(Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain)
Conference organized by DG Environment, Legal Affairs & Governance
Brussels, 24-25 January 2005 Venue : Charlemagne Conference Centre
170, rue de la Loi/Wetstraat, 170
Registration and welcome coffee between 9.00 and 10.00hrs.

Morning session 24 January, starting at 10.00hrs.
Moderator: Esther Herranz García, MEP
Opening of the conference by Catherine Day, Director General of DG Environment

Overview of existing relevant Community policies
Short presentations from directors in charge of the area:
Nikiforos Sivenas, Agriculture and Rural Development Directorate-General
Ronald Hall, Regional Policy Directorate-General
D. Grant Lawrence, Environment Directorate-General.    
Fires in 2003 and 2004, how to provide tools and capacity building support to improve prevention and restoration
scheduled to start at 11.00hrs
Experiences or specific examples from selected relevant fields in
Portugal, Jo?o Pinho, Forest Restoration Commission
Spain, Juan-Carlos Merida-Fimia, Ministry of Environment
Italy , Anna Scipioni, State Forest Guard and Civil Protection
France, Patrick Falcone, Minist?re de l’agriculture
Greece, Panagiotis Balatsos, Ministry of Rural Development
Slovenia, Gregor Sebenik, Ministry of Defence, Administration for civil protection and disaster relief
 Cyprus, Costas Papageorgiou, Forest Department
Discussion
Lunch break from 13.00 to 14.30 hrs.
Afternoon session starting at 14.30 hrs

Moderator: Jamila Madeira, MEP

2003 and 2004 forest fires in relation to policy tools and organisation, sharing experiences
DG ENV.B3: Lorenza Colletti
DG AGRI.F1: Ignacio Seoane
Joint Research Centre, Ispra: Guido Schmuck
Discussion
Lessons learnt and General aspects
Prevention of forest fires, planning, civil protection and participation of relevant stakeholders.
scheduled to start at 16.00hrs.
Monitoring & Information Centre of the European Commission, Gilles Vincent, DG ENV.A5
Group of European forest fire experts, Philippe Michaut
ECOTRANS network for tourism and sustainable development, Gordon Sillence
Academics, G. Ruiz-Rico, University of Jaén, E
Local/regional administration:
Guiseppe Delogu, Forest Police Sardinia, I
Pierre Macé, Aquitaine, F
Pasquale Raia, Legambiente, Vesuvium Volcano Park Authority, I
Javier Gómez, Comunidad Valenciana, E

Discussion

Cocktail reception, starting at 17.30 hrs
25 January, morning session starting at 9.30 hrs.
welcome coffee served from 9.00 to 9.30hrs. outside the conference room

Moderator: Georges Kremlis, DG ENV.A3
Collaboration between authorities, local citizens groups and environmental NGOs.
Lessons learnt and solutions to provide access for citizens in devastated areas to information and public participation for restoration and for prevention policies.
LA21:
Bruno Cignini, City of Rome
Ioannis Gezerlis, Mayor of Soligia, GR
Environmental NGO:
Joaquim Sande Silva, League for the Protection of Nature (LPN), P
Makis Stavrou, International Friends of Nature, GR
Domingos Patacho, Quercus, P
Antonio Nicoletti, Legambiente, I
Mayors from municipalities in the affected area:
Tomás  Fernández-Couto  Juanas, Galicia, E
Ioannis Amoiridis, Katerini, GR
Forest owners:
Pedro Moura, Aliança Florestal, P
C. Pinaudeau, l’union des sylviculteurs du sud de l’Europe
Joan Botey, Consorci forestal de Catalunya, E
Farmers associations :
Denis Carel, Confédération paysanne, F
12.15 to 12.45hrs.
discussion
Lunch break from 12.45 to 14.15 hrs.

Afternoon session starting at 14.15 hrs.
Moderator: Patrick Falcone, F
Recommendations: proposals and panel discussion with representatives of national authorities
Panel participants
Ph . Michaut, F, Panagiotis Balatsos, GR, António Sousa de Macedo, P, Costas Papageorgiou, CY, Giacomo Saragosa, I, Gregor Sebenik, SLO,  Juan-Carlos Merida-Fimia, E
How the actions on the ground as well as the EU initiated actions could be structured in a coherent way for the future to further improve results.
European:
Rami A. Salman, IUCN Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation,
Pedro Regato, WWF
National:
Ricardo Velez, Ministry of Environment, E
Jamila Madeira, MEP
Jošt Jakša, Slovenia Forest Service
regional & local authorities:
Frédéric Beniamino, Departement du Var, F
José Macário Correia, Grande Área Metropolitana do Algarve, P
Francisco Javier López Iniesta, Extremadura, E
NGO/LA21/citizens:
Antonio Perna, National Park of Aspromonte, I
Jacques Desmeules, citizen, F
Closing address by Stavros Dimas, Commissioner for the Environment
End of conference at 17.00 hrs.

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