5TH MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE «ENVIRONMENT FOR EUROPE», IN KIEV New Instruments to Protect the Environment

Bern, 14.05.2003 - The pan-European environment protection is faced with new challenges as a result of the EU east expansion. More than ever, the focus of attention will be on the central and eastern European countries. The agenda of the Ministerial Conference «Environment for Europe» in Kiev will include the research of new financing instruments for the conservation of biodiversity in Europe.

The Ministerial Conference «Environment for Europe» was set up in 1991 with a view to promoting environmental collaboration between European countries and to maintaining environmental standards in the transition countries of the former East block. The fifth such conference will be held in Kiev from 21 to 23 May. Fifty-five member states of the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) will be participating. Switzerland will be represented by a delegation of members of SAEFL, SDC and seco headed by SAEFL Director Philippe Roch.

Switzerland would like to execute a new legally binding protocol, which is the Pollutant Release and Transfer Register Protocol. The protocol aims to improve public access to information by compiling national pollutant release and transfer registers, thus contributing towards the prevention and decrease of environmental pollution (see Fact sheet 1; pdf, 13kB):

Due to time constraints, Switzerland is not yet ready to execute two further protocols. The Protocol on Liability regulates compensation for transboundary damages as a consequence of industrial accidents at sites with a high chemical exposure. Before executing this protocol, the Federal Council plans on establishing a task force including representatives of the industrial sector, to ensure that there are no competitive disadvantages for the Swiss economy.

The Protocol on Strategic Environmenal Assessment is based on the corresponding EU directive, and envisages to take environmental concerns into account to a greater extent directly at the strategic level of decision-making (plans and programs) and, thereby, to transfer environmental impact assessment to a project level. The negotiations to do this have just been concluded, and the Federal Council still needs to come to an agreement with the Cantons before executing the protocol.

Environmental cooperation is shifting eastwards

The transition process in the central and northeastern European countries– including the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia and the Baltic States – made rapid progress after the fall of the iron curtain. These countries have assimilated the environmental legislation and have set up efficient authorities. Swiss environmental cooperation with other western countries has shifted further east towards countries of the former Soviet Union, focusing specifically on Russia, the Ukraine and the Caucasian and Central Asian republics. Switzerland contributes approximately CHF 200m to support transition countries. In the context of the Environment Strategy for the 12 CIS countries, which is to be adopted in Kiev (see Fact sheet 2; pdf, 19kB), Switzerland supports:

The Strategic partnership on water for sustainable development in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia (EU Water Initiative). The goals of this partnership are in agreement with those of the Sustainability Summit in Johannesburg and read as follows: The number of people who do not have access to drinking water and who do not have sanitation must be halved by 2015. In addition, plans for integral water resource management for watersheds, rivers, lakes and underground rivers should be developed by 2005. Maintaining ecosystems which store, filter and distribute water is the basis for ensuring clean drinking water. This is why Switzerland is specifically pleading for a comprehensive approach for maintaining ecosystems. (Fact sheet 2). Having developed water programmes over the past years in Central Asia and South East Europe, the SDC and seco are participating in the EU Water Initiative.
The adoption of the Resolution on Biological and Landscape Diversity, which requires the implementation of globally drafted goals – as in the case of the Sustainability Summit in Johannesburg– in the field of biological diversity on a regional level. The resolution gives further credibility to the activities and projects supported by Switzerland for sustaining biodiversity in all of Europe. It includes the initiative launched by Switzerland for funding biodiversity with the help of private partners. Biodiversity conservation projects are currently funded primarily by public authorities. Increased funding and efforts are necessary, because in spite of the numerous national and international programmes, there has been an alarming decrease in biodiversity and its most important ecological benefits for society. (Fact sheet 2)