APPLICATION TO THE AWARE CITIZENS CONFERENCE ON

“SAVE THE SEA OF TOMORROW”

- Deadline for submission extended to 22 March 2010 for the Southern North Sea case - 

Download Letter of Invitation and Application Form

AWARE is a project funded by the European Commission which aims at raising citizens awareness of sustainable water issues, and engaging scientists, policy makers and the public in jointly creating and analysing options for improved management in coastal areas.  This will be done by arranging a Citizens Conference process that will involve in total 30 citizens, 10 each from three pilot coastal areas in Europe – the Southern North Sea Coast, the Gulf of Riga and the Sacca di Goro Lagoon in the Po delta area -  selected from those submitting their application to participate. The participants will represent their views as common citizens using - and wishing to preserve for future use - the coastal water environments, for recreation, work or any other purpose. They will be asked to formulate their view on water sustainability approaches, technologies and solutions coming from EU research findings in a sequence of three preparatory meetings, whose results will be presented in a final conference in Brussels, involving also stakeholder representatives from the respective case study areas and politicians..

The following criteria are the basis to participate to the Citizens’ Conference:

Eligibility criteria

• European citizenship and/or residency in the European Union
• To have sufficient  knowledge of English
• To have easy access to Internet connection and e-mail
• To be available on the meeting/conference dates
• To have a direct or indirect concern with the status of water bodies in the pilot areas of the AWARE project (Southern North Sea coastal area and watershed, Sacca di Goro Lagoon)
• Do not hold any specific scientific or professional expertise in coastal water management and related science fields

Citizens Conference Programme of Work

First European Citizen Panel Workshop

Developing a vision of what 'sustainable water management”  is, using the AWARE summary of relevant EU research.

23-24 April 2010, Paris, France

Local Citizen Panel Workshops

Evaluation of what options are available for ensuring a sustainable future of the coastal water environment of concern

(local workshops will be held in parallel  in the pilot case study areas; each workshop will involve the sub-group of citizens selected from each case study area)

September 2010 (dates to be decided)

Second European Citizen Panel Workshop

Drawing up a Citizens Assessment  on “Save the Sea of Tomorrow'.

April 2011, Brussels, Belgium (Friday-Saturday workshop; dates to be decided)

Final European Citizen Conference

Presentation of the Citizens Assessment  to EU policy makers.

May 2011 (date to be confirmed), Brussels, Belgium

The participants must be available on the workshops’ dates and formally commit themselves to participate to the three workshops and to the final conference. Participants will be rewarded with 500€ for all meetings (i.e. 8-10 days of commitment) and 120€ per diem for covering  travel and subsistence costs of the European panel meetings. Travels to the meeting places will be arranged and the expenses covered  by the organiser.