING MARCH 2011 This was the first meeting after Buenos Aires in October India reported on completion of the Virtual Service Center and updating of the website. The Federation spent 80% of its allocated budget in The standing committees are still waiting to hear how much will be allocated to each one for Kenya, Uganda, Madagascar and Peru were admitted as members of WFEO and Peru has indicated its intention to join the CEE. Hungary and Slovakia have withdrawn their membership. With the upcoming General Assembly in September, there are a number of changes for hosting standing technical committees due to completion of terms and mandates. For CEE, Canada has been endorsed as host for the next four years. President-Elect Adel indicated that he will speak of his vision for the WFE O during his two year term as President at the General Assembly. Focuses will include improved communications and enhancing our relationship with the United Nations. Governing documents for WFEO, including a revised constitution, are in their final stages for approval at the 2011 General Assembly Updates on planning for future meetings of WFEO were provided WEC 2013 (Singapore), WEC 2015 (Japan) and the Executive Council in Slovenia in UN COMMISSION ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (UN-CSD) For the past four years, a WFEO Task Force that includes the chairs of Energy (leader), Environment and Capacity-Building has been participating in meetings that are held at the United Nations. In these meetings interventions and representations from the Task Force are introduced into the proceedings. Normally the commission focuses on several topics which this year includes mining, waste management, chemicals and transport. WFEO-CEE Meeting Summary Teleconference Meeting #4 July 5, 2011 Page 2 of 6

3 In addition, side events (workshops) are hosted and organized by the CEE that cover the engineering perspective on sustainability issues for particular sectors currently being considered by the commission. A successful side event with three excellent speakers was held at the UN-CSD meeting in May 2011 and the report is included in the meeting materials. The CEE has taken the lead in organizing these side events for the past three years. One of the speakers was Deborah Shields and the chair asked her to provide her observations on the meeting. The meeting is a good opportunity for groups that normally do not interface with each other to connect and exchange information. There are many major groups represented at these meetings, which affords good opportunities to network. She noted that unfortunately there was no signed declaration to come out of the meeting and consensus will need to be developed for an agreement at the Rio+20 Summit to be held in June WFEO is part of the Science and Technology Major Group that is officially recognized by the UN-CSD and with its continuing participation has developed a good credibility among the major groups and the commission itself. 4.3 UNITED NATIONS FRAMEWORK CONVENTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE Since the last CEE meeting, the Chair and Secretary have attended two major meetings the Conference of the Parties Meeting No 16 in Cancun Mexico (December 2010) and the mid-year Climate Change talks in Bonn Germany (June 2011). The principal avenue of participation of CEE, aside from attending the meetings, is with the Nairobi Work Program (NWP) on climate change adaptation, which was approved five years ago to focus work on adaptation as opposed to GHG reduction. WFEO has an Action Pledge registered with NWP to develop tools and foster capacity building for climate vulnerability assessment of built infrastructure. The most recent progress report from CEE was submitted in April 2011 and a copy will be included with the minutes of this meeting. 4.4 UN INTERNATIONAL STRATEGY FOR DISASTER REDUCTION The CEE Chair and Disaster Risk Management Chair (Dr. Ishii) attended an international meeting held in Geneva in May Given the many recent natural disasters this conference received a very high profile, with the UN General Secretary opening the session. Over 2600 delegates attended. Dr. Ishii was able to present on the Fukoshimo Nuclear Disaster which attracted a considerable audience. 4.5 UN RIO+20 SUMMIT JUNE 2012 WFE O and ICSU are jointly working together to develop a five day Science and Technology Forum, to be held the week prior to the Summit. The provisional agenda, which includes the range of proposed topics for the sessions, was provided as part of the meeting materials. There are plans to hold side events on most if not all days and focused on the topic of the day. See action list A Planning Committee has been formed that includes the Chairs of Energy and Environment together with representatives from ICSU. WFEO-CEE Meeting Summary Teleconference Meeting #4 July 5, 2011 Page 3 of 6

4 There are plenty of opportunities for WFEO member countries to present their perspectives on the topics listed in the program, identify world class speakers on any of these topics and/or provide session chairs. CEE members are encouraged to make their national members aware of this opportunity. The Secretariat will send a separate reminder of this request. 5. WFEO-CEE NEWSLETTER AND SCHEDULE The next newsletter will focus on Theme 2 Climate Change Adaptation. Articles for this issue are needed by August 1 so that the newsletter can be published before the WFEO meetings in September. The Chair requested members send pictures or graphics on adaptation to include in the next newsletter. A request will be sent by the Secretariat.. 6. THEME LEADER REPORTS The Chair suggested that the documents and reports from some themes be received for information at this meeting, and will be discussed and where appropriate, approved at the face-to-face meeting in September. for information only 7. FACE-TO-FACE MEETING #4 GENEVA SEPTEMBER 4, 2011 The draft agenda for the meeting in September was tabled for information and a call to members to provide any additions to the agenda. The meeting will be held in Room 15 at the conference center. The key outcomes from this meeting will be to wrap-up the strategic plan activities and deliverables as well as complete the strategic plan for the next four years. The Secretariat will be in contact with CEE Members to explore participation in, and if possible, leadership of a theme area. 8. UNESCO UPDATE The Chair noted that WFEO was created with the assistance of UNESCO, and that recently a new cooperation agreement between the organizations was signed. There is a proposal to institute a worldwide program on engineering within UNESCO, and CEE member T. Marjoram will be asked to give an update at the next meeting in Geneva. 9. INTERNATIONAL SESSION ON CLIMATE CHANGE The Chair briefed the committee on the status of the special session on climate change being organized by CEE. It is scheduled for the afternoon of September 6 as part of WEC Planning is well-advanced with all speakers and the agenda confirmed. An electronic invitation has been finalized and included in the meeting materials. All CEE members are encouraged to forward this invitation to their national member as well as communicate to their networks. WFEO-CEE Meeting Summary Teleconference Meeting #4 July 5, 2011 Page 4 of 6

5 10. DISCUSSION OF DRAFT STRATEGIC PLAN The Chair explained that with the mandate to continue with a second, fouryear term that he would proceed to develop an updated to cover the years A working draft of the strategic plan, dated April 15, 2011 was provided as part of the meeting materials. The final plan would hopefully be presented at the WFEO General Assembly in September The Chair briefly reviewed the plan as it is presently written. In addition to climate change adaptation the mitigation component would be added. This would enable the CEE to actively participate in the Future Climate Engineering Solutions Phase 2 program being operated by the Danish Society of engineers. Theme 3 Engineering and Agriculture is in the planning stages for the next four years. It is a very important and relevant topic for the United Nations. The current Theme Leader S. Fernandez from Argentina notified the Secretariat that the country was undergoing a change in leadership and that her continued participation and leadership would be reviewed. Theme 5 from the plan will be carried over to complete the publication of the sustainability guideline that is under development. CEE members are encouraged to propose new theme areas, provided there is clear commitment to lead the effort. A new theme is under development Mining and Sustainability and has been proposed by D. Shields of the United States. She provided a briefing on the development of the plan and its current status. Her participation on CEE and leading the theme area on mining is under review by the Board and a decision would be rendered by mid-september. The CEE Strategic Plan includes a section on succession planning. If any member country is interested to become host as of 2015, the Chair requested that the interested party communicate with the Secretariat at their earliest convenience so that a smooth transition can be planned. The Chair thanked meeting participants for the discussion and noted that this would be a significant topic at the September meeting. 11. MEMBERSHIP REVIEW The current membership list and contact information was included in the meeting materials. CEE members are asked to provide the Secretariat with any changes to their information at their earliest convenience. Each CEE member will be contacted by the Secretariat to confirm their intention to continue as a member or stepping off the committee as of September Members to decide if they wish to continue being a member of CEE for four years beginning September WFEO-CEE Meeting Summary Teleconference Meeting #4 July 5, 2011 Page 5 of 6

6 12. SUSTAINABLE CITIES AWARD The Chair provided some background on the development of this award, which will have a cash and status equivalent to the Nobel Prize process. The latest description of the award was included for information. WFEO would support this award by organizing an expert panel to review applications. Participation in this award will raise the profile of engineers and allows our voice to be heard by society. This is part of WFEO s objectives and vision for the worldwide profession of engineering. 13. NEXT MEETING The next meeting will be held Sunday September 4, 2011 in Geneva Switzerland. Meeting on September 4,2011 in Geneva Switzerland WFEO-CEE Meeting Summary Teleconference Meeting #4 July 5, 2011 Page 6 of 6