THE UNECE ENDORSES THE “ENVIRONMENT FOR EUROPE” REFORM
At its 63rd session on 30 March - 1 April 2009 in Geneva, the
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) endorsed the “Environment
for Europe” Reform Plan as adopted by the Committee on Environmental Policy in
January 2009. This opens the way to start preparations for the next “Environment
for Europe” (EfE) Ministerial Conference to take place in Kazakhstan in 2011.
BACKGROUND
At the 6th Ministerial Conference “Environment for Europe”
(Belgrade, 10-12 October 2007), the Ministers decided to reform the EfE
process started in 1991. In
Belgrade, the Ministers invited the Committee on Environmental Policy (CEP) to
develop, in consultation with EfE partners, a plan for EfE reform.
Several meetings in the framework of the CEP took place between
January and October 2008 to discuss the draft of the reform plan. Finally, in
January 2009, the CEP at its special session approved the draft.
At all these meetings, the European ECO Forum defended the
position of environmental citizens’ organizations agreed in Belgrade and further
elaborated through the questionnaire and intensive electronic discussions.
KEY CONTENT OF THE REFORM
Role and principles
The EfE process should continue to serve as a mechanism,
among others, to:
- Improve the environment throughout the region,
contributing to sustainable development which may in turn contribute to poverty
eradication, to improving quality of life, and to a safer world;
- Enhance the implementation of strengthened
national environmental policies;
- Encourage participation of civil society.
As agreed in Belgrade, the EfE process should keep its UNECE
region-wide dimension and be open for all interested countries of the region,
and should engage all stakeholders, including the private sector, to strengthen
the work in partnership.
Priorities
The endorsed text of the reform plan provides that the political
priorities of the EfE process should be based on commitments already taken
under the EfE process. According
to the endorsed text, these priorities may include:
“(a) Improvement of environmental
governance, including strengthening environmental institutions and
implementation of policy instruments;
(b) Streamlining the implementation by Governments of
commitments they have made to existing UNECE legally binding and legally
non-binding instruments;
(c) Enhancing efforts in environmental monitoring;
(d) Ensuring implementation of the Environmental Performance
Review programme;
(e) Raising public awareness of environmental issues;
(f) Promoting linkages between environmental policy,
economic and social
well-being and competitiveness.”
The plan provides that thematic priorities of the EfE
process would be identified “in line with current needs, national circumstances
and in respect to future emerging issues”.
Future conferences
The “Environment for Europe” Conferences should be held
every four to five years.
Not later than 18 months before the Conference the CEP at
its regular session will decide on not more than two themes of the Conference.
Representatives of major groups will be invited to
participate in meetings of the CEP in preparation of the Conference, “as
appropriate, in accordance with the existing UN rules and procedures”.
The discussions at the Conference should be arranged in an
interactive manner and combine various types of sessions, e.g. plenary
sessions, roundtables and moderated panel discussions, with a limited number of
main speakers from different stakeholders (e.g. UNECE member States, EfE
partners and major groups). Interactive sessions, such as roundtables, could be
run in parallel. A session of
environmental NGOs and ministers in the roundtable format is an integral part
of the conference. A session of private sector representatives and
ministers in the roundtable format is an integral part of the conference as
well.
The endorsed text provides that Conference outcomes might
include:
“(a) A chairperson’s summary;
(b) Statements, initiatives, agreements, pledges by
interested ministers and stakeholders on specific subjects and/or for specific
subregions;
(c) An agreed outcome of two pages on follow up and further
actions strictly limited, in terms of scope, to the themes of the Conference;
(d) Policy tools, including strategies, action plans with
time frames, guidelines,
recommendations, best practices and lessons learned that are presented
to the Conference by interested countries of the UNECE region and/or
organizations taking the lead for these issues, and that were not negotiated
within the preparatory process for the Conference;
(e) Assessment reports used in preparation of or presented
to the Conference that are important for the implementation of the Conference’s
outcomes.”
Mid-term review
A mid-term review will be convened by the CEP to assess
progress of the implementation of the outcomes of the EfE Conferences and
provide renewed impetus to the process. The review should be based on existing
information. The findings of the review should be taken into account in the
preparatory process of the next conference.
STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES
The major idea of the reform was to make the EfE process
more effective and better responding to rapid changes in the Pan-European
region while preserving major achievements of the process.
In general, it is expected that the reformed process maintains
the open character and values of the EfE process and puts an emphasis on
implementation at both the national and Pan-European levels. It also promotes
the involvement of and increased cooperation between different stakeholders
which is an important condition for successful implementation of the decisions
of the Ministerial Conferences.
It is important
that the endorsed reform plan emphasizes the implementation of the EfE outcomes. Countries should regularly
consider how to promote objectives and priorities of the EfE process and
strengthen implementation of the outcomes of the EfE Conferences, including
through national policies and partnerships.
The environmental citizens’ organizations under the umbrella
of the European ECO Forum insisted that the EfE process could be improved by ensuring
that the work continues between Ministerial Conferences, in particular through
indicator-based mid-term reporting on the implementation as part of the
permanent work of the EfE. The endorsed text includes the ‘mid-term review’ to
be convened by the CEP to assess progress of the implementation of the outcomes
of the EfE Conferences. However, the mid-term review will not be based on
indicators but on existing information, meaning that it will involve the
analysis of available data only and may not necessarily allow for comparison
between countries.
Another major point emphasized by the European ECO Forum was
that the EfE should remain open for new issues, including new legally binding
instruments, where these could help to improve regulatory framework and
implementation. Unfortunately,
the text does not say it directly that new legally binding instruments could be
among the Conference outcomes. However, the section
on Conference outcomes may encompass the
initiatives on the preparation of new legally binding instruments through a
subparagraph “Statements, initiatives, agreements, pledges by interested
ministers and stakeholders on specific subjects and/or for specific
subregions”.
Instead of the
long Ministerial Declarations which were the products of previous Ministerial
Conferences, the new Conferences may have “[a]n agreed
outcome of two pages on follow-up and strictly limited in terms of scope, to
the themes of the Conference”. A Chair’s summary is introduced as a new Conference outcome.
It is of a
crucial importance that a session of environmental NGOs and Ministers in the
roundtable format is recognized as an integral part of the Conference and that
such a unique feature of the process as wide participation of the environmental
citizens’ organizations is generally preserved.
The EfE reform
can also be characterized by a strong emphasis on involving the private sector
in the EfE process and Conferences.
The final text of the EfE Reform Plan is available at
