8-9 October 2019 | Second regional workshop on state of environment reports
The EEA, in close collaboration with the Ministry of Environment of the Slovak Republic and the Slovak Environment Agency (SEA), organised the second and final regional workshop on state of environment reporting within the ENI SEIS II East project, held in Bratislava. The workshop summarised the activities of EEA and Slovak experts to support capacity building and knowledge sharing in order to develop national state of environment (SoE) reports in the Eastern Partnership countries within the ENI SEIS II East project.
Experts from the partnership countries shared achievements on their national state of environment assessment reports. They presented their country’s project outcomes using the national briefings on SoE reporting and national SoE reporting roadmaps as a common thread. Slovak experts launched a methodological paper on SoE reporting and received feedback from the countries in an animated discussion. The countries indicated that this guide to producing SoE reports will improve the quality of and access to environmental information for knowledge-based policymaking. In addition, panellists from the EEA, the Slovak Institute for Environmental Policy and the University of Bratislava debated with the countries the connection between the national SoE reports and policy making and public awareness. |
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During breakout sessions in working groups, the experts shared their views on the project’s contribution to the process of drafting the countries’ SoE reports and shared their expectations of further cooperation. The outcome of the workshop will be presented as a brochure at the Steering Committee meeting. |
The event was covered by the Environmental Agency of the Republic of Moldova and on Facebook
Background
The overarching objective of the ENI SEIS II East project is to support the further implementation of the SEIS principles and practices in the six Eastern Partnership countries. The specific objective is to strengthen the regular production of environmental indicators and assessments as contributions towards knowledge-based policymaking for good governance in the field of the environment and the pan-European assessment process. The overall method of implementation of the proposed activity is to use Eionet as the model for SEIS implementation. Eionet’s support and expertise play a key role in the implementation of the project’s activities, in particular in capacity building and transfer of experience in the application of the practices, tools and systems used in the EU and EEA contexts, as envisaged in the Description of Action. This results in improved national capacity for providing environmental data and information in line with national and EU environmental legislation and EU and Eionet best practices.
Project activities use the EEA’s knowledge and expertise on best national practices in EU Member States and in the Eionet network. In this project the Ministry of Environment of the Slovak Republic and the Slovak Environment Agency have played key roles in knowledge transfer and institutional capacity building. This has included:
- providing technical assistance, hands-on training sessions and expert visits in the six Eastern Partnership countries and sharing experience to harmonise data and indicators with international and EU standards;
- promoting common approaches to regular environmental reporting (tools, information systems, regionally agreed indicators and assessment reports);
- strengthening the regular production of environmental indicators and assessments and contributing towards knowledge-based policymaking and good governance in the field of the environment in the ENI East region;
- ensuring that all activities are in line with national and EU environmental legislation and EU and Eionet best practices.
The workshop brought together the representatives of governments and stakeholders from the EU and the pan-European region and beyond to share case studies and challenges of and good practices in open data for the environment. The joint workshop was well received and well attended with participants from the following:
- European Commission (Directorates-General for Environment and for Communications Networks, Content and Technology), European Investment Bank (EIB);
- UNECE Environmental Division and Aarhus Convention Secretariat;
- the six ENI Eastern Partnership countries’ ENI East project national focal points and Aarhus centres;
- four Western Balkan countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Serbia);
- 12 European Economic Area countries (Austria, Belgium, Croatia, France, Ireland, Latvia, Malta, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland);
- five Central Asian countries (Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, XY);
- NGOs (Ecoropa, European Ecoforum, Earthjustice, Arnika-Citizens Support Centre), academia (Osaka University) and other international organisations (UNEP).