Transcript Fourth UK National Reference Centre (NRC) group meeting

Eionet, the EEA & SOER 2015 –
An introduction
Martin Fowell
(UK Eionet National Focal Point team)
[email protected]
Agenda for the talk
• An introduction to the EEA-Eionet
• The UK NFP team & UK Eionet
• SOER 2015
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European Environment Agency
European Environment
Agency (EEA) and European
environment information
and observation network
(Eionet) was initially
established in the early
1990’s.
The original founding regulation (COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) No.
1210/90* of 7 May 1990) has been adapted overtime most recently in
2009: No 401/2009 of 23 April 2009
What is the EEA?
The EEA is
The EEA is not
an independent information
provider
a regulator, implementer or enforcer
an analyst and assessor
a research organisation
a builder of bridges between science a funder
and policy
there to support policy processes
and inform the public
a policy maker
EEA Structure
Executive Director’s
Office
(EDO)
Air and climate
change
(ACC)
Administrative
services
(ADS)
Communications
(COM)
Partnerships
and Networks
(PAN)
Integrated
environmental
assessments
ICT and data
management
(IEA)
(IDM)
Natural systems
and vulnerability
(NSV)
• Complete EEA organisational chart (as at March 2015):
http://www.eea.europa.eu/about-us/who/organisational-chart
Operational
services
(OSE)
Geographical coverage
33 Member countries (EU28+5); 6 Cooperating countries (West Balkan)
What is Eionet?
• Eionet - a network of more than 400 institutions from 39
countries represented by 1,800 experts
• ETCs - European Topic Centres (6)
• NFPs - National Focal Points (33+6)
• NRCs - National Reference Centres (24 topics)
European Topic Centres I
• Defined in EEA Regulation
• Centres of thematic expertise
• Work for the EEA under contract /
grant agreements to perform
specific tasks identified in MAWP
and AWP
• Consortium of organisations from
EEA member countries with an
identified lead organisation
• Potential activities include:
• data
• meetings
• indicators
• services
• reports
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European Topic Centres II
Aether
Joint Nature
Conservation
Committee
Joint Nature
Conservation
Committee
Hadley
Centre
UKCIP
• UK has a presence in several ETCs
9
The National Focal Point
• Primary link between the
EEA and the countries
• Defined in the regulation
that all participating
countries have an NFP
institution
• The NFP can be a single
person or a group of people
• Usually based in the
Environment Ministry or a
centralised national
environment agency
• tri-annual NFP meetings
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What does the NFP do?
• Co-ordination of the national
network (UK Eionet)
– Organising consultations
– NRC recruitment
– Encouraging/managing NRC
participation (data/meetings)
– Domestic meetings
– Domestic contribution to SOER 2015
• Promotion of EEA activities and products within the country
• Support to UK Management Board (MB) member
• Participate in NFP working groups aimed to tackle specific
issues.
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National Reference Centres (NRCs)
• Not mentioned in EEA Regulation (referred to Article 4 on
‘Main Component elements’)
• NRCs are institutions rather than individuals
• Thematic expertise on environmental (or related) issues
• As many or few as required to cover the range of different
types of expertise required for each role:
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The UK EIONET network
Energy, GHG
emissions –
DECC
Nature & Biodiversity –
Joint Nature Conservation
Committee (JNCC)
3 fresh water – SEPA, Env Agency,
Nat Resources Wales, NI Env Agency
Transport –DFT
Defra scientists and statisticians have
a role in many other NRC groups
such as climate change impacts, air
quality noise, waste and recourse
efficiency
24 NRC roles - structure reviewed (March 2014) to be in line with
MAWP 2014-2018
NRC profile description
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For more information on EEA-Eionet
• Eionet connects
http://www.eea.europa.eu/pub
lications/eionet-connects
• EEA general brochure
http://www.eea.europa.eu/pub
lications/eea-general-brochure
SOER 2015
• The EEA mandated in its governing
regulation to publish a State of the
Environment Report every five
years
• Report addresses the state of,
trends in and prospects for the
environment in Europe
• Latest report launched in Brussels
last week
• Suite of products:
• 2 physical reports
• 87 short online briefings
eea.europa.eu/soer
SOER 2015 – country briefings
• All countries to produce a 4 pages
country briefing
– Nominally based on national State of
Environment report
– No UK level SOE → need a creative
solution
– Tackles 4 questions
Q1 -What main areas/sectors/themes are addressed in the
national SOE report?
Q2 -What were the key findings of the SOE report?
Q3 -What are the main policy responses to key challenges
/ environmental concerns in your country?
Q4 -What country specific issues in SOE would you like to
highlight?
UK contribution to “a year of dialogue” pt. 1
• The EEA publicise SOER 2015 within Europe
• Countries are tasked with dissemination and outreach within
their territory.
• March UK Eionet meeting became a SOER event:
• Jock Martin presented SOER from the European perspective;
• Four different NRCs talked about SOE reporting in each of the
four UK countries;
• Tony Dolan (Irish NFP) spoke about air quality issues in
Ireland; and
• The event was opened up to the full Defra network;
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UK contribution to “a year of dialogue” pt. 2
• University roadshow
• York 11 March – White Rose Universities
• Lancaster 12 March – NW universities
• Leicester (June) – a SOER2015 / Corine Land Cover launch event
• Oxford (tbd) – ETC Climate Change Impacts & Adaptation event
• SEWeb & EEA conference run by SEPA 13 March
• Wales and NI still up for discussion
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Thank you
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Martin Fowell
(UK Eionet National Focal Point team)
[email protected]