Progress report for
Implementation of the Shared Environmental Information System (SEIS) principles and practices in the ENP South region - ENI SEIS II South Support Mechanism
Achievement at a glance
A methodology for addressing environmental issues affecting the Mediterranean marine environment has been developed. The set of indicators has been updated and refined to provide a snap shot of the achievement of existing initiatives for pollution prevention and control. H2020 indicators were mainstreamed for complementarity to existing indicators established by relevant initiatives and programmes. Project’s eligible countries agreed on the methodological factsheets defining the scope, geographical coverage, data availability and data collection methodology of the set of indicators.<br>
<br>The 2nd ENI SEIS II Regional Meeting on Indicators was held on 17-18 April 2018 in Athens, Greece. It discussed the current progress on H2020 indicators development and related assessment on wastewater, industrial emissions and solid waste including marine litter. The meeting reviewed the proposed indicators’ methodological specifications and reporting processes and agreed on the final list of H2020 indicators and their specifications.
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<br>The 1st ENI SEIS II Regional Workshop on Infrastructure and Data Management was held on 4-5 October 2018 in Rome, Italy. The regional workshop aimed to provide technical solutions to the countries developing the Regional Infrastructure based on SEIS principles. The objectives of this workshop were: (a) to propose training activities to national experts to collect and share data through a Spatial Data Infrastructure; and, (b) to discuss and agree upon the data dictionaries developed for H2020 indicators. The workshop agreed on the way forward regarding data and data dictionaries and how to organize capacity building activities to support the establishment of the network for the exchange of data protocols in order to populate the indicators.
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<br>The work is ongoing at the regional and national level to establish the sound infrastructure for sustainable data collections. Two data calls are initiated for collecting the data for populating the indicators. MEDPOL (UN Environment/MAP) initiated data calls under already established information infrastructure.
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Challenges faced in implementation
For some countries, barriers exist due to the political environment and lack of national institutional or technical capacity, especially the compatibility of the national infrastructure with regional infrastructure. There are some delays on implementation of national activities which requires enhanced coordination and management efforts.<br>
Next Steps
The efforts are focused on continuing support to countries to effectively generate and report data, including in collaboration with the European Environment Agency (EAA) and Plan Bleu (UN Environment/MAP) to populate indicators factsheets and prepare H2020 National Assessment chapters as stipulated in the project. Implementation of national activities is underway on the ground, with Israel, Morocco and Palestine receiving financial support and working with national experts on the ground. MEDPOL (UN Environment/MAP) will continue to support the countries with guidance material for implementing Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (PRTR) and developing emission factors. MEDPOL will hold a regional thematic meeting and workshops underpinning the data collection. After distribution of the spreadsheets to the countries in mid-December 2018, data submission for populating H2020 indicators is expected to be finalized by second quarter of 2019. A workshop on industrial indicators including NBB/PRTR is already scheduled for March 2019; a workshop on wastewater indicators and waste indicators, including marine litter, are planned in late April 2019. Finalization of the SDI user guide in collaboration with INFO-RAC 9UN Environment/MAP) will be completed shortly.Beneficiaries
Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Palestine