Project Background and Partners
The development of the Information Repository of Good Practices and Lessons Learned was co-led and co-funded by the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the UNECE Industrial Accidents Convention, in cooperation with the UNECE Committee on Urban Development, Housing and Land Management, the Convention on Environmental Assessment in a Transboundary Context, the Protocol on Strategic Environmental Assessment, and the Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters. Where relevant, the good practices highlight the linkages to the relevant UNECE instruments, conventions, frameworks, and tools.
This project was a follow-up activity to the previous joint efforts between the abovementioned organisations, in particular to the:
- UNECE Sub-regional workshop on land-use planning and industrial safety (Chisinau, Republic of Moldova, 2019)
- UNECE Seminar on land-use planning and industrial safety (Mechelen, Belgium, 2018)
- UNECE Guidance on land-use planning, the siting of hazardous activities and related safety aspects (2017)
- UNECE Joint workshop on land-use planning, the siting of hazardous activities and related safety aspects (Geneva, Switzerland, 2016)
- UNECE Joint Seminar on land-use planning around hazardous sites (The Hague, Netherlands, 2010)
The development of the Information Repository was one of the key recommendations arising from the seminar on land-use planning and industrial safety held in Mechelen in 2018, in order to support the further exchange of information, good practices and experiences among countries in the UNECE region on land-use planning and industrial safety.
Many of the good practices and lessons learned contained within the Guidance and presented at the abovementioned seminars/workshops have been included in the Information Repository.
European Investment Bank (EIB)
Natural disasters, such as earthquakes, floods, droughts, mudslides, avalanches and landslides, put human lives, ecosystems and economies at risk. Investment in disaster risk prevention and reduction is essential to enhance the resilience of persons, communities, countries and their assets, as well as the environment.
Guided by the European Consensus on Development, the global plan for reducing disaster losses, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals, disaster risk reduction is an important area of financing for the EIB.
The EIB works with governments, multilaterals and other partners to manage projects, and deliver sustainable infrastructure and procurement in an efficient way. The Bank’s Climate Strategy promotes a risk management approach to increase the resilience of assets, communities and ecosystems related to EIB projects. Providing investments in support of disaster risk resilience, climate-resilient urban and rural infrastructure for deprived municipalities as well as innovative flood protection and early warning systems considering the needs of the most vulnerable will be important to tackle the climate-fragility and migration nexus.
The organisation also supports post-disaster reconstruction projects, a critical opportunity to build back better - including through integrating disaster risk reduction into development measures.
Find out more about the EIB and its experience with a diversity of innovative financing instruments to support climate action and disaster risk reduction.
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE)
All the countries of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) region, including the most developed, are vulnerable to disasters. Over the past decades, major disasters triggered by natural and technological hazards have wreaked havoc on the surrounding cities, towns and rural areas, people, and the environment.
Because disasters such as industrial spills and fumes do not respect borders, effective response requires transboundary or regional cooperation. The UNECE, through its instruments and tools, in particular the UNECE Convention on the Transboundary Effects of Industrial Accidents (Industrial Accidents Convention), supports cooperation across the region to prevent, prepare for and mitigate the effects of major accidents.
UNECE works to ensure that social and economic progress go hand in hand with better disaster risk management. Weak and under-resourced systems and infrastructure in sectors such as housing, energy networks, trade, transport hubs and information technology, require the capacity to manage risks. UNECE activities not only help to strengthen these systems’ capacity to deliver services in normal times, they also help to reduce disaster risks, build resilience and enable countries to cope with and recover from disasters when they occur.
For more information about how the abovementioned UNECE conventions, committees and protocols help countries within the UNECE region and beyond mitigate and manage disaster risks, please refer to the UNECE Resilience to disasters for sustainable development brochure.
For more information about UNECE and its instruments (conventions, frameworks, committees and tools) that address land-use planning, industrial safety, environmental assessment, public participation, and disaster risk reduction, please visit the UNECE Environmental Policy webpage and the webpage of the Committee on Urban Development, Housing and Land Management.