Environment

Building on progress already achieved, the Committee on Environmental Policy is expected to play a key role safeguarding the environment in response to new policy challenges. It will tailor activities to support less well-off countries to ensure that disparities in environmental performance between subregions decrease in the future. This year the Committee has collaborated with partner organizations in the Environment for Europe (EfE) process to contribute, through preparation of a series of documents, to the EfE Ministerial Conference held in Belgrade in October 2007. The Committee, together with the governing bodies of the UNECE Environmental Conventions, represents a unique consensus-based policy forum for discussing environmental issues and bringing forward regional priorities.

In the course of its work this year, the Committee adopted the second Environment Performance Review (EPR) reports and recommendations of Montenegro and of Serbia and assessed progress made in the environmental situation and management in these countries since the first review. In line with the decisions taken at the fifth EfE Ministerial Conference, the reviews focused on implementation, financing of environment protection, as well as integration of environmental concerns into economic sectors and promotion of sustainable development. The reviews were launched by the respective Ministries of the two countries to a wide range of stakeholders.

At its fourteenth session, scheduled for April 2008, the Committee will discuss the reform of the EfE process as requested by Ministers at their conference in Belgrade. The main aim of such reform is to ensure that the process remains relevant and valuable and to strengthen its effectiveness. To assist the Committee, a workplan will be prepared for its discussions and decisions. The Committee will also discuss and decide on ways it could reinforce its own activities following the decisions taken at Belgrade.

For the future, the second round of EPRs will continue with advice and support of the Expert Group on Environmental Performance. The next countries under review will be Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan and their reviews will be finalized for adoption by the Committee at its sessions in 2008. The Committee will need to decide how to carry out peer reviews in the future using the review results already available.

The pan-European Programme on Transport, Health and Environment (“THE PEP”) Steering Committee discussed the organization of the third High-level Meeting to be held in 2008 and the implementation of the activities in its work programme. The latter involved the organization of workshops and production of guidance on institutional mechanisms for policy integration, assessment of health and environment impacts of transport, promotion of safe cycling and walking as well as dissemination of information on relevant international and national activities via THE PEP Clearing House. In 2008, the Steering Committee will focus on the preparations for the High-level Meeting giving special attention to drafting a declaration for adoption.

The Sixth Ministerial Conference “Environment for Europe”, Belgrade, 10-12 October 2007 was a major political event bringing together all important environmental players of the UNECE region. For a more detailed review of its outcomes see the essay on “The Bridges of Belgrade”.

The Conference attracted more than 1,000 official delegates – including 60 ministers, deputy ministers and state secretaries, with 16 coming from the education sector – and around 2,000 observers and other participants. More than 60 side-events were arranged by different stakeholders during the two-and-a-half days of the Conference. Whereas previous conferences often served as a driving force and a political forum for the development and adoption of regional multilateral environmental agreements, the focus at this Conference had shifted to the implementation of existing commitments.

Reference to major implementation gaps was made in all assessment reports submitted to the Conference and it was clear that Ministers wanted more concrete impact on the ground in countries. The important role of the environmental administrations in designing good policy and ensuring implementation was underlined in Belgrade more strongly than ever before. Ministers held policy discussions and agreed on recommendations on a wide range of issues, including, inter alia, education for sustainable development, biodiversity, environmental policy and international competitiveness, sustainable production and consumption patterns, energy efficiency and the role of partnerships. At the same time, the Conference considered the future institutional set-up and priorities and decided to launch a reform of the “Environment for Europe” process.

Preparations for the reform will start following discussions by the Bureau of Committee in January 2008. The Committee will voice its opinion at its meeting in April 2008 and a period of broad consultations with stakeholders will begin. Final proposals for reform are expected by the end of 2008 to be submitted for approval by the Commission at its sixty-third session in spring 2009. Preparations for the next Ministerial Conference, to be held in Kazakhstan in 2011, would start soon after.

Education for Sustainable Development. The UNECE Strategy for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is now at the end of its first phase of implementation. At the Belgrade Conference, for the first time in the history of the EfE process, ministers of education and of the environment came together for a joint decision, an important signal to other sectors for cooperation to make sustainable development a reality. Ministers considered achievements, lessons learned and challenges since 2003 and agreed on the way ahead by adopting a Joint Statement expressing commitment to implement the Strategy further and by extending the mandate of the Steering Committee up to 2015. In addition, in 2007, there were major achievements in evaluating progress in the implementation of the Strategy through a reporting mechanism and a set of indicators which resulted in feedback from 36 national implementation reports. Overall, most countries are demonstrating commitment to establishing the necessary policies and institutional structures to implement the Strategy. The close and effective joint work between UNECE and UNESCO, especially in monitoring progress, was highly appreciated by member States. Furthermore, a collection of good practices in ESD in the UNECE region, a joint UNECE and UNESCO endeavour, resulted in the first publication of a wide range of good practices to promote ESD in formal, non-formal and informal education. In 2008 the Steering Committee will consider and adopt the workplan for implementation of the second phase of the Strategy (2008-2010). Work will focus on furthering implementation through needs-driven activities with particular emphasis on developing competencies in ESD in the education sector.

Environmental Monitoring. The Ministers at their Conference in Belgrade endorsed the recommendations on environmental indicators and indicator-based assessments, and the guidelines on enterprise monitoring for EECCA countries prepared by the Committee’s Working Group on Environmental Monitoring and Assessment. The United Nations has published the guidelines on environmental indicators and indicators-based assessment reports and the guidelines on strengthening environmental monitoring and reporting by enterprises. The Belgrade Ministerial Conference also welcomed the fourth assessment report on the state of the environment (“Belgrade Assessment”) prepared by the European Environment Agency with the support of the Working Group. The Working Group, at its session in 2007, discussed lessons learned from the preparation of the Belgrade Assessment and the further needs to improve monitoring and assessment at the country level. Guidance on reforming air-quality monitoring networks was provided to EECCA countries. In 2008, the Committee is expected to revise the mandate for the Working Group in the light of decisions taken at the Belgrade Conference. The Working Group will need to prepare its workplan for the period up to the next Ministerial Conference in 2011.

The Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context (Espoo Convention) received a submission in January 2007 to its Implementation Committee from the Government of Romania concerning Ukraine’s compliance with its obligations under the Convention. This related to the Bystroe Canal Project and the opinion of the Inquiry Commission on the environmental impact of the project. The Commission had concluded that the Bystroe Canal Project would lead to significant transboundary impacts and thus trigger the application of the Convention. The Implementation Committee is in the process of preparing draft findings and conclusions for adoption at the fourth Meeting of the Parties which will be held in May 2008 in Bucharest. The Meeting will adopt decisions to further implement the Convention and representatives from South-East European (SEE) countries are expected to adopt and sign a multilateral agreement for the further implementation of the Convention. At the EfE Conference Ministers noted with interest a proposal by Armenia, Belarus and Moldova for an Initiative on Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) which will provide the framework for further activities related to the SEA Protocol, which is expected to enter into force by the end of 2008.

The Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (Aarhus Convention) has continued its focus on strengthening implementation. A number of regional and subregional events were organized with partner institutions aimed at supporting implementation by building-capacity. These included a seminar on access to justice for high-level representatives of the judiciary from EECCA countries, two workshops on electronic information tools aimed at supporting the establishment of national nodes of the Aarhus Clearinghouse for Environmental Democracy, and a workshop on public participation in strategic decision-making, organized in consultation with and with the participation of experts from the Espoo Convention and its Protocol on SEA. A workshop on involving the public in international forums was also held, providing a platform for dialogue between stakeholders from various international forums on issues such as transparency, accountability and NGO participation. The third session of the Meeting of the Parties to the Convention will take place in June 2008 in Riga. Each Party is required to prepare, in consultation with its public, a national report on the measures it has taken to implement the Convention. The set of reports is expected to provide a comprehensive overview of the main obstacles to implementation and where efforts should be directed to ensure that the rights that the Convention seeks to guarantee are realized in practice. As the Riga meeting will mark the tenth anniversary of the adoption of the Convention, it will provide an opportunity not only to reflect on the achievements of the first decade but also to look ahead to the challenges of the next. For this, the Meeting of the Parties is expected to adopt a long-term strategic plan which will provide the framework for future activities.

The Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution has focused on the review and possible revision of its three most recent protocols. The Protocol on Heavy Metals was reviewed in 2006 and plans are being developed for further measures to cut emissions. The Protocol on Persistent Organic Pollutants was reviewed in 2005 and options for amending the Protocol are prepared. These include updating annexes to include additional substances proposed by Parties and a possible new way of adopting amendments based on an “opt-out” procedure. The 1999 Gothenburg Protocol, the subject of intense review for the past two years by most of the Convention’s bodies, was formally reviewed by the Convention’s Executive Body in December. It will be a major challenge now to move from the general proposals for protocol revisions to specific action on amendments or new protocols. The year also saw the publication of the Convention’s 2006 review of strategies and policies by Parties to abate air pollution, and a report on hemispheric transport of air pollution. The Executive Body agreed a new EECCA Action Plan and made further plans for capacity-building in EECCA and SEE countries. Links with other regions were strengthened through Convention participation in a Global Atmospheric Pollution Forum that involves air pollution agreements and networks from Asia, Africa and South America.

Implementing the Convention and its protocols across EECCA and SEE countries will remain a major challenge in 2008. Capacity-building to meet the Action Plan, and consideration of attainable targets for new or revised protocols are both important. A further challenge will be to realize expectations for outreach activities to share information and experience with non-UNECE regions.

The Convention of the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes published its first ever in-depth assessment of transboundary rivers, lakes and groundwaters in the UNECE region in time for the EfE Conference. “Our waters: joining hands across borders - first assessment of transboundary rivers, lakes and groundwaters”, covers all major surface water bodies in the European and Asian parts of the UNECE region and transboundary aquifers located in South-Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia. It is the product of more than three years of concerted efforts of UNECE governments, international organizations and national agencies, and involved more than 150 experts. It highlights the achievements of over 10 years’ work under the Water Convention to prevent, control and reduce transboundary impact. The assessment serves as a point of reference and also underlines the challenges for implementing further measures to counteract existing pressures and improve the ecological and chemical status of transboundary waters. In Central Asia, water quality is an important aspect of integrated water resources management that has not been addressed at national or regional levels. Most water resources in the region are transboundary and there is an urgent need to improve regional cooperation and national policies to improve water quality. This is to be done through a United Nations Development Account project on water quality aspect of integrated water resources management in the region, which will start in 2008. The Convention’s National Policy Dialogue on integrated water resources management is part of the Convention’s workplan for 2007-2009 and also the main operational instrument of the EU Water Initiative in the EECCA region. Through a grant agreement between the European Commission and UNECE, National Policy Dialogues will be carried out in 2008 in Armenia, Moldova, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan. These will provide policy packages such as governmental or ministerial regulations and orders, recommendations and good practice documents and analysis of institutional/management structures and reform needs. The first Meeting of the Parties to the Protocol on Water and Health was held in January 2007 with more than 140 participants from the pan-European region and Africa. Parties reaffirmed their commitment to increase intersectoral partnership and coordination between environment and health policies and recognized that this would bring many social, economic and environmental benefits. They also agreed on a mechanism to promote the coordination of international aid in the field of the Protocol, assistance in project formulation for capacity-building, and work to develop surveillance, early warning and response systems to outbreaks of water-related diseases and setting of targets and target dates in the area of water supply and sanitation, water management and health protection.

The Convention on Transboundary Effects of Industrial Accidents has concentrated on the first needs-driven assistance activities focused on strengthening the implementation of the Convention in EECCA and SEE countries. It organized two capacity-building activities in 2007, one to initiate further strengthening of the legal and institutional frameworks for the implementation of the Convention, the other a workshop to strengthen safety at hazardous activities. In parallel, fact-finding missions reviewed the Convention’s implementation and identified needs for assistance to four EECCA and SEE countries, and an awareness-raising mission was organized to support implementing basic Convention tasks. A process was started to develop safety guidelines and good practice for tailing dams; a steering group drew up a draft document and organized a workshop for discussing good practice for safety of tailing dams. The steering group will finalize the guidelines in 2008. The work of the Convention in 2008 will continue to focus on the needs-driven assistance activities for EECCA and SEE countries. In addition, a web-based application will enable notification within the UNECE Industrial Accidents Notification System; training on its use will be organized in the first half of the year. The fifth meeting of the Conference of the Parties will be held in the last quarter of 2008.