REFORM OF THE “ENVIRONMENT FOR EUROPE” PROCESS

At the 6th Ministerial Conference "Environment for Europe" (EfE) (Belgrade, Serbia, 10-12 October 2007), the Ministers agreed that the EfE process should continue; however, it should be reformed.

The UNECE Committee on Environmental Policy (CEP) will have to develop, by the end of 2008, a plan for EfE reform so that it can be endorsed, at a political level, by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe at its next session in spring 2009.

Such plan should be developed "in consultation with EfE partners". The ministers agreed that the UNECE region- wide dimension of the EfE process should be maintained, while delivery should be seen as a major criterion of the effectiveness of the EfE process.

The Ministers agreed that the reform should focus on, although may not be limited to, the following aspects:

(a) The format, focus and priorities of the process and Ministerial Conferences;
(b) Evaluating the performance and impact of the process;
(c) Attracting the broader interest and more active engagement of all stakeholders, in particular the private sector;
(d) Expanding the use of partnerships as vehicles for improving implementation;
(e) Leveraging external contributions of expertise, manpower and resources;
(f) Assessing ways and means to promote more effectively the UNECE region-wide dimension of environmental cooperation;
(g) The full cost of the process and the effective allocation of available resources;
(h) Future secretariat arrangements.

The next EfE Ministerial Conference will be organized on the basis of the agreed reform. There was an offer from Kazakhstan to host the next Conference in 2011.
The Belgrade conference agreed that the OECD should continue providing EAP Task Force Secretariat, although some of these functions should be gradually transferred to new Regional Environmental Centers (new RECs) in Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia, "as their capacities allow, starting with subregional, country and project-oriented tasks".