Ministers from 53 countries across the pan-European region, as well as delegates from the United States, Canada and Israel are attending the seventh 'Environment for Europe' Ministerial Conference this week to discuss water issues and greening the economy.

 

The conference is focusing on the challenges in protecting water and related ecosystems, and on how to move towards a green economy.

To support the Conference, the European Einvironment Agency was asked to produce a report entitled ‘Europe’s Environment – An Assessment of Assessments’ . The report provides a comprehensive overview of available sources of environmental information across the region which directly relate to the focus of the Conference.

The report recommends ways that environmental information and policy making can be more closely aligned and highlighted the need to further strengthen the link between policy and information via a two-way process.

Professor Jacqueline McGlade, Executive Director of the EEA, said:

“The report shows that we need to further strengthen the link between policy and information. This works both ways – policy-makers need to make better use of the wealth of environmental information currently available; at the same time environmental assessments should be targeted to be as policy-relevant as possible.

“To sustain social and economic development across the pan-European region, we will need to green our economies - this means equitably managing constrained resources without compromising essential ecosystem functions. Our ability as a society to successfully meet this challenge depends on having access to relevant, credible and legitimate environmental information and assessments from across the region.”

Focus on water and water-related ecosystems

The Assessment of Assessments report is focussed on the themes of water and water-related ecosystems, and greening the economy. The report makes a number of  recommendations on how to enhance the knowledge base that underpins decision-making processes, improve assessment tools and ensure greater information exchange across the pan-European region and at a global level.

It also documents the benefits of a ‘Regular reporting Process’ of environmental assessment, based on the Shared Environmental Information System (SEIS) - a collaborative initiative of the European Commission, the EEA, and EEA member and cooperating countries. Based on the findings, it is expected that Ministers will decide to establish a regular process of environmental assessment and to develop SEIS across the region.

Water – key findings

Sustainable management of water and water-related ecosystems is a key issue across the pan-European region. Drought has increased in recent years across Southern Europe and Central Asia, while flooding is causing increasing deaths and economic damage. Clean water is also a problem, as an estimated 120 million people across the region live without access to safe drinking water or sanitation.

There is a huge range of information on the state of water produced by countries across the region. Authors of the report analysed more than 300 water-related reports from 48 countries, published over the last five years. However, the report says that information is often lacking or irrelevant to policy. Many assessments are also currently too restricted to environmental status and trends and need to focus more on measures and management, especially regarding water scarcity, extreme events and water ecosystems.

Current lack of analysis of green economy

 The report says that the ‘green economy’ is still an emerging concept. At its core is the idea of revitalising economies as they emerge from the recent economic crisis while significantly reducing environmental risks and addressing ecological scarcities. Globally, greening the economy is at the heart of renewed efforts to integrate environmental and social considerations with mainstream economic decision-making, up to and beyond the Rio 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development.

However, the report says that information on the green economy is generally fragmented and still somewhat limited. While several assessments exist that look at environmental impacts of different economic sectors, currently there remains a notable lack of reports that coherently assess progress towards a green economy across these sectors.