Seventh "Environment for Europe" Ministerial Conference Astana, 21-23 September 2011

The Seventh “Environment for Europe” Ministerial Conference is scheduled to take place in Astana (Kazakhstan) from 21 to 23 September 2011. The Conference is being prepared in accordance with the provisions of Reform Plan of the “Environment for Europe” process (En/En, Fr/Fr, Ru/Ru). TheUNECE Committee on Environmental Policy is the convening body for the preparatory process.

At its sixteenth session, in October 2009, the Committee decided on the two main themes for the Conference:Sustainable management of water and water-related ecosystems; and Greening the economy: mainstreaming the environment into economic development. Whilst the Astana Ministerial Conference is expected to address identified environmental issues of common concern in the UNECE region, at the same time the Conference provides an opportunity to address priority environmental issues in the Central Asian sub-region.

The Extended Bureau of the Committee met in March 2010 to advance the preparations of a draft outline of the Conference agenda with a view to submit it to the Committee’s seventeenth session in November 2010 for consideration and adoption. Following the meeting of the Extended Bureau, the Committee’s Bureau with support from the secretariat prepared a draft outline of the Conference agenda for the seventeenth session. The special session of the Committee in May 2011 will work on advancing the preparations for the Conference. For more information on the preparatory process and meeting documents please consult the schedule of preparatory meetings.

Within the preparatory framework for the Astana Ministerial Conference, the Committee established a Steering Group to guide the preparation by the European Environment Agency of an “Assessment of Assessments” report for the Conference.