UNECE Environment for Europe

Almaty+5 Ministerial Conference on Water, Yerevan, Armenia, 16-18 November 2005

In 2000 EECCA Ministers, senior representatives from OECD, International Institutions, NGOs and the private sector met in Almaty, Kazakhstan. The report Guiding Principles for the Reform of Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Sector in the NIS was produced after discussions on the integration of environmental principles into the urban water supply and sanitation sector in EECCA. Almaty +5 will review progress since 2000.

NGOs can get involved by joining the discussion list. Email tamara.eco@solo.by from EcoSoglasie

UNECE Environment for Europe Ministerial Conference, Kiev, May 2003

Signature of Three Prototcols under UN ECE Environmental Conventions

The following protocols were signed in Kiev:

1. Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers under the Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision Making and Access to Justice on Environmental Matters (signed by 34 countries).

2. Protocol on Strategic Environmental Assessment that actually makes effective the Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in Transboundary Context (signed by 33 contries).

3. Protocol on Civil Liability and Compensation of Damages Caused by Transboundary Effects of Industrial Accidents (signed by 22 countries) under the Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes and the Convention on the Transboundary Effects of Industrial Accidents

Twenty one countries from the overall range of the Conference participants signed all these Protocols: Armenia, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, Moldova, Romania, Sweden, Ukraine and UK.

Environment Strategy for Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia

This is a framework strategy which has been adopted by Ministers to improve prospects for implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development decisions in UNECE region.  

EU Water Initiative

The EU Water Initiative for the Countries of Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia and the document "Environment, Water and Security in Central Asia" was adopted by the conference

Dnieper River

Ministers of Belarus, Russian Federation and Ukraine signed a statement on ecological rehabilitation of Dnieper River.

Carpathian Convention

Framework Convention on Environment Protection and Sustainable Development of the Carpathian Mountains has been signed by Hungary, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Ukraine. Poland will sign soon.

Biological and Landscape Diversity

Kyiv Resolution on Biodiversity has become the common statement of ministers on their intention to cut down the volume of biological and landscape diversity losses till 2010. Particularly, the matter concerns forests protection, management of regions of a high natural value in agrarian ecosystems, identification of the Pan-European Environmental Network.

Education for Sustainable Development

Ministers adopted a common statement to develop an energetic activity on finalizing of the UNECE Strategy on Education for Sustainable Development in cooperation with UNESCO.

Joint Ministers and NGO Session

The NGO-Ministerial roundtable discussed using market mechanisms in the energy sector to meet environmental standards, production and consumption in the agriculture sector and institutional changes for environmental policy integration in the state governance in UNECE region. It was not a very interactive session and suffered from lack of time.

Ministerial Declaration

Ministerial Political Declaration, signed on May 23, combines all achievements of environment protection process during the last years. According to Vasyl Shevchuk, Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine, Declaration includes all approved decisions, prospective and programs. "We have adopted the document by consensus and hope that it will determine environmental policy in UNECE region for the next 10 years".

The Future of the EfE

The next conference will take place after 4-5 years. The enlargement of the European Union is a challenge as twenty five countries attempt to implement the same environmental policies standards and rules.

NGOs at Kiev

The European Eco Forum, had responsibility for registration and creation of the international NGO delegation to the conference and the parallel NGO programme. They had a well organised agenda of side-events and briefings throughout the conference. Approximately 200 representatives from NGOs attended the Kiev meeting from the region, although a very small number were from Western Europe or the USA.

60 NGO representatives had met in 2002 under the auspices of Eco Forum in Bratislava to discuss their demands and proposals for the Kiev conference.  The Bratislava Declaration is an important articulation of the views of the pan European environmental community.

The Water Issues Group met and decided to focus on:

1)  To monitor and to lobby the Protocol on Civil Liability ratification process;

2) To participate in EECCA component of EU WI developing the policy, implementing actions and monitoring process.

Water Issues at the Kiev Conference

EU Water Initiative for EECCA

This is a major initiative launched at Johannesburg in 2002 designed to achieve the international targets on water and sanitation.  

The design phase for the EECCA region will be completed during 2003 and the EU has now earmarked 35 million euros for 2004-06 for the region to implement activities within the framework of the initiative. This is 10% of the estimated financial needs for the region.

The design phase is supposed to identify the gaps, actions and financing needs to achieve the water and sanitation targets in the region and to develop the platforms for coordination.  The EU Water Framework Directive sets out some basic principles to be progressed through this initiative; river basin management, balancing water for nature and for human needs and the application of economic tools.  More specifically the EUWI will focus on two themes identified as key water problems in the EECCA Environmental Strategy:

Improving municipal water supply and sanitation infrastructure.

• Regulatory frameworks
• Financial viability
• Focus on access by the poor and vulnerable
• Safeguard public health
• Protect environment

Integrated Water Resource Management, transboundary waters and regional seas.

• Prepare national water resource strategy and water action plans (including water as an economic good in planning process)
• Promote and prepare water legislation
• Institutional capacity building
• Monitoring and assessment
• Improve public access to information and stakeholder participation
• River basin and watershed planning

Activities will take place at regional, transboundary and national levels, with the majority at national and sub-national level.

Denmark and Russia will continue to take the lead roles in the working group for EECCA as the initiative moves into the inception phase.  

260 on-going activities have already been submitted as building blocks for the initiative, including a few submitted by civil society organisations.

Concerns

This is supposed to be a multi-stakeholder process but involvement of NGOs from the region has been very low. There is no mechanism for consistent and effective participation and limited funding available to travel to meetings. FAN has been attending meetings of the Multi-Stakeholder Forum to try and change this situation and clarify roles and responsibilities of the stakeholders.  FAN together with the Eco-Forum Water Issue Group will work to develop a formal response to the initiative with recommendations for CSO participation in the development, implementation and monitoring phases.  

NGO Concerns

Eco-Forum supports the initiative but calls for it to be a participatory and transparent process in accordance with Arhaus Convention.

They also expressed concern at the focus on municipal and not rural and on the potential to promote privatisation via the initiative.

Civil Liability Protocol on Transboundary Water Pollution

Under international law states have a duty to compensate others for damages caused by transboundary pollution, but the scope of their liability is not clear.   Attempts have been made to establish an international convention but this has not been successful. Under the new Protocol, operators of a hazardous activity which causes transboundary water pollution as a result of a specific event (i.e. an accident and not chronic pollution) are strictly liable for damages caused to loss of life or property and the cost of cleaning up the environment.  It does not cover GMOs, viruss or bacteria as this will be dealt with in a global biosafety protocol.

The protocol has been signed by 22 countries, but must be ratified by the parliaments of at least 16 countries before it becomes enforceable. It is a protocol to the Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes and the Convention on the Transboundary Effects of Industrial Accidents.

Some EU member states did not sign the protocol because of concerns that it conflicted with the EU Directive of Environmental Liability, which concerns damages caused by certain specified activities to land, water or biodiversity resources already governed by EU law (e.g. the EU Water Framework directive).

The new Protocol has been welcomed by NGOs. It should be implemented in the sprit of the Arhaus Convention, with provisions to safeguard access to information and justice for the public.  In order to make a claim it is necessary that both upstream and downstream countries must have ratified the Protocol.