European Steering Committee

The European Steering Committee of the Conference advises the preparation of the conference, and assists in the follow-up process. Its first meeting took place on February 29 in Brussels, and a second will be hosted in the first half of June. Representatives from the following institutions have so far been invited to participate:

Conference Organizers

• Regional Council of Reunion Island
• French National Observatory on the Effects of Global Warming (ONERC)
• IUCN - International Union for Conservation of Nature
• French Ministry of the Interior, Overseas and Territorial Collectivities (MIOMCT)

Representatives from each of the 6 Member States with an overseas dimension:

1. France
• Ministry of Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and Spatial Planning (MEEDDAT)
• Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAEE) & Permanent
• Representation of France to the European Union
  French Development Agency (AFD)
• Agency of the Environment and Energy Management (ADEME)
2. Denmark
• Ministry of the Environment
3. Portugal
• Ministry for the Environment and Land Management
• Institute for Nature and Biodiversity Conservation (ICNB)
• Permanent Representation of Portugal to the European Union
4. Spain
• Permanent Representation of Spain to the European Union
5. The Netherlands
• Ministry of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations (BZK)
• Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality (LNV)
6. United Kingdom
• Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA)
• Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO)
• Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC)

Representatives of Outermost Regions (ORs) and Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs):

• Conference of Presidents of Outermost Regions, represented by the Regional Council of French Guiana
• Overseas Countries and Territories Association (OCTA)
• UK Overseas Territories Association (UKOTA)
• Government of Anguilla
• EuroDom - Action Europe
• Representation of the Netherlands Antilles in the Netherlands
• Representation of the Greenland Home Rule to the European Union
• Government of the Autonomous Region of the Azores
• Government of the Autonomous Region of Madeir
• Government of the Autonomous Region of the Canary Islands

Representatives from the European Commission:

1. DG Environment
• Protecting the Natural Environment
• Climate change and air
• International affairs & LIFE
2. DG Regional Policy
• Co-ordination of questions related to the outermost regions
3. DG Development and Humanitarian Aid
• Environment and Natural Resources
• Relationship with the countries and the region of the Caribbean and the OCTs
4. DG Science and Research
• Management of natural resources
• Climate Change and environmental risks

Representatives of multilateral organisations and international conventions or initiatives

• United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
• Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
• Global Island Partnership (GLISPA)
• Commonwealth Foundation
• Indian Ocean Commission
• CPMR –Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions

Representatives from civil society

• French IUCN National Committee
• IUCN National Committee of the Netherlands
• UK Overseas Territories Conservation Forum (UKOTCF)
• WWF France
• WWF European Policy Office
• The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds - RSPB/BirdLife
• Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance (DCNA)

Representatives of the scientific community

• Rolph Payet, Lead Author, Small Islands Chapter —4th IPCC Report, and Special Advisor to the President of the Seychelles
• Philippe Feldmann, Biodiversity and Biological Resources, Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement (CIRAD)