Within the framework of the European Union-funded EU4Environment programme, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) has been assisting the Eastern Partnership countries, including Azerbaijan, in comprehensive capacity-building and institutional building on Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and transboundary Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and in finalizing legal reforms in this area since 2019.

Since 2022, to further enhance capacities for practical application of SEA in Azerbaijan, at the request of the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources (MENR) and the State Committee on Urban Planning and Architecture (SCUPA), UNECE has supported the implementation of a pilot SEA project for the draft master plan under development for the city of Ganja.  The pilot SEA provides hands-on learning for applying SEA in urban planning (involving analytical and consultative tasks and, as needed, methodological coaching on the preparation and quality control of SEA related reports). This supports further building national capacities on SEA procedures and raising the awareness of the SEA in urban planning while demonstrating its sector-specific benefits.

Public participation is one of the cornerstones of effective SEA. It can increase the transparency and credibility of decision-making, help ensure that all relevant issues are considered during the plan-making process and allow the timely consideration of the public’s opinions in this process.

The public hearing event is organized by MENR and UNECE with the involvement of SCUPA and Ganja City Executive Power to facilitate public participation in relation to the draft SEA Report and the draft master plan it is associated with. Its organization is consistent with the Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan on “Public Participation”.

Objectives of the public hearing:

• To  enable the public concerned/local stakeholders to learn more of and comment on the draft Master Plan of the city of Ganja and the associated preliminary draft SEA Report.
• To present and discuss the preliminary draft of the SEA Report and its key findings;
• To inform the public concerned/local stakeholders about the means of providing their comments.

Expected outputs and outcomes:

• Suggestions and comments on the SEA findings arising from the event will be considered in further refinement and finalization of the SEA Report, including formulation of recommendations for the finalization of the Master Plan of the city of Ganja
• Suggestions and comments to the content of the draft Master Plan will be taken into account in the course of the Master Plan finalization
• Stakeholders in the Ganja-Gazakh economic region will gain valuable experience for executing future SEA processes from this pilot SEA and the first ever SEA public hearing in the region.

Participants

The event will invite representatives of relevant stakeholders in the city of Ganja, aiming to gather over 40 participants, including NGOs, state entities, representatives of municipalities, academia and SEA practitioners/experts.