Press Releases 1998

[Index]

"ENVIRONMENT FOR EUROPE"

Counting down to the Fourth Ministerial Conference

(Aarhus, Denmark, 23-25 June 1998)

15 June 1998

Environment Ministers and high-level experts throughout the UN/ECE region are gearing up for the "Environment for Europe" Conference in the Danish city of Aarhus later this month. On the agenda will be pan-European environmental cooperation and assessment of the progress made since the previous meeting in the Bulgarian capital, Sofia, some three years ago.

From Dobris to Aarhus

The Conference in Aarhus will be the fourth in a series of regional conferences where Environment Ministers and policy makers discuss ways of strengthening cooperation to protect and improve our environment. The "Environment for Europe" process is aimed at harmonizing environmental quality and policies in all the member States of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UN/ECE). The ultimate goal is to raise standards everywhere.

The first Ministerial Conference to meet under the title of "Environment for Europe" took place exactly seven years ago, in June 1991, at Dobris Castle, in the then Czechoslovakia. It was followed almost two years later, in April 1993, by the second ministerial-level "Environment for Europe"Conference in Lucerne, Switzerland. The third Conference took place in Sofia in October 1995.

The "Environment for Europe" process has come a long way since the early 1990s. As well as providing a chance for Environment Ministers to get together, these Conferences are now also seen as a unique opportunity for environmental policy makers and other senior officials to meet business leaders and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and exchange viewpoints.

Over the years, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe has become much more involved in the "Environment for Europe" process. Not only does it host the working groups that prepare these Conferences, but it also draws up important policy documents and international agreements for submission to the Ministers. Other international organizations

and institutions also play a large role in the process. Many will be represented at Aarhus (European Commission, Council of Europe, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, United Nations Environment Programme, etc.).

New convention on environmental rights

As a result of the previous "Environment for Europe" Conference, UN/ECE has negotiated a regional convention on environmental rights to guarantee access to environmental information, public participation in environmental decision-making, and access to justice in order to protect the right of everyone to live in a healthy environment. The new, wide-ranging Convention spells out the public authorities= duties towards the public at large and covers such areas as water, air, soil, chemicals, human health, land-use planning, genetically modified organisms, etc. Its provisions lay down specific requirements in terms of openness and transparency, so setting an example for strengthening democracy throughout the UN/ECE region and beyond. Its adoption by the Ministers in Aarhus will undoubtedly be one of the highlights of the upcoming Conference.

The involvement of NGOs in the negotiations has been without precedent. At the Aarhus Conference itself NGOs will, moreover, organize a half-day session on public participation. The keynote address will be delivered by Ms Mary Robinson, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Combating air pollution

On the occasion of the "Environment for Europe" Conference, the Parties to the UN/ECE Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution will also hold a special session at ministerial level to adopt and sign two new protocols to the Convention: one on heavy metals, the other on persistent organic pollutants or POPs.

UN/ECE experts first started looking into the problems associated with heavy metals and POPs in 1990. Both are known to be a threat to our health and our environment. Heavy metals can cause blood disorders and affect vital organs such as the liver and the kidneys. The ongoing accumulation of heavy metals is also a considerable stress factor for the forest ecosystem and for tree vitality. POPs may have a detrimental effect on physical and intellectual development, and damage the immune system. They are also thought to cause birth defects and reduce male sperm counts.

The Protocol on Heavy Metals targets three particularly harmful substances: lead, cadmium and mercury. The Protocol on Persistent Organic Pollutants focuses on a list of 16 substances:

• Pesticides: aldrin, chlordane, chlordecone, DDT, dieldrin, endrin, heptachlor, hexachlorobenzene (HCB), mirex, toxaphene, hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH) (incl. lindane);

• Industrial chemicals: hexabromobiphenyl, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs);

• By-products or contaminants: dioxins, furans, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).

Hectic schedule

The Environment Ministers and other participants in the fourth "Environment for Europe" Conference will face a hectic schedule. Besides adopting the above-mentioned international environmental legislation, they are also expected to hold policy debates on:

• The Second Assessment of the State of Europe=s Environment: "Dobris + 3",

• Phasing out leaded petrol,

• Financing environmental projects,

• The environmental challenges facing central and eastern Europe and the newly independent States,

• Finance and economic instruments,

• Business and environment,

• Biological and landscape diversity,

• Energy conservation, and

• The future of the "Environment for Europe" process itself.

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