In this issue:
1. INFORMATION ON THE ENVIRONMENT FOR EUROPE PROCESS ON THE WEB
2. FOURTH BIODIVERSITY IN EUROPE CONFERENCE
3. EECCA ENVIRONMENT STRATEGY PARTNERSHIP DATABASE: COMMENTS WELCOME BY 28
FEBRUARY 2006
4. THE PEP CLEARING HOUSE PORTAL LAUNCHED
1. INFORMATION ON THE ENVIRONMENT FOR EUROPE PROCESS ON THE
WEB
Detailed official information on the Environment for Europe (EfE) process is
available at English, French and Russian through the UNECE website of
Environment for Europe
http://www.unece.org/env/wgso/welcome.html
Belgrade-2007 pages
New web-pages on preparation to the 6th Ministerial Conference "Environment
for Europe" are being opened by the UNECE Secretariat. The site provides
links to all official documentation of the preparatory meetings, including
those of the Working Group of Senior Officials (WGSO) and its Executive
Committee (ExeCom). To learn more visit
http://www.unece.org/env/wgso/Belgrade.prep.meetings.html
History of the Environment for Europe process is published at
http://www.unece.org/env/wgso/fromdobtokyiv.htm
Environmental Programme for Europe
Interesting information on the Environmental Programme for Europe (EPE) -
one of the important strategic documents that were developed in the
framework of the Environment for Europe process - is published by the UNECE
Secretariat the UNECE website.
The EPE was adopted in Sofia, 1995, at the 2nd EfE Conference and further
reviewed at the next Ministerials in Aarhus-1998 and Kiev-2003. It may
become one of the key documents for the review of EfE decisions
implementation in Belgrade-2007.
The site provides information on the process of EPE elaboration and its
content in English, Russian and French. It also has important links to
-State of the Environment reports produced in the EfE framework;
-activities and earlier documents and events on 6 thematic areas within
Environment for Europe Process, namely:
-Consumption Patterns
-Policy Integration
-Public Participation
-Phase-out of Leaded Petrol
-Energy Conservation
-Economic Instruments
To learn more visit
http://www.unece.org/env/europe/welcome.html
NGO participation in EfE
Information on participation, contribution and initiatives of ECOs -
environmental citizens' organisations (NGOs) of the UNECE region, -
including recent documents, Issue Groups information, archive of earlier
activities, etc., is available through the web-site of the European
ECO-Forum - ad hoc coalition of ECOs in UNECE, focusing primarily at the
Environment for Europe process and participating in related regional
processes, e.g. WHO-Euro Environment and Health Ministerial process and some
others.
To learn more visit www.eco-forum.org
2. FOURTH BIODIVERSITY IN EUROPE CONFERENCE
Fourth "Biodiversity in Europe" Conference will take place on 22 - 24
February 2006. The Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia will host
the Conference in the National Park Plitvicka jezera.
The 10th Meeting of the Council of the Pan European Biological and
Landscape Diversity Strategy will open on Wednesday, 22 February 2006
at 9:00 am. The Fourth Biodiversity in Europe (BIE) Conference will
open on Wednesday, 22 February 2006 at
3:00 pm.
Official documents (English, French and Russian) for the events
are available at the PEBLDS website
http://www.strategyguide.org/200602/Documents.html
PEBLDS Council after formal election of the offices and a number of
presentations from different countries of the region will consider, in
particular the following items
+ Review of the role and place of the PEBLDS and its support structure
in furthering the implementation of the Kiev targets,
and
+ PEBLDS Budget.
It will also deal with the organisational issues and discuss
up- coming BIE Conference.
The BIE Conference will look at the contribution of the Pan-European region
and PEBLDS in particular to the implementation of the UN Convention on
Biological Diversity (CBD) and serve as a preparatory meeting to the 8th
Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the CBD. It will cover such
themes as
+ General overview of the items for consideration at CBD
COP-8 (report of PEBLDS Joint Secretariat)
+ Island Biodiversity (Chair: France (TBC) Croatia)
+ Global Taxonomy Initiative (Chair: Italy and Russian Federation (TBC))
+ Communication, Education and Public Awareness (Article 13)
(Chair: Norway, Serbia and Montenegro (TBC), ECNC)
+ Strategic Issues for Evaluating Progress or Supporting
Implementation (CBD COP8 agenda item IV.)
+ Progress towards implementation of the Convention and its Strategic
Plan including the 2010 target and the Convention's contribution to
relevant Millennium Development Goals: CBD Implementation in the pan
European region and the 2010 biodiversity targets--Achievements,
obstacles to implementation and needs (Chair: Countdown 2010 Secretariat)
+ Monitoring progress and reporting processes (CBD COP-8 agenda item
IV.23): Streamlining European 2010 Biodiversity Indicators (Co-Chairs:
Czech Republic and Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia)
+ Forests and Biodiversity (Chair: Poland (TBC) and Austria (TBC))
+ Agriculture and Biodiversity (Chair: Ladsilav Miko, European
Commission (TBC))
+ Cross-cutting issues (CBD COP-8 agenda item V.27.1 and V.27.3)
+ Protected Areas and Ecological Networks (Chair: Germany)
+ Invasive Alien Species (Chair: Italy)
The resulting document will be adopted in the format of the
Chair's conclusions.
UNEP Regional Workshop on Issue Based Modules
The meetings will be preceded by UNEP Regional Workshop in Europe on Issue
Based Modules to be held on 20-21 February 2006. This workshop will be
organised by UNEP/DEC project on Issue- Based Modules to facilitate the
coherent implementation of biodiversity-related multilateral environmental
agreements (MEAs). The modules include both global and regional biodiversity
agreements and aim at providing structured information on specific
biodiversity issues to facilitate the coherent implementation of the
commitments regarding those issues.
For further information on the above mentioned events visit
www.strategyguide.org
For information on European ECO-Forum participation contact
Piotr Gorbunenko, WWF Russian Caucasus Regional Director,
ECO-Forum Biodiversity Issue Group Coordinator at
pgorbunenko@wwf.ru
and
Oleg Tsaruk, Ecologist (Uzbekistan), ECO-Forum Biodiversity
Issue Group Deputy Coordinator at
ots@uzsci.net
3. EECCA ENVIRONMENT STRATEGY PARTNERSHIP DATABASE: COMMENTS
WELCOME BY 28 FEBRUARY 2006
The EAP Task Force Secretariat launched on-line data base on EECCA
Environment Strategy Partnerships. It is available on
http://eecca.hybrid.pl/.
This online tool provides access to information on partnerships developed
and implemented in EECCA countries since 2002 to support the achievement of
the objectives of the EECCA Environment Strategy. Since all partnership
information was collected in early 2004, it needs to be updated in order to
ensure timely monitoring of the progress on partnerships by the EAP TF
Secretariat in EECCA countries and preparing a progress report for the next
joint meeting of the EAP Task Force and the PPC.
The EAP Secretariat invited governments as well as all interested
organisations (including NGOs) to review and update the existing information
and to include any new partnerships. The information as well as comments on
the functionalities of the database should be sent by 28 February 2006 to
Executive Secretary of the EAP Task Force Ms. Aziza Nasirova at
aziza.nasirova@oecd.org
and/or to the EESITP Team at
epsit@hybrid.pl .
The Russian version of the will be available soon.
4. THE PEP CLEARING HOUSE PORTAL LAUNCHED
A web-based portal - the Clearing House on Transport, Health and Environment
has been launched by UNECE and WHO/Europe as part of their joint activities
under the Transport, Health and Environment Pan-European Programme (THE PEP).
UNECE and WHO/Europe countries adopted the Transport, Health and Environment
Pan-European Programme (THE PEP) in 2002 to provide the framework for
sustainable transport development taking into account environmental and
health concerns.
A web portal designed to facilitate exchange of information and knowledge
across the transport, environment and health sectors in the pan-European
region. It aims to address, in particular, the needs of countries of Eastern
Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia (EECCA) and of South-Eastern Europe (SEE).
It serves to collect, disseminate and exchange information on sustainable
transport policies, legislation, research and good practices. Its
information content covers more than 100 topics relevant to the transport,
environment and health sectors, including as priorities: health and
environmental effects of transport, policy integration, urban transport and
transport demand management.
The Clearing House has a very practical organization and intuitive method to
access information on air pollution or noise in urban area, policies
regarding the effects of private cars or any other topics covered by THE PEP.
It is primarily targeted to policy and decision makers. It addresses, in
particular, the needs of national and local authorities as well as transport
planners in the design, communication and implementation of sustainable
transport policies.
It is a joint project by UNECE and WHO/Europe, developed under THE PEP, with
input from national experts. Representatives of diverse institutions can
register with the Clearing House and upload relevant information. Additional
and more sophisticated services can be added in the future, such as
interactive forums and information on training programmes.
To find out more visit
http://www.thepep.org/CHWebSite
(Available in English, French and Russian)
For more information visit THE PEP Clearing House website, read the Clearing
House information flyer
(http://www.thepep.org/CHWebSite/images/posterCMYK_English.pdf)
or contact Angela Sochirca at
angela.sochirca@unece.org
or
Francesca Racioppi at
transport@ecr.euro.who.int
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