Synergies in PRTR capacitybuilding activities

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Synergies in PRTR capacity-building activities
Michael Stanley-JonesEnvironmental Information
Management OfficerAarhus Convention
SecretariatSteering Committee for the Global
Environment Facility (GEF) medium-sized project
POPs monitoring, reporting and information
dissemination using Pollutant Release and
Transfer Registers (PRTRs)1 to 4 June 2009,
Santiago de Chile
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Kiev Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer
Registers

• First legally binding international instrument
  "to enhance public access to information through
  the establishment of coherent, nationwide
  pollutant release and transfer registers (PRTRs)
• Negotiated under the auspices of the UNECE
• Legal mandate found in the UNECE Convention on
  Access to Information, Public Participation in
  Decision-making and Access to Justice in
  Environmental Matters (Aarhus Convention),
  article 5, para. 9
• to establish progressivelya coherent,
  nationwide system of pollution Inventories or
  registers
• adopted at the fifth Environment for Europe
  Ministerial Conference in Kiev in May 2003"
• Open to accession by any Member State of the UN
  or any regional economic integration organization

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Kiev Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer
Registers

• Assist Governments to collect and disseminate
  information on emissions of greenhouse gases and
  hazardous substances, contributing to the fight
  against global warming and toxic chemicals, which
  pose the most significant threats to the global
  environment and human health
• Stockholm Convention POPs and Kyoto Protocol GHGs
  included through
• Protocols facility-specific reporting
  requirements
• With 14 of the 16 ratifications by member States
  needed for entry into force, the Protocol is
  expected to enter into force in 2009
• European Community is a Party through EU PRTR
  Regulation European PRTR release on 30 September
  2009

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International activities

• UNECE serves as secretariat to the International
  PRTR Coordinating Group working with UNEP,
  UNITAR, OECD, European Commission, North American
  Commission on Environmental Cooperation, Regional
  Environmental Centers and donor Governments
  (Belgium, Canada, Japan, Norway, Switzerland, UK
  and USA) to develop national PRTRs

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PRTRs and the SAICM Global Plan of Action (GPA)

• Possible work areas and associated activities
  nos. 124126, 177180
• Design process
• Mechanisms
• Guidance
• Framework
• Political consensus
• Dissemination
• Harmonizing performance
• SAICM Quick Start Programme funding opportunity ?

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PRTR capacity-building activities matrix online

• Launch of PRTR capacity-building matrix in the
  Aarhus Clearinghouse for Environmental
  Democracy
• http//aarhusclearinghouse.unece.org

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Selected OECD PRTR Publications

• Resource Compendium of RETs, Parts 1-3 Summary
  of Techniques for Point Sources Diffuse Sources
  and Off-site Transfers
• Uses of Pollutant Release and Transfer Register
  Data and Tools for Their Presentation A
  Reference Manual
• Framework for Selecting and Applying PRTR Release
  Estimation Techniques
• Study on the inclusion of releases and transfers
  from small and medium-sized enterprises in PRTRs

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PRTR Databases

• Global Portal to PRTR Information
• www.PRTR.net
• Resource Centre for RETs
• www.oecd.org/env/prtr/rc
• Centre for PRTR Data
• www.oecd.org/env/prtr/data

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For more information

• UNECE Working Group on PRTRs
• / International PRTR Coordinating Group
• www.unece.org/env/pp/prtr.htm
• E-mail aarhus.clearinghouse_at_unece.org