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EUROPE by Marianne Ginsburg and Jennifer Mitchell |
1. European Partners for the Environment
A well-connected brokering organization for sustainable development and other environmental issues in Europe. EPE provides numerous links to other organizations as well as a number of case studies and the "EPE Sourcebook" (a very good overview of Sustainable Development). Based in Brussels, EPE has a wide audience and membership (national and local governments, private companies, research institutes, and NGOs), which is reflected in its breadth of topics.
2. Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe
The Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC) is a nonprofit organization established in 1990 by the United States, the European Commission, and Hungary (nine other countries have since become sponsors). The REC helps environmental NGOs, local governments, and businesses fulfill their roles in: Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, FYR Macedonia, Poland, Romania, the Slovak Republic, and Slovenia. The website provides a wide range of information for NGOs and others, on everything from fundraising, networking and management to environmental issues and news. It also has many links to government environmental agencies from all over the world, and is frequently updated.
3. European Union
The EU's Europa site offers detailed information about EU policies as well as new developments and general information. To get to the page describing the EU's environmental policy, follow this path from the main page: select the language of your choice; select "EU Policies"; select "Environment." (For some reason, simply entering this page's URL will not get you there.) This page gives a lengthy overview of EU environmental policy (including the names of relevant staffers) and provides links to the European Parliament, Council of the EU, European Commission/DGXI, Court of Justice, Commission of the Regions and European Investment Bank.
4. European Forest Institute
"The European Forest Institute is an independent, nongovernmental research body conducting problem-oriented and multi-disciplinary forest research. The purpose of the Institute is to undertake research on forest policy, including its environmental aspects....and prepare forecasts for future developments...."
5. European Environment Agency
The EEA was founded by the European Union in 1993 with a mandate to orchestrate, research and implement information of relevance to the improvement and protection of Europe's environment. Current membership includes all 15 EU members and Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.
Marianne Ginsburg, Program Officer, and Jennifer Mitchell, Program Assistant, The German Marshall Fund of the United States.