JPAC Bulletin: Regina Barba elected chair of the Joint Public Advisory Committee of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation

On behalf of the Joint Public Advisory Committee (JPAC) members of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC), Jon Plaut, the 1999 JPAC Chair, announced that Regina Barba from Mexico has been elected chair of JPAC for 2000. Mr. Plaut stated that "we are fortunate to have a great team and I am sure that under the leadership of Ms. Barba, the year 2000 will be crowned with success."

For her part, Ms. Barba wished to "thank the JPAC members for their confidence and take this opportunity to emphasize the dedication of Mr. Plaut, and thank him for the excellent job he has done throughout 1999 as JPAC Chair. His intense and dedicated involvement has been of immense value for JPAC and the CEC. I promise to do my best to continue contributing to the improvement of the North American environment."

The public will be invited to attend the next JPAC session, which will take place in March in Mexico. Regina Barba has reminded us that "North American citizens understand that the quality of our environment is firmly linked to that of the global environment, and progress requires both domestic and international action. To be successful, decisions to implement appropriate actions must be made in consultation with the citizens. In North America, JPAC is an excellent vehicle for those who want to be involved and help the decision makers to undertake concrete actions."

JPAC is composed of fifteen members, five from each of the three countries (Canada, The United States and Mexico), who are appointed by their respective governments. It acts as a single, transnational body. Its members act independently and their responsibility is to provide the Council, which is composed of the environment ministers of each country, with their advice on all matters within the scope of the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC). The Chair is elected democratically for a one-year term and by rotation from among the JPAC members appointed for each country. Ms. Barba’s mandate starts on 1 January 2000. The public can contact JPAC members anytime through the CEC web site (http://www.cec.org/english/profile/jpac/advisory.cfm?format=1), or share points of view through CECNet, an independent forum for online discussions about the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (http://udallcenter.arizona.edu/listservs/cecnet.html).

For more information, all JPAC documents and CEC official publications can be found on the CEC web site. To request hard copies of documents, please contact Leonor Alvarado by e-mail at <lalvarad@ccemtl.org>, fax: (514) 350-4314 or telephone: (514) 350-4366.