Published:
21 Sep 2011 Ministers will meet in Astana,
Kazakhstan, today to discuss water issues
and greening the economy at the seventh
'Environment for Europe' Ministerial Conference,
running from 21 - 23 September 2011. To
support the Conference, the European Environment
Agency (EEA) is launching an innovative
Assessment of Assessments report, which
recommends ways that environmental information
and policy making can be more closely aligned.
The Ministerial Conference
will bring together delegates from 53 countries
across the pan-European region as well as
delegates from the United States, Canada
and Israel. The conference focuses on the
challenges in protecting water and related
ecosystems, and on how to move towards a
green economy. It is organised by the United
Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE)
in cooperation with the Government of Kazakhstan.
To support the Conference, the EEA was asked
to produce a report entitled ‘Europe’s Environment
– An Assessment of Assessments’. This report
provides a comprehensive overview of available
sources of environmental information across
the region which directly relate to the
focus of the Conference. In writing this
report, experts looked at more than 1000
reports, more than half of which were reviewed
in detail. This report, which was produced
with the support of the UNECE Steering Group
on Environmental Assessments, is complemented
by a series of regional reports that focus
on specific pan-European sub-regions.
Professor Jacqueline McGlade, Executive
Director of the EEA, said: “The Assessment
of Assessments report shows that we need
to further strengthen the link between policy
and information. This works both ways –
policy-makers need to make better use of
the wealth of environmental information
currently available; at the same time environmental
assessments should be targeted to be as
policy-relevant as possible.
“To sustain social and economic development
across the pan-European region, we will
need to green our economies - this means
equitably managing constrained resources
without compromising essential ecosystem
functions. Our ability as a society to successfully
meet this challenge depends on having access
to relevant, credible and legitimate environmental
information and assessments from across
the region.”
Europe's environment – an Assessment of
Assessments
The Assessment of Assessments focuses on
the themes of water and water-related ecosystems,
and greening the economy. It concludes by
making a number of recommendations on how
to enhance the knowledge base that underpins
decision-making processes, improve assessment
tools, and ensure greater information exchange
across the pan-European region and at a
global level.
The report also documents the benefits of
a ‘Regular reporting Process’ of environmental
assessment, based on the Shared Environmental
Information System (SEIS) which was a collaborative
initiative of the European Commission, the
EEA, and EEA member and cooperating countries.
Such an approach would streamline and improve
existing information systems and processes
while making information available to policy
makers and public across the region. Based
on the findings of the Assessment of Assessments,
it is expected that Ministers at Astana
will decide to establish a regular process
of environmental assessment and to develop
SEIS across the region.
Water – key findings
Sustainable management of water and water-related
ecosystems is extremely important across
the pan-European region. Drought has increased
in recent years across Southern Europe and
Central Asia, while flooding is causing
increasing deaths and economic damage. Clean
water is also a problem, as an estimated
120 million people across the region live
without access to safe drinking water or
sanitation.
There is a huge range of information on
the state of water, produced by countries
across the region. Authors of the report
analysed more than 300 water-related reports
from 48 countries, published over the last
five years. However, information is often
lacking or irrelevant to policy. Many assessments
are currently too restricted to environmental
status and trends and need to focus more
on measures and management, especially regarding
water scarcity, extreme events and water
ecosystems.
Green economy – key findings
The ‘green economy’ is still an emerging
concept. At its core is the idea of revitalising
economies as they emerge from the recent
economic crisis while significantly reducing
environmental risks and addressing ecological
scarcities. Globally, greening the economy
is at the heart of renewed efforts to integrate
environmental and social considerations
with mainstream economic decision-making,
up to and beyond the Rio 2012 United Nations
Conference on Sustainable Development.
Information on the green economy is generally
fragmented and still somewhat limited. While
several assessments exist that look at environmental
impacts of different economic sectors, there
remains a notable lack of reports that coherently
assess progress towards a green economy
across these sectors.
Notes for editors
Initiated in 1991, the 'Environment for
Europe' (EfE) process is a unique pan-European
forum for tackling environmental challenges
and promoting broad horizontal environmental
cooperation, as a pillar of sustainable
development in the region. It is a partnership
of states, intergovernmental organisations,
regional environment centres and civil society,
including the private sector. It supports
convergence of environmental policies and
approaches, while helping countries of Eastern
Europe, the Caucasus, Central Asia and South-Eastern
Europe to improve their environmental performance.
Pan-European assessment reports on the state
of the environment, produced by EEA, in
cooperation with partners, for the EfE Conferences
in 1995, 1998, 2003 and 2007 helped to identify
major threats and challenges for the development
of regional environmental policies.
The UNECE has the following member countries:
Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan,
Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech
Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France,
Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland,
Ireland, Israel, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg,
the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia,
Malta, Republic of Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro,
Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania,
Russian Federation, San Marino, Serbia,
Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland,
Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine,
United Kingdom, United States of America
and Uzbekistan.
The report, 'Europe's environment — an Assessment
of Assessments' covers: Albania, Andorra,
Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium,
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia,
Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia,
Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece,
Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan,
Kosovo (United Nations administered region,
Security Council resolution 1244), Kyrgyzstan,
Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg,
the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia,
Malta, Republic of Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro,
Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania,
Russian Federation, San Marino, Serbia,
Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland,
Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine,
United Kingdom and Uzbekistan.