Project Implementation Progress Report - September 2006 Background The Italian Ministry for Environment, Land and Sea provided financial support for the umbrella project “Support for the implementation of the Carpathian Convention in the framework of the Alpine-Carpathian Partnership”. The umbrella project consists of four components, two of which are implemented by UNEP and two by REC. EURAC is a partner for the implementation of the two REC project components and it is also part of the Steering Committee that has been set up for the overall coordination of the umbrella project. The REC/EURAC project has two components, one leading to the development of national assessments in each of the Carpathian Countries; and one to the development of a Carpathian Convention Handbook. The progress registered under the project has been acclaimed by the first Preparatory Meeting to the Conference of the Parties and the results of the first phase will be presented during the first CoP. National assessments The process of developing the national assessments has been closely scrutinized by the Ad Hoc Expert Meetings held to date. The main steps were: developing a methodology for the national assessments, based on a comprehensive questionnaire; the main aim of the methodology is to ensure the comparability of data across the seven Carpathian countries; the questionnaire was submitted for review by the Signatories/Parties to the Carpathian Convention and presented during the 3rd Ad Hoc Expert Meeting of the Carpathian Convention in April 2005 identifying in each country independent national experts to carry out the assessments national stakeholder meetings to review the draft assessments; a national stakeholder meeting was held in each country, bringing together the Carpathian Convention National Focal Points, sectoral ministry representatives, local authorities, representatives of civil society and international organizations; the meetings followed a similar format, including an introduction to the Carpathian Convention and working group sessions for the review of the draft national assessments; the meetings in Hungary, Romania and Serbia were organized in partnership with ANPED and their local partners, respectively CEEWEB, UNESCO Pro Natura and Young Researchers of Serbia. Reports of the meetings are available on request reviewing the national assessments in the light of the comments and input received during the national stakeholder meetings as well as comments from the project team members on compliance with the quality and content requirements. Handbook on the Carpathian Convention The REC, together with EURAC, has taken on the responsibility for preparing a Handbook on the Carpathian Convention to serve as a guidance document for stakeholders, mainly local authorities, on the implementation of the principles and concepts defined by the Convention. The Handbook is also designed to emphasize good practices under the sectors covered by the Convention and to review relevant international and European standards already in place. Thus it will also be a valuable reference document during the drafting process of specific protocols to the Convention. The process of developing the Handbook has been closely scrutinized by the Ad Hoc Expert Meetings held to date. The main steps were: the definition of a thorough methodology and outline of the Handbook; these were presented to the 3rd Ad Hoc Expert Meeting of the Carpathian Convention in April 2005; the outline of the handbook follows the structure of the Convention and it covers the institutional aspects and operative provisions, analysed article by article REC and EURAC lawyers undertook extensive research on each of the topics covered by the Convention, reviewing relevant multilateral environmental agreements, international initiatives, the European acquis and case studies from the Carpathian and Alpine regions and drafted several of the sections of the Handbook: institutional aspects, analyses of article 2, article 4 (conservation and the sustainable use of biological and landscape diversity), article 6 (sustainable and integrated water/river basin management), article 8 (sustainable transport and infrastructure), article 9 (sustainable tourism) and article 11 (cultural heritage and traditional knowledge), and of Annex I on the status of participation in relevant multilateral agreements (a table of relevant agreements including data on their acceptance/ratification by the Carpathian countries). Results to date: five national assessments of the policy, legislative and institutional frameworks related to the Carpathian Convention: Hungary, Poland, Romania, Serbia and Ukraine, available in English and national-language versions two draft national assessments of the policy, legislative and institutional frameworks related to the Carpathian Convention : Czech Republic and Slovakia seven national stakeholder meetings the establishment of a successful partnership with ANPED for the organization of national stakeholder meetings and close coordination with ongoing initiatives: the FAO Initiative on Sustainable Forest Management, the Carpathian Environmental Outlook, etc. a draft Handbook on the Carpathian Convention a project website providing useful information on the Carpathian Convention and updates on the project implementation Next steps With the continuing support of the Italian Ministry for Environment, Land and Sea, the second phase of the project will be implemented in the period 2006-2008. The next activities are: preparing and publishing a regional assessment of the policy, legislative and institutional frameworks related to the Carpathian Convention finalizing and publishing the Handbook on the Carpathian Convention organizing one training session in each of the Carpathian countries on a specific priority topic related to the Carpathian Convention side event to the CoP 1 Omnibus Wrap-Up High-Level International Conference This document can be downloaded as PDF by clicking here

Project Home   Partners: