MultiBeneficiary Instrument for PreAccession IPA Programme Specific project

Multi-Beneficiary Instrument for Pre-Accession (IPA) Programme: Specific project for the participation of West Balkan Countries in the work of EEA 2009 -2011 Community Agencies: Partners in Accession Sintra, Portugal 25 -27 November 2009

What is our mandate? To provide European decision makers and citizens with access to timely and relevant information and knowledge in order to • provide a sound basis for environmental policies • help answer their questions about the environment in their daily lives • ensure that environmental thinking and education is brought into the mainstream of decision-making

EEA works with EEA member countries EEA cooperating countries European Neighbourhood Policy ENP South ENP East Strategic Partnership Strategy for a new partnership for Central Asia • EEA 32 member countries • Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, FYR of Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia • Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestinian Authority, Syria, 3 Tunisia • Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine • Russian Federation

European environment information and observation network (Eionet) About 350 national institutions • • National focal points European topic centres National reference centres Other institutions

Overview of IPA Project Long-term Goal Objective WB countries Duration Budget Full participation in EEA WP with WB countries as EEA member countries Extension of the participation of the WB countries in the activities of EEA Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, FYROM, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia 24 months (12/09 -11/11) 1. 2 meuro

IPA Budget and Lead Responsibilities Content 1. Extension of the main EEA topic areas to the West Balkan countries: • Water • Air and Climate Change • Biological Diversity • Land use and spatial information • Sustainable consumption and production 2. Support for inclusion in regular assessment reports 3. Development of a regular indicator reporting system Budget euro 273000 232000 80000 Networking 4. Development of the EIONET network and participation of NRCs/country experts in major EEA meetings and events 435000 Capacity building 5. Overall EEA Project Coordination and Technical support 180000 Total budget 1200000

The Shared Environmental Information System - SEIS • SEIS aims to improve, modernise and streamline environmental information • It is to be Ø A distributed, integrated, web-enabled system Ø A network where public providers share data and information Ø Based on existing e-infrastructure, systems and services at national and EU level

Information Pyramid Bottom-up Top-down Knowledge Assessment Indicators Data Monitoring

Areas of Priority Data Flows (15 in total) • • Air pollution Ø Annual air pollutant emissions data Ø Exchange of Information Decision (air quality data) Ø Monthly ozone data during summer (April–September) Ø Annual air quality questionnaire Ø Near real-time ozone reporting Climate Change Mitigation Ø Greenhouse gas emissions data Water quality Ø Quality of Rivers, Lakes and Groundwater Ø Quality of transitional, coastal and marine water Biodiversity Ø Common Database on Nationally Designated Areas

West Balkan Progress in Eionet Priority Dataflows Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD 5 in mg O 2/l) in rivers in European countries, 2006 or latest year available

The European Environment: State and Outlook 2010 A B C Exploratory assessment European analysis of environm. systems • Atmosphere • Freshwater • Marine • Terrestrial • Human Country specific analyses • Global drivers • Megatrends • Uncertainties • Long-term policy implications Synthesis • Diversity • Commonality • Flexibilty Integrated Analysis (Reflecting – Reviewing – Rethinking)

Additional investment required • • • To enhance national capacities To enhance national monitoring systems To improve data management To complete national contributions to the Shared Environmental Information System To get ready for full EEA membership To provide full EEA support EEA has a core budget of 40 meuro to support 32 EEA member countries, of which 35 meuro to support 27 EU Member States EEA has received approx 100 keuro/country/year to the West Balkan countries over 14 years and 7+ grants 200 -300 keuro/country/year would be needed to provide full support and enable full EEA membership

Conclusions • West Balkan country information on the environment is improving and increasingly accessible • West Balkan countries are advancing towards EEA membership • Further improvement requires additional investment • We also need a long-term strategy to maintain activities and facilitate membership and participation in EEA work programme

Conclusions • West Balkan country information on the environment is improving and increasingly accessible • West Balkan countries are advancing towards EEA membership • Further improvement requires additional investment • Need a longer-term strategy for continuing funding and support to maintain activities and facilitate full membership

Thank you for your attention!