The good practices and lessons learned presented in the Information Repository highlight the efforts by countries within the UNECE region to improve disaster resilience and achieve sustainable development, in line with the relevant UNECE instruments, including the conventions, frameworks, and tools, as well as important global frameworks.
UNECE Guidance on Land-Use Planning, the Siting of Hazardous Activities and Related Safety Aspects
The Information Repository builds upon the experiences, good practices, and case studies gathered and published in the UNECE Guidance on Land-Use Planning, the Siting of Hazardous Activities and Related Safety Aspects, which was developed by the UNECE Industrial Accidents Convention, the European Investment Bank, the Convention on Environmental Assessment in a Transboundary Context, the Protocol on Strategic Environmental Assessment, and the Committee on Urban Development, Housing and Land Management.
The guidance highlights that safety and environmental considerations must come first in decisions on the use of land and the location of industrial hazardous activities. It is of utmost importance to ensure that appropriate safety measures are in place at industrial facilities, and that they are not constructed in areas prone to natural disasters and other risks, which are likely to be exacerbated by the expected increase of extreme weather events due to climate change.
There is an ongoing need for greater integration of industrial safety, land-use planning and environmental assessment procedures — to be able to make coordinated decisions on accident prevention and risk reduction.
Part A (the general guidance) highlights the experiences and good practices of UNECE countries in integrating industrial accidents safety considerations into environmental assessment and land-use planning processes. Part B (the technical guidance) provides detailed examples of land-use planning approaches and technical risk assessments in four UNECE countries – the Flanders region of Belgium, France, Italy and the United Kingdom.
Countries around the world, including public authorities, industry experts, environmental assessment practitioners, facility operators and other relevant stakeholders, are encouraged to make extensive use of this guidance for improving safety and sustainability at hazardous facilities, siting decisions, and land-use planning around these facilities.
Video on the benefits of enhanced cooperation between land-use planning and industrial safety (EIB and UNECE)
The video (ENG, RUS) provides recommendations on how countries can improve their coordination of land-use planning, the siting of hazardous activities and industrial safety in practice. It was produced by Zoi Environment Network, under the leadership of the European Investment Bank and UNECE, with contributions by the Government of Flanders (Belgium).