National Focal Point

EMCDDA — Reitox National Focal Point Spain , 200 National Report to the EMCDDA - New Development, Trends and in-depth Informa tion on Selected Issues, Madrid 2006. 

The CSO organisers see the alliance as a strong network with active national focal points and strong central secretariat that is assumed by a Malaysian NGO (Global Environment Center) in the interim. The CSO organisers agreed that SEACSEA shall apply for ASEAN affiliation as soon as possible so that it can already serve as the voice of civil society in ASEAN deliberations. It is currently in the development and recruitment stages. 

Considering that many institutions and conventions have already built their own networks to implement their work and experience shows that the situation can soon become very complex. To connect these initiatives in a meaningful way, there is a need to investigate what defines a well-functioning network, what are the characteristics of a national focal point and what composes a constructive and successful interaction. 

Whoever funds organic research in a substantial way still has to assess priorities - since not everything can be supported and there has to be accountability for the expenditure of funds, whether public or private. It is therefore necessary to have a national focal point, at which a whole picture of the research effort can be assembled, with up-to-date information on who is doing what and who proposes to do what, as well as what has been done and published in the public domain. Against that background, priorities can be assessed, with reference to existing and past research, but only by those able to assess the relative importance of the topics proposed and the likelihood that the research proposed will lead to useful advances (in reasonable time and at an acceptable cost). How is this to be done ... 

United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP). UNEP-Infoterra provides access to an extensive range of information sources, as well as expert consultants, worldwide. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is the National Focal Point for this organization in the United States, one of over 175 sites around the globe. 

National Focal Point to act as a conduit for communication on IFCS activities (currently, the forum has representatives for 152 countries). Between sessions of the Forum, the Forum Standing Committee (FSC), under the chairmanship of the President of the Forum, monitors the progress on the work of the IFCS and provides advice and assistance on preparations for the next forum session. 

The heads of the Reitox national focal points and their staff ... 

In addition, Article VII sets out obligations regarding the relationship between the State Party and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. This includes the requirement to designate or establish a National Authority to serve as the national focal point for effective liaison with the Organization and other States Parties. 

Kuwait National Focal Point, P.O. Box 28311 13083 Safat, Kuwait... 

Internal coordination at country level is affected by a MAP national focal point, while national authorities might also be designated as focal points to maintain liaison with individual components of the Plan. 

Scientists from the U S. National Bureau of Standards (NBS), whose name was changed to the National Institnte of Standards and Technology (NIST) in 1988, played a prominent part in these early critical data projects. In the mid-1960s, NBS was designated as the national focal point for such activities in the United States. It undertook the coordination of a set of activities, known as the National Standard Reference Data System (NSRDS), conducted at universities, industrial laboratories, and NIST itself Some of these projects were long-term efforts, referred to as data centers, in which relevant data were systematically compiled from the scientific literature, evaluated, and organized into databases. Examples of such data centers include the Atomic Energy Levels Data Center and the Crystal Data Center at NIST and the Radiation Chemistry Data Center at Notre Dame University. 

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