Upon request from the Moroccan authorities, UNECE will carry out an Environmental Performance Review (EPR) of Morocco. A review mission is planned for September 2012, with the aim of finalizing the report in the first half of 2013.
The review will cover 14 areas of particular importance to Morocco, including policy making, planning and implementation, the financing of environmental policies and projects, and the integration of environmental concerns into economic sectors, in particular agriculture and tourism. Other areas under review will include air pollution, water management, waste management, biodiversity and protected areas. Health issues will also be covered.
The review process, the first to take place in a country outside the UNECE region, will be carried out in collaboration with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), of which Morocco is a member State. The preparatory mission conducted in Rabat at the beginning of March by UNECE, with participation of a UNECA representative, demonstrated a high level of commitment of all major governmental and international stakeholders involved in environmental matters.
For more information on the EPR Programme, please visit: http://www.unece.org/env/epr/welcome.html
Note to editors
In 1993, at the Second “Environment for Europe” Ministerial Conference, ministers requested UNECE to undertake EPRs in countries that were not OECD members. By 2004, the first cycle of Reviews had been completed. UNECE is now finalizing the second round of reviews, taking stock of the progress made since the first review, and putting particular emphasis on implementation, integration, financing and the socio-economic interface with the environment. At the seventh “Environment for Europe” Ministerial Conference in Astana in September 2011, ministers invited UNECE to "conduct its third cycle of EPRs, which may include environmental governance and financing in a green economy context, countries’ cooperation with the international community and environmental mainstreaming in priority sectors."
UNECE's Programme of Environmental Performance Reviews has raised significant interest in other regions. As a response, the UNECE Committee on Environmental Policy has agreed to carry out EPRs beyond the UNECE region. The first EPR for a non-UNECE country in a given region should be a pilot project in cooperation between UNECE and the respective regional commission. The goal is to allow a transfer of methodology and know-how from UNECE to the regional commission, as soon as possible.
The main objectives of UNECE's EPR programme are to:

• assist countries to improve their management of the environment by making concrete recommendations for better policy design and implementation
• promote the exchange of information among countries about policies and experiences
• help integrating environmental policies into sector-specific economic policies
• promote greater accountability of reviewed countries to other countries and to the public strengthen cooperation with the international community.