3rd Ecoports Conference : "From Environment to Sustainability
Sustainable Management of Ports and the Logistic Chain"
Genoa, 14-15 December, 2006

> Download the Conference presentations here   
> Go to the Conference photos  

Conference Summary

On Thursday the 14th and Friday the 15th of December 2006 the EcoPorts Foundation annual Conference took place in Genoa, Italy. It was a great success. More than 100 participants from 21 different countries gathered together in the beautiful Palazzo san Giorgio, head office of the Port Authority of Genoa.

During the two days environmental specialists from seaports, inland ports and other stakeholders exchanged practical solutions for the environmental problems in port areas enabling them to support each other in the implementation of environmental laws and directives in a non competitive way.

The Conference started with a plenary session with four important speakers: Mr. Novi, President of the Port Authority of Genoa; Professor Radermacher, Member of the Club of Rome, Mr. La Cueva representing Mr. Jean Trestour from the European Commission, and Giuliano Gallanti, the former president of the Port of Genoa and now Chairman of the European Sea Ports Organisation.

Prof. Radermacher gave an interesting overview of how we are reaching the limits of global growth. The ever growing global population and drive for greater wealth will cause ecological collapse unless there is a change. He discussed a world wide rescue plan, the Global Marshall Plan on Sustainability. He stated that Information Technology and Transportation are the two critical networks in the global system and have the power to be forces for sustainable change. This includes the ports. Prof. Radermacher concluded his presentation with an appeal to the large players in transport worldwide to start pilots that can offer a model for managing the logistics chain in a sustainable way. 

The second half of the morning programme included Renzo Piano’s redevelopment plan for the Port of Genoa. This was shared with the audience by Stefano Fera, senior architect at Studio Architettura. The morning was brought to a close by a review of the EcoPorts approach, EcoPorts plans for 2007 and the presentation of PERS Certificates to the Port of Felixstowe, the Dover Harbour Board and five ABP (Associated British Ports) ports.

After the plenary session the emphasis was on the practical implementation of laws and directives. Eleven different workshops discussed issues such as air and water quality, noise management (NoMEPorts project), dredging in estuaries and the EcoPorts Tools. Other topics were satellite information for port environmental management (PEARL project), stakeholder management and sustainability reporting, solutions for managing waste and managing natural diversity.

The Port Authority of Genoa hosted a dinner at the famous Palazzo del Principe in Genoa and a closing tour of the Port of Genoa by boat. This provided delegates with further opportunities to meet and exchange experiences.

The abstracts and results of the different workshop sessions will be available on the website soon. You can find the presentations here.

>Click here for the final conference programme (pdf - 1.5 mb)
>A simple version can be viewed on this page
>Maps showing the location of the conference venue and the conference dinner  and other useful links and information are available here

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