Background

The aim of the Joint Task Force is to assist the countries of Eastern and South-Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia (target countries) in their efforts to:

The Joint Task Force will also assist the Working Group on Environmental Monitoring and Assessment in evaluating the application of the internationally accepted methodologies and statistical standards in SEIS data production.

Attendance

1. Environmental experts and statisticians from the following countries attended the meeting: Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Republic of Moldova, Russian Federation, Serbia, Switzerland, Tajikistan, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

2. Representatives of the European Environment Agency, the Group on Earth Observations, the Interstate Statistical Committee of the Commonwealth of Independent States, the International Telecommunication Union, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (via video conference), the United Nations Environment Programme, the United Nations Human Settlements Programme and the United Nations Statistics Division also attended the meeting.

3. Furthermore, the University of Geneva, the Vienna University of Economics and Business, Zoï Environment Network and Institute Cadaster also participated in the meeting.

The following substantive topics were discussed at the meeting:

Implementation of the decisions and recommendations of the twelfth session of the Joint Task Force;

Data quality in Shared Environmental Information System (SEIS) reporting: methodological considerations;

Revision of biodiversity indicators;

Nexus approach on energy, water and agriculture;

Pilot data collection on water quality by the United Nations Statistics Division;

Waste statistics;

Capacity-building needs;

Updates on developments related to the Sustainable Development Goals.

Meeting documentation