The state of the environment report in Belarus was enriched by the knowledge, experience, materials and recommendations from the ENI SEIS II East project and by the support of experts from the EEA and Slovak Environment Agency.

The overarching objective of the ENI SEIS II East project was to support the further implementation of the SEIS principles and practices in the six Eastern Partnership countries. The specific objective was to strengthen the regular production of environmental indicators and assessments as important contributions to knowledge-based policymaking for good governance in the environmental field and of the pan-European assessment process. The overall method of implementing the proposed activity was to use Eionet as the model for SEIS implementation. Eionet’s support and expertise played a key role in implementing the project’s activities, in particular in capacity building and transferring experience of applying the practices, tools and systems used in the EU and EEA contexts, as set out in the description of action. This resulted in improved national capacity for providing environmental data and information in line with national and EU environmental legislation and EU and Eionet best practices.

‘I am grateful for the support of the ENI SEIS II East project, especially during the preparation of the national state of the environment report of Belarus. Because of the project, we improved our report and methodology, especially in the area of sustainable development.’  Elena Kaminskaya, NFP from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of the Republic of Belarus

Project activities use the EEA’s knowledge of and expertise in the best national practices in the EU Member States and in Eionet. 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 Eastern Partnership region;
• ensuring that all activities are in line with national and EU environmental legislation and EU and Eionet best practices.

State of Environment Report in Belarus