The second Environmental Performance Review (EPR) of Armenia kicks off in Yerevan under the lead of UNECE and carried out by a large, multidisciplinary team of international experts. This is the 56th EPR since the establishment of the UNECE EPR Programme over a quarter of a century ago. Armenia has requested UNECE to review its environmental performance for the second time. To provide the groundwork for the review, a team of UNECE and international experts is participating in a mission to the country from 14 to 22 March 2022.
UNECE EPRs offer a comprehensive tool to help countries identify key environmental challenges and establish concrete recommendations to improve environmental sustainability across all sectors.
The second review of Armenia will assess developments over the past decade on air quality, water management, biodiversity and protected areas, soil conservation, waste and chemicals management and greening the economy. It will also examine the country’s environmental data, information and observation systems, the extent to which international environmental agreements and commitments are implemented, and activities regarding climate change. Public access to environmental information, participation in environmental decision-making and access to justice on environmental matters will be reviewed, as will the integration of education for sustainable development into the education system’s curriculum, institutions and society. The review will also look at the country’s environmental legal, policy and institutional framework and regulatory and compliance assurance mechanisms. Further, the integration of environmental considerations into industry, energy, transport and agriculture, as well as issues related to environment and health, will be reviewed.
In addition, this second review will assess the country’s progress towards relevant targets and indicators of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The review team will examine how the SDGs are being adapted to the national context and how the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is put into practice, whether the necessary resources have been allocated and responsibilities are clear, what obstacles have been encountered when targeting the Goals and what concrete results have already been achieved.
Building on the analysis of progress made since 2011, the second review will result in a set of recommendations on how to further improve Armenia’s environmental performance. The review process will culminate with the UNECE Committee on Environmental Policy considering the recommendations, with a view to their adoption, and the country making a commitment to implement them within the next few years. Before the Committee meets, a group of experts from UNECE countries together with a delegation from Armenia will scrutinize the review and finalize the recommendations.
The mission currently underway is organized by the Ministry of Environment in cooperation with other ministries and governmental institutions. During the mission, the international team of experts led by UNECE will meet with governmental officials, national experts, representatives of academia, business and civil society organizations. The second review of Armenia is made possible with financial and in-kind support from Austria, France, Germany (the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety and the German Federal Environment Agency, with funds provided through the Advisory Assistance Programme), Hungary, Portugal and Switzerland, as well as the United Nation Environment Programme.
For more information about the UNECE’s Environmental Performance Reviews, please visit http://www.unece.org/env/epr.