SPECIAL ISSUE
DOCUMENTS CATEGORY 1 AND MINISTERIAL DECLARATION OF THE BELGRADE -2007
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE "ENVIRONMENT FOR EUROPE"
THE FIFTH MEETING OF THE EXECOM WILL DISCUSS CATEGORY I
DOCUMENTS FOR BELGRADE "ENVIRONMENT FOR EUROPE" CONFERENCE
The UN Economic Commission for Europe placed on its website
the first drafts of Category I documents prepared towards the Sixth
"Environment for Europe" Conference (Belgrade, 10-12 October 2007).
Documents of Category I are the most important documents of the conference
submitted for decisions to be taken by Ministers.
These first drafts of Category I documents will be discussed by the fifth
meeting of the Executive Committee (ExeCom) scheduled to take place in
Geneva on 14 - 15 February 2007.
This ExeCom meeting will also decide on the status (Category I or II) of
many important documents and initiatives.
After being discussed by Execom on 14-15 February 2007, Category I documents
should be submitted to the UNECE secretariat by 1 March 2007.
CATEGORY I DOCUMENTS
The following drafts of Category I documents are available
at
http://www.unece.org/env/efe/wgso/Belgrade/ExecomMeetings.htm:
"Europe's environment: the fourth assessment report (by
EEA)" (follow the link to English page at the EEA Web-site, click on the
picture of the Belgrade Draft; for Russian text change the language in the
top right corner);
"Recommendations to Governments of Eastern European,
Caucasian and Central Asian Countries for the application of environmental
indicators and the preparation of indicator-based environmental assessment
reports" (in English and Russian);
"Guidelines for the application of environmental
indicators in Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia (by UNECE)" in
English and Russian;
"Guidelines for the preparation of indicator-based
environment assessment reports (by UNECE)" in English and Russian;
"Guidelines for strengthening environmental monitoring
and reporting by enterprises (by UNECE)" in English and Russian;
"Guiding Principles for Environmental Integrated
Permitting (by EAP Task Force)" in English and Russian;
"Implementation of UNECE Multilateral Environmental
Agreements (by UNECE)" in English;
"Report and recommendations on Environmental
Performance Reviews (by UNECE)" in English;
"Joint Statement on ESD by Ministers of Education and
of the Environment (by UNECE)" in English;
"Statement by Ministers participating in the PEBLDS
process (by PEBLDS)" in English;
"Initiative on Strategic Environmental Assessment (by
Armenia, Belarus and Moldova)" in English and Russian;
"Central Asian Initiative on Sustainable Development:
Progress and Prospects (by Central Asian countries in cooperation with
CAREC)" in English and Russian;
"Legal framework for the protection and sustainable
development of mountain regions in SEE (Information note by UNEP on behalf
of SEE Governments leading the SEE Mountain Initiative)" in English;
"Environmental policy and international
competitiveness in a globalizing world: Challenges for low-income
countries in the ECE region (outline of the report by UNECE; the full
draft will be posted by late January 2007)" in English;
"Public Sector Participation in the Energy Efficiency
Equity Fund (by UNECE)" in English;
"Statement on Energy Efficiency and the Environment (by
Energy Charter PEEREA Group)" in English;
"Sustainable Consumption and Production (by Sweden as
one of the lead countries in cooperation with UNEP)" in English;
"Mobilising Finance for Environmental Priorities:
Recommendations for the Future (by PPC in cooperation with EAP TF, REC-CEE
and the World Bank)" in English.
The document of Category I "EECCA Environment Strategy
progress report (by EAP Task Force)" and the respective translations will be
posted on the Web as soon as they become available.
BELGRADE MINISTERIAL DECLARATION
The ExeCom meeting will be followed by the back-to-back
first meeting of the Drafting Group for Preparing the Belgrade-2007
Ministerial Declaration on 15-16 February 2007.
The Drafting Group will take into account the outcome of discussions at the
ExeCom. The Drafting Group will further develop the "Possible elements for
the Draft Declaration of the Belgrade Ministerial Conference", prepared by
the UNECE Secretariat (see
http://www.unece.org/env/efe/wgso/Belgrade/
documents/EXECOM/WGSO.EXECOM.5.2007.6.pdf in English).
CATEGORY II DOCUMENTS
Category II documents of the Belgrade EfE Conference should
be submitted (final title) to the UNECE Secretariat by 1 March 2007. The
Category II documents are therefore not available at UNECE Website in the
moment. It is expected that the following papers will be submitted as
Category II documents:
"Analytical and strategic paper on state of transboundary
waters and international lakes in the UNECE region (by UNECE)";
"Progress report on the implementation of the UNECE Strategy
for ESD (by UNECE)";
"Assessment and evaluation of the implementation of the Kyiv
Resolution on Biodiversity (by PEBLDS)";
"Strategic paper and stakeholders' recommendations on
policies and practices for biodiversity conservation and PEBLDS in Pan-
European region (by European ECO-Forum)";
"Analytical report on progress of energy efficiency efforts
(by Energy Charter Secretariat)";
"Progress report on the work of the Project Preparation
Committee 2003-07 (by PPC)";
"Analytical Report on Trends in Environmental Finance (by
EAP TF)";
"Analytical Report on Environmental Financing Trends in SEE
(by REC-CEE)".
ENVIRONMENTAL CITIZENS ORGANISATIONS (ECOs) STILL CAN
COMMENT AND PROVIDE THEIR INPUT!
The Executive Committee at its fifth meeting (14-15 February
2007) will discuss the fate of many important documents which are currently
ranked as Category I. It is possible that some of the documents may change
category (from I to II) and therefore decrease the status from "for
decisions" to "for information".
ECO-Forum Issue Groups have already taken part in discussion of a number of
drafts, but all interested ECOs from the UNECE region still can provide
their comments on the platform of the European ECO-Forum!
The comments are extremely important before the fifth meeting of Executive
Committee (for that please send them by 10 February to the relevant Issue
Groups Coordinator - see below). At the same time, they will also be taken
into account while developing the ECO-Forum position at the ECO-Forum
Strategy Meeting on 1-2 March 2007 in Brussels, Belgium. It is also
important to make your comments known to the governmental representatives of
your country if they plan to take part in the meeting of Executive Committee
(members of the Execom are Serbia, Hungary, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, USA,
Russia and Kyrgyzstan).
Please send you comments to or ask for more information from RELEVANT Issue
Group Coordinator:
Biodiversity - Oleg Tsaruk, Biostan,
ots@uzsci.net
Environmental Action Programme for Central and Eastern Europe/
EECCA Environmental Strategy - Olga Ponizova, ECO-Accord,
ponizova@leadnet.ru
Energy & Climate - Gunnar Boye Olesen, OVE/INFORSE,
ove@inforse.org
Education for Sustainable Development - Victoria Elias, ECO-
Accord, elias@leadnet.ru
Environment and Health -Sascha Gabizon, WECF,
Sascha@wecf.org
Values for Sustainable Future - Mikulas Huba, Society for
Sustainable Living, Slovak Republic,
geoghuba@savba.sk
Public Participation - John Hontelez, EEB,
Hontelez@eeb.org and
Mara Silina, EEB, mara.silina@eeb.org
Sustainable Consumption and Production - Jeffrey Barber, ISF,
jbarber@isforum.org
Water - Anna Tsvetkova, MAMA-86,
atsvet@mama-86.org.ua
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