The British-Irish Council Environment Group held its fourth Ministerial meeting in Douglas on the Isle of Man today. The meeting was part of an ongoing series of meetings within the British-Irish Council (BIC) since the first Summit of 17 December 1999, which identified the environment as one of the issues for discussion.

The British-Irish Council was established under the Strand Three Provisions of the Agreement reached in Belfast on Good Friday 1998, as a forum for its members to exchange information, discuss, consult, and use best endeavours to reach agreement on co-operation on matters of mutual interest within the competence of the relevant Administrations.

The British Government was represented by Mr. Elliot Morley MP, Minister for the Environment and Agri-Environment, who chaired the meeting. The Isle of Man was represented by the Hon. Pamela M. Crowe, MLC, Minister for Local Government and the Environment, who also hosted the meeting. The Irish Government was represented by Mr. Pat the Cope Gallagher TD, Minister of State, Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. The Welsh Assembly Government was represented by Carwyn Jones AM, Minister for Environment, Planning and Countryside. The Scottish Executive was represented by John Graham, Head of the Environment and Rural Affairs Department. Jersey by Deputy Maurice Dubras, President of the Environment and Public Services Committee of the States of Jersey. The States of Guernsey was represented by Deputy Mike Best, Vice-President of the Board of Administration.

A full list of delegation members is attached.

Climate change is an important issue for the BIC region. The Group was pleased to note the publication in July 2003 of the BIC report “Scenarios of climate change for islands within the BIC region” . Dr Geoff Jenkins from the Hadley Centre (part of the UK Met Office) gave a presentation to the meeting on the findings of the report. Climate change will mean warmer, drier summers and milder, wetter winters for the islands within the BIC region. Islands in the south of the region will be most affected – summer temperatures in the Channel Islands could rise by 4 °C by the end of the century, while summer rainfall could drop by nearly half. Dr Richenda Connell from the UK Climate Impacts Programme (UKCIP) described the awareness-raising workshops on climate change held in the Member Administrations. It was agreed that the Climate Change Sub Group had made useful progress and that further liaison on climate change would continue informally through contacts made during the work of the Climate Change Group. Progress with these arrangements would be reviewed at the Sixth BIC(E) meeting.

The Group also received a presentation from John Graham on the work of the Waste Management Working Group, for which the Scottish Executive is the lead administration. The presentation updated Ministers on the progress in the development and implementation of waste strategies in Member Administrations and covered a number of topics relating to market development initiatives, commercial and industrial waste and the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit Report. While it was noted that waste management is an important subject for all of the BIC Member Administrations, it was agreed that the Waste Management Group had achieved its purpose as a useful forum for exchanging information on waste management policies and experiences for the present. In the immediate future, the network of contacts developed through the work of the Waste Management Group would be used to continue to exchange information on this important issue.

As agreed at the 3rd meeting, two papers on Sellafield related topics were presented to the Group. It was agreed that substantive discussion of these papers would be deferred until the next BIC(E) meeting. Ireland and the Isle of Man would present a revised draft of their Sellafield paper to that meeting. Substantive discussion of it would be dependent on the conclusion of legal proceedings Ireland has brought against the United Kingdom.

The Group also considered a report from the official level working group set up at the 3rd meeting to consider possible appropriate action by BIC(E) on follow-up to the conclusions of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD). Ireland set out their plans for addressing WSSD follow-up during their forthcoming EU Presidency, and Wales reported on the regional networks established at WSSD. In discussion, it was agreed that a new working group would be set up to consider the scope for co-operation on domestic biodiversity, including marine biodiversity, and would report back to the next meeting.

Recognising the particular vulnerability of several BIC members to marine oil pollution, the meeting was pleased to note that significant progress was being made within the EU and elsewhere to implement measures that would afford greater protection to these waters.

The Group welcomed and noted that the Welsh Assembly Government and the Irish Government had agreed to host future meetings.

It was agreed that among the main items for discussion at the next meeting of the Group would be OSPAR, follow-up to the World Summit on Sustainable Development and, Sellafield and Radioactive Waste.