Greenlines Newsletter

As the new Chair and Secretariat of the Working Group on Environmental Auditing, we wish to thank Mrs. Saskia Stuiveling and the Netherlands Court of Audit for their excellent work in the past 10 years as Chair of the Working Group. Their hard work and constant effort contributed to establishing the Working Group on Environmental Auditing and to making it flourish into an important INTOSAI Working Group with growing membership and recognition. We are grateful for the high standards of quality and leadership they have put before us. We will try hard to maintain those standards.

I want to take this opportunity to give you an idea of who we are and what our goals are as the new Chair of the Working Group on Environmental Auditing.

In 1995, the Auditor General Act of Canada was amended to establish the position of Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development. I am pleased to introduce to you the Commissioner, Johanne Gélinas. Together we will work hard to continue to fulfill the Working Group's mission and objectives.

We intend to pursue the Working Group's Workplan for 2002-2004, to maintain the Web site, to continue the publication of the Green Lines bulletins, and to conduct the fourth survey on environmental auditing. We will also ensure that the Working Group's papers and documents are published and approved, such as the paper on Environmental Auditing in a Restricted Mandate. We will also see that overview studies on specific themes such as "waste" are conducted.

In the course of our mandate, we will focus on capacity building and collaborative work at the international level in order to build partnerships outside the Working Group with other international institutions, e.g. the World Bank and UNEP. We also wish to examine existing training programs and curriculums, and to develop new training programs in environmental auditing in collaboration with INTOSAI's International Development Initiative (IDI).

We reiterate our commitment to open communication, and we will be seeking, as did our predecessors, collaborative working relations. We are currently in the process of constituting the Working Group "executive committee" and organizing its first meeting for the spring of 2002. We will keep you informed.

We are looking forward to working with you and wish you all a New Year blessed with peace and joy!

Sheila Fraser

Auditor General
Office of the Auditor General of Canada

 

Introduction by the former Chair

This is the last Green Lines that will come from my office. I must admit that it is with some sadness that I am writing these lines. But after serving six years as your Chair of the INTOSAI Working Group on Environmental Auditing (and nine years for the Netherlands Court of Audit in all), it is time to let another SAI take over the Chair position. I am certain that the SAI of Canada is the right candidate for the job, and I am very happy that they responded positively to the idea. By the time you receive this issue of Green Lines, the formal transfer of the Chair will have already taken place during XVII INCOSAI in Seoul. Over the next few months, my staff and the staff of the new Chair will take care of transferring all the details regarding the Working Group.

The SAI of the Netherlands will stay on as a member of both the INTOSAI and the EUROSAI Working Group on Environmental Auditing. We actually are looking forward to having the time to focus even more on environmental auditing work itself!

This Green Lines is almost entirely devoted to the results of the meetings of September and October 2001: the 7th meeting of our Working Group and the presentation(s) of our Working Group at XVII INCOSAI in Seoul. I hope that after reading the results of the meeting, you will agree with me when I say that much has been achieved during the last years. But there is no doubt in my mind that with the continuing support of all of you, the new Chair will be able to achieve a lot!

I would like to take this opportunity to wish the new Chair and all of you the best of luck and a very happy and healthy 2002! I thank you for your contributions in making the Working Group a success.

Saskia J Stuiveling

 

Results of 7^th Meeting of the Working Group: Ottawa, September 2001

The 7^th meeting of the INTOSAI Working Group on Environmental Auditing was held in Ottawa, Canada, from 24 to 26 September 2001. The meeting was hosted by the Office of the Auditor General of Canada. The organization by the SAI of Canada was perfect, and the venue of the meeting, the Chateau Laurier Hotel, was fantastic.

It was a very satisfactory meeting because of the interesting discussions we had and the progress that we made. The Chair would like to take this opportunity to thank all member SAIs for the valuable contributions that you made to the meeting in Ottawa — not just at the meeting, but also before the meeting in the preparation phase.

Several publications had been prepared in the past years that were ready for final discussion.

The Chair received your comments and suggestions on the following publications:

We tried to incorporate your suggestions in the given documents the best we could, taking into account the consistency of the overall line of the documents and the ideas that were put forward by other Working Group members. The Chair is grateful for your active involvement in the activities of the INTOSAI Working Group on Environmental Auditing.

At the meeting, the results of the regionalization strategy were presented by the regional co-ordinators: Mr. Randall (South Africa) for AFROSAI, Mrs. Labib (Egypt) for ARABOSAI, Mr. Liu (China) for ASOSAI, Mr. Wesolowski (Poland) for EUROSAI, Mr. Pinckard (New Zealand) for SPASAI, and Mr. Cluskey and Mr. Elstein (Canada/USA). The SAI of Brazil, as co-ordinator for OLACEFS, provided a paper that was handed out at the meeting.

The following decisions were reached at the Ottawa meeting:

At the Ottawa meeting, the CD-ROM was not yet printed. It was sent out to all members of the Working Group at a later time. The regional co-ordinators received more copies.

Results of XVII INCOSAI Seoul, Korea, October 2001

The (former) Chair of the Working Group delivered two speeches during XVII INCOSAI:

In the speech delivered to the 48th meeting of the INTOSAI Governing Board, the Chair indicated that the Netherlands Court of Audit, as was already announced at the previous INCOSAI, proposes to resign as Chair of the Working Group at the end of this period. The Chair asked the INTOSAI Governing Board to accept the resignation. At the same time, the Chair proposed to the Governing Board to accept the SAI of Canada as the new Chair of the Working Group. Both proposals were accepted, and the SAI of Canada officially started as Chair of the Working Group by representing the Working Group at the 49th meeting of the INTOSAI Governing Board.

Furthermore, at the 48th meeting of the Governing Board, the booklet "Guidance on conducting audits of activities with an environmental perspective" was proposed as an official INTOSAI booklet. The proposal was accepted.

The other topics in both presentations by the Chair were the following:

Exposition Environmental Auditing

(This part was also published as an article by Sylvia van Leeuwen and Rob de Bakker from the Netherlands Court of Audit in the International Journal of Government Auditing, December 2001)

In addition to the regular meetings of XVII INCOSAI in Korea, the INTOSAI Working Group on Environmental Auditing hosted an Information Centre, where the products of the Working Group and the auditing activities of participating SAIs were presented. The exposition was well-facilitated by the Korean Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI), which provided the Working Group with an exposition room and dedicated posterpanels.

An exposition of 36 colourful posters on environmental auditing, prepared by the Working Group members, emphasized the importance of environmental auditing as well as the progress that has been made by SAIs in this field. The posters informed the participants of INCOSAI about the activities of the regional working groups on environmental auditing, audit methods, the mandate, organization and strategy of SAIs toward environmental auditing, and the results of environmental audits. Among other things, some examples of best practice audits of international environmental accords were shown.

During the opening hours (8.30 a.m. to 6.00 p.m.), the staff of the Netherlands Court of Audit, supported by the Korean BAI, welcomed about 250 persons from 90 delegations. The first visitor was Mr. Jong-Nam Lee, Chairman/President of the Korean BAI. The Secretary-General of the BAI, Mr. Ock-sup Noh, Vice President, and the Mayor of Seoul, Mr. Kun Goh, visited the exposition. The posters gave rise to many interesting discussions and the exchange of ideas on the role of SAIs in the field of environmental auditing. The exchange of experiences was very inspiring for both the visitors and the Working Group, and the visitors left with the information they were looking for.

The INTOSAI Working Group on Environmental Auditing developed the CD-ROM "Environmental Auditing at work" especially for XVII INCOSAI. It was distributed to all participating countries. The CD-ROM includes a copy of the Web site http://www.environmental-auditing.org/ for those who have no access to the Internet. This Web site contains all Working group products in various languages, information on more than 1,200 environmental audits carried out by SAIs all over the world, background information on the Working Group, and much more.

The CD-ROM also features videos on environmental auditing, a presentation of the development of the Working Group, and an interactive application on the use of international environmental accords as a starting point for environmental audits. Those interested in a free copy of the CD-ROM can contact Mr. Rob de Bakker of the Netherlands Court of Audit: environmental.auditing@rekenkamer.nl or tel. ++ 31 70 351 7365.

In addition to the exposition and information centre, the Korean BAI and the Audit Office of Kangnam-gu organized an excursion to a best practice environmental project of Seoul: Yangjae Creek Ecological Park. In the early morning of 24 October about 150 participants joined the trip. While enjoying an excellent breakfast in the Creek, we saw the possibilities of environmental protection in practice and the important contribution of the project to the quality of life in Kangnam-gu. Due to the environmental measures, a highly polluted canal was transformed into a clean and natural flowing river that gives home to a variety of biological life and serves as a recreation area for the inhabitants of Seoul.

We wish to express our gratitude to the SAI of Korea for its co-operation and excellent facilities.

 

Practical aspects of the transition of the Chair

During January and February 2002 all the existing knowledge on the Chairmanship of the Working Group was transferred from the SAI of the Netherlands to Canada. Two staff members for the new Chair, Mr. John Reed and Mrs. Liliane Crotnoir, will visit the SAI of the Netherlands in January for a two-day "brain dump".

Soon after the transition of the Chair to Canada is complete, a new Green Lines will be sent to you with all the practical details that are important to know — for example, who to address questions on what topic, and how to reach them. For now, we suffice by giving you the following main contact address:

Mr. John Reed
Principal
Office of the Auditor General and Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development
Tel: +1 613-995-3708
Fax: +1 613-941-8286
E-mail: reedjw@oag-bvg.gc.ca

 

For the coming period, you can also still reach us at the following e-mail address: environmental.auditing@rekenkamer.nl. During and after the period of transition, the Web site of the Working Group — http://www.environmental-auditing.org/ — will continue to fulfill its role.

 

New representatives

We welcome the SAI of China as a new member of the Working Group. It will function as the co-ordinator for the ASOSAI region.

At the Ottawa meeting, the SAI of China was represented by Mr. Lui Xiaoming (E-mail: bydaniel@sohu.com) and Mr. Lui Dazhu.

Mailing address:

1 Beiluyuan, Zhanlan Road
Xicheng District
Beijing, 100830, China

Name of contact person at SAI of China:

Luo Meifu (luomeifu@audit.gov.cn)
Tel : 68301408 Fax : 68330958

The ASOSAI Working Group on Environmental Auditing can also be reached at the following address:

http://www.asosai.org/ and http://www.koreasai.go.kr/

 

E-mail addresses of representatives, 21 December 2001