30 April 2012: The 18th session of the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Committee on Environmental Policy focused on, inter alia: environmental performance reviews and environmental monitoring and assessment; the upcoming UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20); and the UNECE multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs).

The session, which took place in Geneva, Switzerland, from 17-20 April 2012, brought together governments, agencies across the UN system, and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations. The Chairs and Vice-Chairs of the UNECE MEAs updated the Committee on their capacity building activities to strengthen implementation of the MEAs and their application to a green economy, and to give informal input to the Committee for Rio+20. The Committee extended provisionally the mandates of the Working Group on Environmental Monitoring and Assessment and the Joint Task Force on Environmental Indicators. The Committee also adopted the recommendations in the First Environmental Performance Review (EPR) of Turkmenistan and the Second EPRs of Albania and Romania, and extended the mandate of the Expert Group on EPRs.

The session highlighted progress in implementing the Strategy on Education for Sustainable Development and the Pan-European Programme on Transport, Health and Environment, and called attention to the Environment and Security Initiative, the Environment and Health Process and the green building initiative.

As the major outcome of the session, the Committee adopted the Environment subprogramme for the biennium 2012-2012, and the strategic framework for 2014-2015, and approved the list of countries eligible for financial support.

The 19th session of the UNECE Committee on Environmental Policy is scheduled for 22-25 October 2013. [UNECE Press Release]