Press
Release ECE/ENV/99/12
Geneva, 1 December 1999
27 countries sign the new
Protocol to
the Convention on Long-range Transboundary
Air Pollution
On Tuesday, 30 November 1999,
the Parties to the UN/ECE Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution adopted the
Protocol to Abate Acidification, Eutrophication and Ground-level Ozone at their meeting in
Gothenburg (Sweden).
The following countries signed the
Protocol during the signing ceremony on Wednesday, 1 December: Armenia, Austria, Bulgaria,
Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland,
Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Romania,
Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States.
For more information, please contact:
Lars NORDBERG, Deputy Director
UN/ECE Environment and Human Settlements Division
Palais des Nations, office 346
CH - 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Phone: (+41 22) 917 23 54
Fax: (+41 22) 907 01 07
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: http://www.unece.org/env/lrtap/
or:
Information Unit
United Nations Economic Commission
for Europe (UN/ECE)
Palais des Nations, Room 356
CH - 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Phone: (+41 22) 917 44 44
Fax: (+41 22) 917 05 05
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: http://www.unece.org/
Annex
GOTHENBURG MINISTERIAL DECLARATION
1 December 1999
We, the Ministers and
Senior Officials for the Environment from UN/ECE countries and the European Community,
attending the Gothenburg meeting as Parties to the Convention on Long-range Transboundary
Air Pollution:
1. Acknowledge the Convention on
Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution as an outstanding example of intergovernmental
cooperation: it has created an effective framework for gradually reducing the damage
caused by air pollution to human health, the environment and the economy in the UN/ECE
region and in its first 20 years has substantially contributed to the advancement of
international environmental law through the progressive development of protocols covering
the major airborne pollutants that affect our region;
2. Express satisfaction that our
joint efforts to combat acid rain are yielding tangible results, yet note with serious
concern that air pollutants are still transported in large quantities across borders,
causing widespread harm to human health and damage to ecosystems and natural resources of
major environmental and economic importance;
3. Are determined to intensify our
efforts to protect human health and to respond adequately to the new environmental
challenges and are keenly aware that future policies must include changes in patterns of
production and consumption, bearing in mind that environmental policies may also have
positive effects on long-term economic activity and employment;
4. Believe that the Protocol that
is opened for signature today breaks new ground by:
- Creating a comprehensive effect-based
instrument whose application and progressive extension can reduce emissions to sustainable
levels;
- Addressing several effects and several
pollutants simultaneously; and
- Providing for cost-effective emission
reductions to reach environmental goals;
5. Bear in mind that reducing the
emissions of sulphur, nitrogen and volatile organic compounds helps to curb the emission
of other pollutants, including transboundary particulate aerosols, which contribute to
human health effects, and also that the measures taken under the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change and those taken under the new Gothenburg Protocol will
reinforce each other;
6. Encourage all Parties to sign
the present Protocol and urge all Signatories to ratify it without undue delay, to try to
apply it even before it comes into force and, wherever possible, to take even more
stringent measures than those it lays down;
7. Are mindful of the substantial
efforts that we will have to make to meet our obligations under this new Protocol and call
upon Parties to the Convention and international financial institutions to support its
implementation through bilateral and multilateral assistance to Parties with economies in
transition;
8. Support the Convention’s
priorities of work, as outlined by the Executive Body, focusing on implementation and
compliance as well as on reviewing and extending existing Protocols, and welcome the
Convention’s new organizational structure;
9. Are determined to consolidate
and strengthen the international scientific, economic and technological basis for further
reducing transboundary air pollution, fully recognizing that it is essential to sustain
the networks and capacities of the scientists and experts who provide the foundation for
such action;
10. Recognize that the
Convention’s core activities require adequate funding if the Protocols are to be
implemented effectively and cost-optimal abatement measures further developed, and to this
end request the Executive Body to prepare a stable, long-term funding arrangement,
preserving the possibilities for contributing in kind, that includes the international
coordination of health and ecosystem effect-related activities and integrated assessment
modelling, for instance by appropriately extending the EMEP Protocol;
11. Are determined to address the
emissions of air pollutants from ships and aircraft and direct the Executive Body to work
with the International Maritime Organization, the International Civil Aviation
Organization and other appropriate forums to achieve this goal;
12. Encourage relevant
international organizations and conventions to cooperate and coordinate their work with a
view to disseminating information and sharing experience;
13. Recognize the crucial role that
regional environmental agreements and organizations play in protecting human health and
the environment, and request the Executive Body to provide information and assistance to
facilitate the development of appropriate regional agreements in other parts of the world;
14. Pledge to make every effort to
ratify or accede to the 1998 Aarhus Protocols on Heavy Metals and on Persistent Organic
Pollutants so that they can enter into force in the near future and set an example for
worldwide action;
15. Intend to strengthen our
efforts to help countries with economies in transition, in particular newly independent
States, to accede to the Convention and its Protocols, and to support the effective
implementation of their provisions.