The Environment for Europe process

The Kiev Environment for Europe Conference, 2003

The fifth "Environment for Europe" Ministerial Conference was held in 2003 in Kiev, Ukraine. The Conference was attended by Ministers of Environment and Heads of Delegations from 51 countries from Europe, North America and Central Asia. Article 6 of the Kiev Ministerial Declaration highlights some of the features of the EfE process:

We acknowledge that the Environment for Europe process has been a unique multilateral process that brings all countries in the region together on an equal footing. We are encouraged that this process has evolved into the major high- level pan-European framework for discussing key environmental policy issues, developing programmes, launching negotiations on legally binding instruments and various partnerships and initiatives, including new institutional structures for the environment, in a balance between subregional and regional issues and openness to intensive intersectoral cooperation. We appreciate that the process has provided a wider political platform for the environmental initiatives of subregions, thus making them more effective and visible.

The Kiev Declaration contains several references to the UNCED follow up work, especially the outcome of the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), including the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation (PoI) adopted at the WSSD and decisions regarding the regional implementation of the PoI. In this context, the Kiev Declaration highlighted several themes to be further addressed within the EfE process. Two new focus themes for the EfE process include: "sustainable consumption and production", and, "environmental education". Ministers also called for continued work in the areas energy efficiency and renewable energy.

The Kiev Conference adopted the "Environmental Strategy for Countries of Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia", a strategy intended to contribute to improving environmental conditions and to implementing the WSSD Plan of Implementation in EECCA. Ministers explicitly welcomed the Strategy’s main objectives and areas of action, including: 

• Improve environmental legislation, policies and institutional framework;
• Reduce the risks to human health through pollution prevention and control;
• Manage natural resources in a sustainable manner;
• Integrate environmental considerations into the development of key economic sectors;
• Establish and strengthen mechanisms for mobilizing and allocating financial resources to achieve environmental objectives;
• Provide information for environmental decision-making and promote public participation and environmental education;
• Identify and address transboundary environmental problems and strengthen cooperation within the framework of international conventions, as applicable.

The Kiev Declaration phased out by 2004 the CEE component of the EAP Task Force and the PPC work in new EU Member States. The EAP Task Force and the PPC were invited to continue their work through joint annual meetings and with a common Bureau. Ministers further declared that the EAP Task Force should lead efforts to facilitate and support, in cooperation with other relevant international bodies and RECs, the achievement of the objectives of the Environmental Strategy for EECCA Countries.

The Kiev Conference also focused on various initiatives and work programs related to water supply, sanitation and water treatment. In particular, Ministers welcomed the efforts of Central Asian Countries to develop the "Central Asian Initiative on Environment, Water and Security - Invitation to Partnership".

Ministers and Heads of Delegation discussed the third pan-European report on the state of the European environment prepared by the European Environmental Agency ("the Kiev Assessment", which, for the first time, included all EECCA countries) and mandated the EEA to prepare a fourth assessment report for the next EfE Ministerial Conference. The program on Environmental Performance Reviews (EPRs) was discussed and UNECE was mandated to continue this program. The Kiev Declaration also calls for international collaboration to enhance the international comparability of environmental information.

At the Kiev Conference, three new Protocols to UNECE Conventions were adopted and opened for signature, including:

• 35 countries and the European Community signed the new Protocol on Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) to the UNECE Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context (Espoo Convention). As Article 34 of the Kiev Declaration stated: "This Protocol underlines the cross-sectoral approach by integrating environmental, including health, considerations into the preparation and adoption of plans, programmes, and, to the extent appropriate, policies and legislation and thus further contributes to sustainable development."
• 22 countries signed the new Protocol on Civil Liability and Compensation for Damage Caused by the Transboundary Effects of Industrial Accidents on Transboundary Waters to the UNECE Conventions on the Transboundary Effects of Industrial Accidents and on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Waters and International Lakes. This new Protocol was designed to help ensuring adequate and prompt compensation for damage caused by transboundary effects of industrial accidents on transboundary watercourses and for preventing industrial accidents.
• 36 countries and the European Community signed the new Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers to the UNECE Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (Aarhus Convention). This new Protocol was designed to provide for a mechanism for generating information on potentially polluting activities and bringing such information into the public domain. The Protocol is expected to increase corporate accountability.

The Kiev Conference also endorsed the Guidelines for Strengthening Compliance with and implementation of Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) in the UNECE region.

The Governments of all countries from the Carpathian region (Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovakia and Ukraine) adopted at Kiev and signed thereafter the Convention on Environment Protection and Sustainable Development of the Carpathians.

Last update of this page: 13 MAY, 2007