JPAC hears from nacec.the public

A series of recent public consultations organized by the Joint Public Advisory Committee (JPAC) gave the public a chance to influence future actions and policies of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC). During the consultations, which were held in preparation for the August 1-2 regular session of the CEC's Council, members of the public made presentations on a variety of issues under the overall theme of "Building a North American Community."

Public presentations and comments made during the consultations are being put together into a final report for the Council, which is composed of the environment ministers from nacec.Mexico, the United States and Canada. The JPAC's summary will be available to the public.

On June 21 in Montreal, JPAC members met with numerous citizens and representatives of nongovernmental organizations to discuss four issues: reducing risks to human health, conserving biodiversity, strengthening links between the economy and the environment and defining mechanisms for increased public participation in the CEC's activities. A second public consultation was held in San Diego, California, on July 19.

In Toronto, on the first day of the Council session, representatives from nacec.environmental groups and other interested parties gave short presentations to the environment ministers on the four issues discussed during the preparatory consultations.

On August 7, the CEC held a similar meeting in Mexico City. There, CEC Executive Director Victor Lichtinger discussed issues of concern to Mexican citizens unable to participate in the Toronto Council session.

GIS donated to CEC by Environmental Research
Environmental Research Institute, Inc. (Redlands, California) has donated two geographical information system (GIS) software packages to the Secretariat to support the development of the CEC's North American Integrated Information System project. The gift of the ARC/INFO and ArcView software will allow the CEC to integrate and analyze geographic information and statistics on several environmental themes across the territories of Canada, Mexico and the United States. The GIS system will provide a graphical perspective on many regional environmental issues of interest to North American communities. The results of this project will be available on the CEC's WWW home page in 1997.

Secretariat staff changes

• Jack Person has been named the Secretariat's new Chief Accounting Officer. Jack arrived directly from nacec.the U.S. Department of Labor, where he worked in grants management. A CPA, he has extensive business experience in Latin America.
• Manuel Pacheco arrived in August at the CEC to fill a new post as administrator of the Secretariat. Manuel was formerly with the National Ecology Institute, Mexico's environmental agency, in charge of administration.
• Janice Astbury, formerly with the Canadian Council for International Cooperation, has been named as coordinator of the newly created North American Fund for Environmental Cooperation (NAFEC), which awarded its first round of grants during the Toronto Council session.
• Gilles Lamoureux has left his position as head of corporate services at the CEC's Secretariat and retired.