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Tools and Guidelines

Monitoring of our natural environment provides the basis for state-of-the-environment reporting and environmental assessments. The use of up-to-date, high quality and regularly reported environmental information and data is a quintessential component of this work, including their exchange and dissemination to public authorities and the public, and the final use of indicator-based assessments in policymaking.


The UNECE Working Group on Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, in close collaboration with the Joint Task Force on Environmental Statistics and Indicators, is actively engaged in the use and exchange of environmental information and data. The Working Group has, as part of these efforts, developed practical tools and guidelines to assist countries in their efforts to monitor and assess the status of and trends in our natural environment, including the harmonization of approaches across the pan-European region.


This work is carried out by UNECE with the support of the European Environment Agency and the United Nations Environment Programme using a common approach agreed between the three organizations. 


Below are some of the tools and guidelines that have been jointly developed:
Guidelines ENRU
Online Guidelines for the Application of Environmental Indicators
Guidelines for the application of environmental indicators in EECCA EN
Guidelines for the preparation of indicator-based environment assessment reports EN
Recommendations to Governments of EECCA countries for the application of environmental indicators and the preparation of indicator-based environmental assessment reports EN
Guidelines for developing national strategies to use biodiversity monitoring as an environmental policy tool for countries of Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia, as well as Interested South-Eastern European countries (January 2016) EN -
Progress in the production and sharing of core environmental indicators in countries of South-Eastern and Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia (March 2015) EN
Guidelines for Developing National Strategies to Use Air and Water Quality Monitoring as Environmental Policy Tools (July 2012) EN RU
Environmental Monitoring and Reporting by Enterprises (September 2007)  EN  RU
Environmental Indicators and Indicators-based Assessment Reports (August 2007)  EN RU
Environmental Monitoring and Reporting (August 2003)  EN RU