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Core Activities

According to the current workplan, the following activities are to be implemented during the biennium 2017–18:
a) Involvement of Parties and other stakeholders
  • Targeted communication (newsletters, press releases, leaflets, website, promotion of online training on industrial accidents and participation in forums)
  • Working visits and high-level missions to Parties
  • Working visits to other stakeholders

b) Exchange of information
  • Exchange of experience and good practices among Parties, for example, regarding risk assessment methodologies
  • Implementation guide for the Convention
  • Online system for national implementation reporting, Supporting body: Working Group on Implementation
  • Follow-up to the development of guidance on safety and land-use planning: finalization of publication and a seminar for exchanging experiences, possibly based on case studies, Supporting country/organization: Belgium (Flanders Region) and the European Union/European Investment Bank, possibly in cooperation with the Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context, its Protocol on Strategic Environmental Assessment and the ECE Committee on Housing and Land Management
  • Development of safety guidelines and good practices for fire-water retention under the Joint Expert Group on Water and Industrial Accidents, Lead country: Germany
  • Enhancing knowledge on industrial safety at universities (improving and increasing knowledge among students and teachers on tailings safety, and a legislative review, in Ukraine) (2017), Lead country: Germany
  • Multilateral activities to strengthen industrial accident preparedness and response, including a bilateral exercise between Armenia and Georgia
  • Two transboundary response exercises overseen by the Joint Expert Group on Water and Industrial Accidents: between Poland and Germany on the Oder River (4-5 September 2017); between Hungary and neighbours (first half of 2018), Lead countries: Germany and Hungary, together with the respective river commissions

c) Strategic partnerships
  • Cooperation with OECD on reducing the risk of natural-hazard triggered technological disasters (NATECH) (OECD workshop in Germany in 2018 in the framework of the Environmental Emergencies Forum; sharing of good practices), Supporting Body: Bureau
  • Meetings with partner organizations to coordinate joint activities, including inter-agency coordination meetings

d) Financing
  • Donor meetings and bilateral visits, Supporting Body: Bureau

e) Review of the Long-term Strategy
  • Development of a long-term strategy to 2030, including on communication and the opening of the Convention to countries outside the ECE region, Supporting Body: Bureau

f) Servicing intergovernmental bodies and expert groups
  • Tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties
  • Meetings of the Bureau (estimated 4)
  • Meetings of the Working Group on Implementation (estimated 4)
  • Meetings of the Working Group on the Development of the Convention (none foreseen in this period)
  • Meetings of the Joint Expert Group on Water and Industrial Accidents (estimated 4)

g) General programme management
  • Other secretariat activities, including human resources, financial and other management-related functions, administrative actions needed to ensure the functioning of the ECE industrial safety unit and reporting on substantive and administrative issues as part of the ECE secretariat