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UNECE experts to visit Bosnia and Herzegovina to assess environmental policies and their implementation

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 international organizations, NGOs, business and academia. They will assess progress in environmental protection since the second review, carried out in 2010, and develop recommendations for future action.


In addition to environmental governance and financing, the third review of Bosnia and Herzegovina will evaluate the country’s efforts to abate air pollution, enhance the management of water resources and the Adriatic Sea, reduce waste, preserve biodiversity and improve environmental monitoring and information. It will also address adaptation to climate change and the integration of environmental considerations in the forestry sector.


The outcomes of the third EPR of Bosnia and Herzegovina, including recommendations to the country, will be discussed by the UNECE Committee on Environmental Policy at its meeting in Geneva in November 2017, with the participation of high-level officials from the Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina.


Since the early 1990s, the UNECE EPR Programme has been assessing progress made by individual countries in reconciling their environmental and economic targets and in meeting international environmental commitments. The reviews assist countries to improve their management of the environment by making concrete recommendations for better policy design and implementation. The current third cycle of reviews focuses on environmental governance and financing in a green economy context, countries’ cooperation with the international community and environmental mainstreaming in priority sectors. Bosnia and Herzegovina is the ninth country to be reviewed in this cycle following the Republic of Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia, Georgia, Belarus, Tajikistan, Bulgaria and Albania.


The third EPR of Bosnia and Herzegovina is being organized in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations and the relevant ministries from its constitutional legal entities: the Federal Ministry of Environment and Tourism of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina; and the Ministry of Physical Planning, Civil Engineering and Ecology of the Republika Srpska. It is financially supported by the German Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety and the German Federal Environment Agency with funds from its Advisory Assistance Programme.


Four countries have delegated their experts for the review: France (two experts on the protection of the Adriatic Sea); Hungary (an expert on waste management); Italy (two experts on economic instruments, environmental expenditure and investments for greening the economy); and Portugal (one on international cooperation and two experts on water management). Financial support to the EPR Programme is also provided by Austria, the Netherlands and Switzerland.


For more information, please visit http://www.unece.org/environmental-policy/environmental-performance-reviews/ongoing-reviews.html or contact [email protected].

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