Thanks to support from UNEP, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s national capacity on environmental data collection and reporting is being boosted and steps towards fulfillment of the country's obligations under environmental treaties are being simplified.

UNEP partnered with the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of Bosnia and Herzegovina to organise a first stakeholder meeting in Banja Luka on 16 June 2015. The event took place under the scope of a project funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and is being implemented to enhance capacities for environmental management and reporting.

The meeting was hosted by Mr. Srđan Todorović, director of the Fund for Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency of the Republika Srpska, who opened the meeting jointly with the UNEP Regional Office for Europe (ROE).

More than 20 representatives from national institutions involved in environmental data collection and reporting at different levels in the country took part in the meeting. Outcomes of the first phase of the project were presented, which concentrated on the deployment of new air quality monitoring equipment for two hydro-meteorological institutes in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and on producing a review of existing sets of environmental indicators and reporting processes in the country.

National stakeholders discussed the current system for reporting on the three Rio Conventions (the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification), as well as UNECE and the European Environment Information and Observation Network (EIONET), identifying gaps to be addressed and opportunities for improvement.

The ROE delivered a technical presentation on UNEP Live and on National Reporting Systems (NRS), highlighting their potential for online data sharing and for enhancing the coordination of data sharing from different agencies for reporting needs. Participating agencies showed interest in the tools for connecting existing national databases in different agencies.

EMIS to be linked to UNEP Live

Next steps include the finalization of a data collection, sharing and reporting mechanism for adoption by the relevant authorities, the identification of existing data systems and assessment of institutional needs so that an Environment Management Information System (EMIS) can be established to support environmental reporting and be linked to UNEP Live.

This Stakeholder meeting was the first to be held under the UNEP/GEF MSP Project on 'Capacity Development for the integration of global environmental commitments into national policies and development decision making in Bosnia and Herzegovina’.

For more information about the project please contact: piercarlo.sandei@unvienna.org 

or amina.omicevic@unep.org

For more information about UNEP Live activities in the pan-European region please contact: tomas.marques@unep.org