Environmental conference in Istanbul

VIENNA, 2 November 1998 - The OSCE, together with the Government of Turkey, and in cooperation with the Black Sea Economic Cooperation, will host a seminar in Istanbul on 5 and 6 November on "Sub-Regional Environmental Problems and Cooperative Approaches to Solving Them." Participants in this seminar will include governmental and non-governmental representatives from OSCE participating states, with a strong emphasis on those states in and around the Black Sea region. A variety of international organizations have also been invited to make contributions to the seminar, as have parliamentarians from OSCE states, who have been invited through the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly.

The OSCE has several objectives in holding this seminar. First, it is the second in a series of sub- regional seminars - all on the same topic - designed to begin building an agenda for the next Economic Forum, the theme of which will be Environment and Security, and to sharpen the focus of participating states in their own preparations for this important event, scheduled from 25 to 28 May 1999 in Prague. Second, by facilitating efforts of states in the sub-region to define environmental problems collectively, the OSCE hopes to achieve a genuinely collaborative approach to creating and implementing solutions to these problems. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the OSCE is a conflict prevention organization. The first step in effective conflict prevention is the timely and accurate identification of sources of potential conflict.

A number of such sources may be identified during the course of this seminar. Possibilities include concerns about the safety of nuclear power plants, the differences between the concerns of citizens' groups throughout the region about excess maritime traffic in the Bosphorus and the legal obligations set out in the Montreux Convention, the uneven implementation of varous international accords on cleaning up the waterways leading into the Black Sea (particularly the Danube), and a host of other questions related to biodiversity, quality of life, and the search for alternative sources of energy. Conflicts of concern to the OSCE are not limited to conflicts between states, but extend as well to conflicts between governments and civil society, conflicts between groups of states, and conflicts between two different sets of legitimate demands, as foreseen in the Helsinki Final Act.

We do not expect to resolve any of these conflicts during the course of this two-day seminar. But we do expect to take some useful steps simply by identifying potential conflicts and exploring in a transparent and cooperative manner possible avenues for de-fusing such conflicts and thus increasing regional security and stability. A press briefing will be held at the Macka Palace Hotel just before the opening of the seminar at 9:00 am on Thursday 5 November.