For a cleaner Mediterranean by the year 2020This initiative is funded by the European Commission through DG EuropeAid.
For a cleaner Mediterranean by the year 2020For a cleaner Mediterranean by the year 2020The 5th Meeting of the Horizon 2020 Steering Committee, the 3rd meeting of its Capacity Building Sub-Group, as well as a meeting of the RMR Working Group on Environmental Indicators will take place in Barcelona from 18-19 April, 2012. The meetings will be hosted at the premises of the UfM Secretariat.
Support for projects in Lebanon (Al Ghadir) and Tunisia (Lake Bizerte) are well advanced with feasibility studies expected to be completed during the next 6 months. MeHSIP-PPIF has recently started on feasibility study assignments in Egypt (Kafr El Sheikh) and Jordan (Al Ekaider) where important progress is expected during 2012. With all 4 studies now under way, MeHSIP-PPIF will continue its work to develop the project pipeline and identify funding sources for preparation and implementation of new priority investment projects under the Horizon 2020 initiative.
A guidance document on SEIS (also called 'SEIS cookbook’) bringing together good practices and examples of developing and implementing Shared Environmental Information System on the country level is currently under preparation, based on the experience and working progress on SEIS in the EEA/Eionet member and cooperating countries.
Voluntary adoption of EU environmental legislation in the water sector and especially improved drinking and wastewater standards could lead to a decrease in morbidity and mortality and to benefits ranging between 9 and 21 billion euros per year in the European Neighbourhood partner countries and the Russian Federation, the international study project on Socio-economic Benefits of Enhanced Environment Protection says.
Following a consultation period after the second H2020 Review, Monitoring and Research (RMR) Sub-Group meeting, held at the EEA premises in March 2011, an outline for the proposed pilots to report on progress in the three H2020 priority areas has been agreed and was further discussed with the countries during the Steering Committee meeting in November 2011. The outline is available here
Seven senior staff members of the Palestinian Environment Quality Authority (EQA) visited Vienna, Austria, for a four-day study visit to the Austrian Environment Agency and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management (19-22 December 2011). Through this study visit the Horizon 2020 Capacity Building/Mediterranean Environment Programme (CB/MEP) addressed the EQA’s request to strengthen its capacity in environmental management issues.
The second meeting of the ENPI-SEIS Steering Committee (Copenhagen, 24-25 November 2011), gathered more than 50 experts from the partner countries in the South (and the East), as well as representatives from the European Commission, UNEP/MAP and UNECE.
This three-day long regional training course was organized in Amman, Jordan (19-21 December 2011) and was a collaborative effort of two ENPI funded projects, the H2020 CB/MEP and the recently launched Sustainable Integrated Water management (SWIM) project. Twenty five high-level professionals from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Jordan, Lebanon, Montenegro, Morocco, oPt and Tunisia attended the course.
