The third "Environment for Europe" Ministerial Conference was held in 1995 in Sofia, Bulgaria. The Conference was attended by Ministers of Environment from 49 countries from Europe, North America and Central Asia, plus Australia, Japan and Mexico. The European Communities also participated as well as various international organizations and NGOs.
A main item at the Sofia conference was the review of the implementation of the Environmental Action Program for Central and Eastern Europe (EAP). The EAP related mandates were renewed (including: EAP Task Force and PPC mandates). A new element therein was that Ministers welcomed the "Sofia Initiatives" (work on themes such as economic instruments, environmental impact assessment, biodiversity and local air pollution), work areas developed primarily by CEE countries. These initiatives were also seen as one step towards the perceived need for CEE countries to assume a greater ownership of the process.
In view of the preparations for EU accession of several CEE countries and taking into account differing specific priorities and needs of EECCA countries, Ministers decided to continue the implementation of the EAP related work with two different subprograms, one for the CEE region and one for the EECCA region.
A major discussion point at the Sofia conference was the first pan-European state of the environment report, the "Dobris Assessment", prepared by EEA. Discussions at the Sofia Conference also focused on a number of more specific themes related to issues in Eastern Europe, including: environmental financing; business, industry and environment; biological and landscape diversity; environmental and nuclear issues; public participation; and environmental conventions.
The Pan-European Biological and Landscape Diversity Strategy (PEBLDS) was endorsed, as was the Environmental Programme for Europe (EPE). The Ministerial Declaration commended the work of the REC CEE and encouraged the establishment of a network of new RECs in EECCA countries. Ministers also called for the development of a regional Convention on Public Participation, for an update to the Dobris Assessment, and for new protocols on further reductions on the emissions of nitrogen compounds as well as POPs and heavy metals under the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution. Paragraph 2 of the Ministerial Declaration stated:
"We reaffirm our commitment to cooperation in the field of environmental protection, in Europe, the principles of which were agreed in Lucerne, Switzerland, on 30 April 1993. We underline the urgent need for the further integration of environmental considerations into all sectoral policies, so that economic growth takes place in accordance with the principles of sustainable development. We recognize that the countries in the region have a common but differentiated responsibility, both to contributing to global environmental problems and in actively taking lead in resolving them in line with the objectives of Agenda 21." |