Mr. President, Ministers, Excellencies,
Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I should now like to
say a few words in my capacity as Executive
Secretary of the United Nations Economic
Commission for Europe, which has been
closely associated with the "Environment
for Europe" process since the early
days.
The reason why so many
of you are gathered here today is that
the "Environment for Europe" process
is unique and that all its participants
benefit from the cooperation and the
goodwill that it mobilizes. It is unique
in the way it brings together not only
the region's Environment Ministers,
but also international UN and non-UN
organizations and many non-governmental
organizations.
The involvement of
NGOs in this process is far-reaching
and over the years has helped to make
the "Environment for Europe" process
what it is today. I am, therefore, particularly
pleased to see so many NGOs from the
entire region, including Ukraine, taking
a keen interest in this Conference.
They are proof that civil society is
playing an ever-increasing role in setting
the environmental agenda in countries
in transition, one of the subregions
we shall be focusing on during our three-day
Conference.
Apart from the unique
involvement of NGOs, the "Environment
for Europe" process has also been a
trailblazer in international environmental
legislation. For instance, at the previous
Conference in Denmark, you adopted the
ambitious UNECE Aarhus Convention on
public participation, which has since
come into force, and two innovative
protocols to reduce air pollution from
persistent organic pollutants and heavy
metals.
This time again you
will have an opportunity to strengthen
the international environmental legal
framework. The United Nations Economic
Commission for Europe is putting forward
three new protocols for adoption and
signature:
- The Protocol on Strategic Environmental
Assessment, which will require environmental
and public health considerations
to be systematically taken into
account when plans and programmes,
for instance in agriculture, industry
or transport, are drawn up;
- The Protocol on Pollutant Release
and Transfer Registers, which will
require polluting companies to provide
information on their releases of
polluting substances, such as greenhouse
gases, dioxins and heavy metals,
to a national register that is accessible
and searchable through the Internet;
and
- The Protocol on Civil Liability
and Compensation for Damage Caused
by the Transboundary Effects of
Industrial Accidents on Transboundary
Waters, which will ensure that if
an industrial accident pollutes
international rivers or lakes, its
victims, such as fishermen or drinking-water
plants downstream, will receive
compensation.
The UNECE is also submitting
Guidelines to help the countries that
have signed up to international environmental
treaties to comply with them. The Guidelines
will ensure that existing commitments
are fully implemented and words are
put into action.
The "Environment for
Europe" process is also unique in the
way it provides a platform for different
subregions to cooperate on environmental
protection and to develop partnerships
to this end. We shall discuss several
of these partnerships, such as the EU
Partnership on Water for Sustainable
Development and the Environmental Strategy
for Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and
Central Asia, over the next few days.
At the same time, the
"Environment for Europe" Conference
provides an opportunity for UNECE member
States to support worldwide initiatives
and put them into practice in our region.
In his message, the Secretary-General
already referred to the fact that this
Conference will be a concrete follow-up
to last year's World Summit on Sustainable
Development. I should like to add the
Strategy for Education for Sustainable
Development, which is also on our agenda,
and which will be a practical regional
contribution to the decade of education
for sustainable development proclaimed
by the United Nations General Assembly.
Over the years, the
contributions to the process have grown
and many international organizations,
such as the United Nations Economic
Commission for Europe, the European
Environment Agency, the Council of Europe,
the Organisation for Economic Co-operation
and Development, the World Bank, the
European Bank for Reconstruction and
Development, the United Nations Environment
Programme, the United Nations Development
Programme, the European Commission,
and others now take a very active part
in the Conferences, their preparations
and their follow-up.
The "Environment for
Europe" process has really proved to
be a successful formula to promote environmental
protection. The mere fact that this
Conference is the fifth in a series
of ministerial conferences is testimony
to its value and we should be proud
of our achievements. It is my sincere
hope that you all share my enthusiasm
for this process and that by the time
you leave Kyiv to return home your commitment
to it will be stronger than ever.
The United Nations
Economic Commission for Europe is proud
to contribute to the process and, to
conclude, I should like to give you
my assurances that it is able and willing
to continue to do so in an effort to
ensure that ultimately, through the
cooperation of all of us, we shall reach
the original goal of the process, namely
to raise environmental standards everywhere.
Finally, I wish to
express my deepest gratitude to the
Government and the people of Ukraine
for hosting this Conference, for making
it a memorable event, and for the warm
welcome and hospitality extended to
all of us.
Thank you.
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Ref: ECE/ENV/03/P12