ESDN Conferences

A look at the history of the ESDN reveals that annual conferences have played a prominent role in facilitating networking between European SD practitioners and policy advisors. This section of the website provides a one-stop-shop documentation of all ESDN Conferences so far. Please click on one of the conferences for more details:

Vienna 2013: Vienna+10: National Sustainable Development Strategies in Europe – Taking stock, new developments and future challenges

Copenhagen 2012: Rio+20 and its implications for Sustainable Development Policy at the EU and national level

Szentendre 2011: Framing and Focussing: European Resource Policies in the Context of Sustainable Development

Ghent 2010: Towards an Economy compatible with Sustainable Development Principles

Prague 2009: Options and Opportunities for the future EU Sustainable Development Strategy

Paris 2008: Coordinating SCP and CSR policies with Sustainable Development Strategies

Berlin 2007: European Sustainability Berlin 2007

"Sustainable Development goes Mozart" - ESDN Conference at Salzburg on June 1-2, 2006

The European Sustainable Development Network (ESDN) Conference was hosted on Thursday 1st and Friday 2nd June in Salzburg. This conference was the fifth in a series of similar events.

The purpose of the 2006 ESDN Conference was to exchange knowledge and experiences on

• The challenge of vertically integrating SD policies across levels of governance (EU – national-sub-national levels of governance),
• Evaluating and peer reviewing SD strategies and
• Further developing the ESDN

The three issues were dealt with in keynote presentations, working groups, a guided poster session, “word-rap interventions”, and plenary discussions.

Background papers and proceedings

• ESDN Conference 2006 - Conference Proceedings
• ESDN Conference 2006 - Discussion Paper
• ESDN Conference 2006 - Programme

Keynote presentations

• Elisabeth Freytag, Austrian Federal Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management
  Renewing the EU Strategy on Sustainable Development. State of Play and Negitiations under the AU Presidency
• André Martinuzzi & Reinhard Steurer, Research Institute for Managing Sustainability
  From ESDN Practice to Network Theory - and Back
• Christian Avérous, OECD Environment Directorate
  Country Environmental Reviews. The OECD Experience

Results of the Working Groups on the EU SDS

• What do the possible changes of the EU SDS imply for the SD strategy of your country/your region?
  • WG 1: Northern Europe
  • WG 2/4: Western Europe & Central Eastern Europe
  • WG 3: Central Western Europe
  • WG 5: Southern Europe
• How could the relationship between the EU SDS and national SD strategies be developed further?
  • WG 6
  • WG 7
• The link between the previous EU SDS and the Lisbon Process was often criticized as weak. How should the new EU SDS tackle this issue?
  • WG 8
  • WG 9
  • WG 10

Poster Session

• EUROCITIES (Austria)
• Global Marshall Plan (Austria)
• Global Marshall Plan Initiative in Steyr-Kirchdorf (Austria)
• Cooperation between the Flemish and environment and socio-economic councils: it takes two to tango (Belgium)
• National SD Strategy as a participatory process (Finland)
• Towards better and wider environmental public procurement (France)
• Citizens initiate Sustainability (Germany)
• SD Strategies and National Development Plans in Central Europe - V4 Conference on planning and implementation (Hungary)

Photos

Click here for a photo documentation of the ESDN Salzburg Conference.

Conference participants

List of participants

Windsor 2005: EU sustainable development networking event

Kinsale 2004: Comhar Conference

Vienna 2003: Sustainable Development in an enlarged Union

The Hague 2002: National Strategies for Sustainable Development: “Facts, Faces and Future Challenges”