October 5th-6th: international conference "Sustainable development of territories and risk governance" in Dunkirk, France

The international conference "Sustainable development of territories and risk governance: participatory governance for Europe" will take place in Dunkirk (France) on 5th and 6th October 2006. It is co-organised by "Vraiment Durable" NGO, the TRUSTNET network, the Urban Community of Dunkirk and the Town of Dunkrik.
 

Actors at the local and regional level across Europe are committed to sustainable development within their constituencies. Concern for sustainable development extends to activities and situations of risk and impact potentially affecting society and the environment. A frequently heard view from those involved is that the regulation of these activities is made “against them”, whereas they expect regulations to be set in train “with them”.

Such a situation is often a cause of tensions between local or regional actors and the national level, and elected representatives are concerned at how this situation affects democracy. This is aggravated by a growing distrust of supra-national regulatory bodies, of the globalisation of the economy, and of “European integration”, as amply demonstrated by the rejection of the European Constitution by the citizens of several Member States.

Yet, at European local and regional authority level, initiatives are taken by local actors and elected members, to develop innovative practices in participatory governance. Their aim is to prompt people over time to return to the ways of more active citizen involvement, thus significantly contributing to the quality of decisions and the safety of local activities.

The objective of this conference is thus to identify new forms of participatory governance of hazardous activities and situations in practice, in the context of the sustainable development of territories.

The conference will gather about 300 French and European participants (local and regional elected representatives, NGOs, industries, experts, representatives of national authorities of different European Member States, European institutions). It will present a number of case studies and concrete reflections, showing the way forward to mechanisms of participatory governance of hazardous activities.

You will find attached the programme of the conference as well as the call issued at the end of the conference which summarises the main conclusions of the conference as well as action proposals.

13th September 2006 Vincent Wallaert