MEPP Multilateral Negotiations
Working Group on the Environment

as of May 1999

Overview

The Working Group on the Environment (EWG) is one of the five Working Groups established in the Multilateral Negotiations of the Middle East Peace Process. EWG is chaired by the Government of Japan (current gavelholder: Taro Ishibashi, Deputy Director-General for the Middle East, Ministry of Foreign Affairs), and has more than forty members (regional / extra-regional countries, regions and international organizations) participating at the Director-General level in the plenary meetings.

Participating Members (44 members)

Gavelholder (1): Japan
Co-sponsors (2): US, Russia
Co-organizer (1): EU
Core Members (4): PA, Jordan, Israel, Egypt
Steering Committee Members (3): Canada, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia
Regional Members (9): Morocco, Algeria, Kuwait, Qatar, UAE, Oman, Bahrain, Yemen, Turkey
Extra-regional Members (22): UK, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, Italy, Austria, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Belguim, Luxembourg, Ireland, Rumania, Hungary, Switzerland, Finland, Greece, India, China, Rep. of Korea
Intl. Organizations (2): UN, World Bank

Meetings

A. Plenary Meetings

In its capacity as the Gavelholder, the Government of Japan hosted the first plenary meeting in Tokyo, May, 1992. The locations of the past seven plenary meetings are as follows:

B. Intersessional meetings

From 26 to 27 of June, 1996, an intersessional meeting was held in Muscat after the seventh plenary meeting in Amman. In addition to the eleven Steering Committee members, this meeting also invite other members to participate in accordance to the agenda. At the Muscat intersessional meeting, it was decided that the Gavelholder would organize such a meeting whenever necessary.

C. Expert Meetings/ Workshops

Several expert meetings have been held for specific projects in the EWG, such as the Upper Gulf of Aqaba Oil Spill Contingency Project, World Bank Initiative on Desertification Control, and the Regional Environmental Center in Jordan. The most recent workshop was held in Amman, November 22-24, 1998, on environmental management training, in which a priority list of training programs was developed by the three regional parties with the support from the US and Japan.

D. Informal Meetings

After almost two years of stalemate in its activities, EWG held an unofficial meeting in London, June 1998 with strong request and encouragement from the Core Parties. At the meeting, the participants were limited to the Core Parties (Israel, Jordan, PA and Egypt), the United States and the Gavelholder and the participants discussed the projects already implemented in the context of EWG and the future plans of its activity.

EWG Projects and Major Achievements

EWG Projects/Programs
The projects of EWG are classified mainly in five fields: environmental management; maritime pollution; desertification; water quality, sewage and solid waste management; and hazardous wastes. Among the five fields, desertification and hazardous wastes were added at the fourth and sixth plenary meetings respectively.

Bahrain Environmental Code of Conduct [PDF] and Cairo Consultative Group:
At the third plenary meeting in Tokyo, the Government of Japan proposed to establish a code of conduct for environmental protection. Following the discussions at the Cairo Consultative Group (CCG: first meeting in February 1994, second meeting in July 1994), which had been established at the fourth plenary meeting in Cairo as a wise person's committee for the above purpose, a region-oriented common code of conduct for environmental protection was established, and it was adopted as "The Bahrain Environmental Code of Conduct for the Middle East" at the sixth plenary meeting in Bahrain in October 1994.

Following the adoption of the Bahrain Environmental Code of Conduct for the Middle East, it was decided that the CCG would continue to hold consultations in order to implement the Code of Conduct. At the intersessional meeting in Muscat, June 1996, the necessity to materialize the Code of Conduct and to conclude the TOR of the CCG was reiterated. It was also decided at Muscat meeting that Japan would consult with the parties concerned in the region on the proposal of the future work to make the Code of Conduct concrete for the next plenary meeting. Japan is now proposing to make guidelines for each field based on the Code of Conduct, in cooperation with the parties concerned and major extra-regional members.

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