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UNECE, UNEP and UNESCO, as co-leads, together with 15 other UN agencies, funds and programmes active in Europe and Central Asia, have joined forces to address environmental and climate change challenges. They have established a regional interagency Issue-based Coalition on Environment and…
The Drin River basin, shared by five Riparians: Albania, Greece, Kosovo (UNMIK, Security Council resolution 1244), Montenegro and The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, faces several acute challenges, such as loss of biodiversity, pollution and frequent floods. The basin includes three major…
COP26 was a positive step forward in the fight against climate change, but as the UN Secretary General pointed out in his comments: “it is not enough. We must accelerate climate action to keep alive the goal of limiting the global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees.” The compromise deal reflects the…
Experts from UNECE member States and the secretariat will be visiting Bulgaria from 11 to 21 April 2016 for a field mission in the framework of the third environmental performance review (EPR) of the country. The team will meet governmental officials and representatives of international…
Recent studies have shown that emissions from agriculture are a major cause of mortality from air pollution in Europe. While agriculture does not immediately come to mind when thinking about sources of air pollutants, agricultural emissions, namely ammonia or NH3, are the single largest…
Europeans currently eat large amounts of meat, dairy products and eggs, exceeding health recommendations for the consumption of saturated fat and red meat. In addition, livestock production in the EU is the driver of around 80% of the losses of nitrogen from agriculture. The nitrogen that is…
From 25 to 27 April 2017, representatives from key authorities and stakeholders from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan along with experts from the Russian Federation met to discuss issues related to dam safety in Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation, as part of…
The massive use of fertilizers and the production and use of manure in agriculture over the past 100 years have led to significant reactive nitrogen emissions to air and releases to water and land. Burning of fossil fuels (in vehicles, power plants and industry) is another source of reactive…
The Paris Agreement entered into force just three days before the United Nations Climate Change Conference — also known as COP22 — kicked-off on 7 November in Marrakech, Morocco. “Our work here in Marrakech must reflect our new reality. No politician or citizen, no business manager or investor…
On 17 September, Kazakh authorities, UNECE and the Executive Board of the International Fund for the Saving of the Aral Sea organised a round-table on dam safety in Astana to discuss and plan for improved dam safety in Kazakhstan. Representatives from key authorities and stakeholders from…
Environmental indicators are a key tool for environmental assessment, reporting and policymaking. Appropriately chosen indicators based on sufficient time-series data can show key trends and help describe causes and effects of environmental conditions.
To promote the establishment of a…
While Uzbekistan has improved its environmental performance in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) related to water and sanitation (SDG 6) and forests and tree cover loss (SDG targets 15.1, 15.2, 15.3), significant challenges remain related to air quality (SDG 11.6), water resources…
The development plans in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia, the countries that share the Drina Basin, need to be assessed for their impact on the ecosystems but also across sectors, in particular energy, agriculture and water management. These plans include some 20 new hydropower…
Effectively adapting water management to climate change will require the allocation of additional funds for transboundary and regional projects, or at least considering transboundary aspects in national projects, where relevant. With more than 60% of all freshwater courses worldwide and the…
UNECE was engaged at the main global forum to assess and discuss progress in implementing the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) – the seventh session of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (GP2022) held in Bali and online, 25-27 May 2022, fully embracing its theme: “…
Environmental degradation has gendered impacts which need to be properly assessed and monitored to understand and adopt gender-responsive strategies and policies. While designing these, it is essential that measures targeting gender equality and women’s empowerment are adequately…
The Fourth Cycle of UNECE Environmental Performance Reviews (EPR) is underway with the fourth review of Montenegro, carried out under the leadership of UNECE.
A large, multidisciplinary team of international experts worked in Podgorica from 22 to 30 April 2024, assessing the environmental…
Ecosystems are highly sensitive to air pollution. To sharpen emissions reductions measures under the UNECE Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution, expert groups have started scientific and technical work to support decision-making in the context of the process to revise the Protocol…
Upon request by the Government of Uzbekistan, UNECE will review the country’s environmental performance for a third time, 10 years after the previous (second) review took place. To ensure comprehensive information and objective analysis for the review, a team of 19 experts from different…
Experts from UNECE member States and the secretariat will be visiting Bosnia and Herzegovina from 27 March to 6 April 2017 for a field mission in the framework of the third environmental performance review (EPR) of the country. The team will meet governmental officials and representatives of…
Delegations from Bulgaria and Tajikistan meeting with expert representatives from other UNECE countries in Geneva from 6 to 8 December 2016 discussed and finalized recommendations arising from environmental performance reviews (EPRs) undertaken in those countries. In January 2017, the Committee…
This year, the UNECE region has seen devastating impacts of climate change and multiple natural disasters, such as the floods in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. Disasters caused by natural hazards, on the rise due to climate change, can also trigger technological accidents.
On today’s…
Decarbonisation, greenhouse gas emissions reduction, energy efficiency and renewable energies have become urgent priorities after the signing of the UN Paris Climate Agreement. Decarbonising transport is part of the vision for the future of a green and healthy mobility. The Austrian Ministry of…
While many of us have taken pain relievers, we do not always remember that one of the most extensively used medicines in the world – with an estimated annual consumption of 40,000 tons – salicylic acid, commonly known as aspirin, is based on a tree-derived ingredient.
The theme of this year’s…
How to step up environmental protection, reduce resource use, cut pollution and foster the shift to a circular economy that is needed to make sustainable development a reality? These will be some of the topics at the core of debates when Ministers from the 56 countries of the UNECE region gather in…