AARHUS CONVENTION

Background
Expert Group members
Documents (New: public comments on LTSP draft elements)
Meetings

A Long-Term Strategic Plan (LTSP)
for the Aarhus Convention

Background

Since its adoption in 1998, the Aarhus Convention has grown rapidly. The Convention's Parties now include the majority of States in Europe and Central Asia. Following the Convention’s growth and in order to manage its future evolution in a structured and efficient way, the Parties concluded that a long-term strategic plan for its future direction was required.

The secretariat prepared a background document on the topic to facilitate the preparation of a plan. At its second meeting, through Decision II/8, the Meeting of the Parties (the main governing body of the Convention) mandated the development of a strategic plan for the Convention covering a five-year period starting in 2009.

An Expert Group for LTSP

Following a proposal from the Bureau, the Working Group of the Parties agreed at its sixth meeting (April 2006) upon a procedure for preparing a long-term strategic plan. The Bureau then established an expert group to develop elements for a long-term strategic plan. The group consists of 11 experts who were drawn from different backgrounds (government, NGOs, academia, etc.) and serve in their personal capacity, without formally representing any government or organization.

The members of the Expert Group are:

Name	Organization
Prof. Marc Pallemaerts	Institute for European Environmental Policy, Belgium (Chairperson)
Ms. Nino Gokhelashvili	Ministry of Environment, Georgia
Dr. Jerzy Jendroska	University of Wroclaw, Poland
Prof. Svitlana Kravchenko	University of Oregon, USA
Dr. Francesco La Camera	University of Rome, Italy
Ms. Bettina Lorz (up to April 2007)	European Commission
Ms. Eija Lumme	Ministry of Environment, Finland
Ms. Anna Muner	Ministry of Environment, Austria
Ms. Mara Silina	European Environmental Bureau
Prof. Attila Tanzi	University of Verona, Italy
Ms. Magda Toth Nagy	Head of Public Participation Programme, REC for CEE

The Expert Group is expected to prepare draft elements of the plan for consideration by the Bureau. On the basis of the Expert Group's work, the Bureau will then prepare a draft of the plan for consideration by the Working Group of the Parties, with a view to its consideration and eventual adoption at the third ordinary meeting of the Parties in May 2008.

Meetings

	1st meeting of the Expert group on LTSP (Oslo, 9-10 October 2006)
	The first meeting of the Expert Group on Long-Term Strategic Planning took place in Oslo, 9-10 October 2006. The meeting was serviced by the UNECE secretariat. The expert group addressed issues identified in Decision II/8 of the MOP, which calls for the development of “a strategic plan for the Convention covering a 5-year period starting the year following the third meeting of the Parties and containing the following main elements: (a) Vision or mission; (b) Focal areas and their specific goals and objectives; (c) Indicative types of activity; (d) Implementing partners; (e) Framework for implementation of the strategic plan.” The Expert Group agreed upon the procedure and timetable for its further work, including a public consultation phase.
	LTSP-1 Report - download in English

Documents

Title	English	Français	Русский
Strategic Planning for the Convention (MP.PP/WG.1/2004/16)	pdf	pdf	pdf
Decision II/8 (ECE/MP.PP/2005/12)	pdf	pdf	pdf
Report of the sixth meeting of the Working Group of the Parties (ECE/MP.PP/WG.1/2006/2)	pdf	pdf	pdf
Procedure for preparing long-term strategic plan (ECE/MP.PP/WG.1/2006/10)	pdf	pdf	pdf