Report of the seventh meeting of the European Environment and Health Task Force: Copenhagen, Denmark, 10–11 April 2017

Better Health. Better Environment. Sustainable Choices. Report of the seventh meeting of the European Environment and Health Task Force Copenhagen, Denmark 10-11 April 2017 Seventh meeting of the European Environment and Health Task Force (EHTF) Copenhagen, Denmark 10–11 April 2017 EURO/EHTF7/2017 Original: English Report of the seventh meeting of the European Environment and Health Task Force Copenhagen, Denmark, 10–11 April 2017 2 Abstract At its seventh meeting, the European Environment and Health Task Force (EHTF) agreed on final drafts of two of the three outcome documents to be submitted to the Sixth Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health, to be held in Ostrava, Czech Republic on 13– 15 June 2017, and asked its Ad Hoc Working Group to finalize the third. The EHTF attended the second on a series of three WHO briefings to promote the Conference to diplomats, and received updates on preparations for the Conference and on the reaction of the 22nd session of the UNECE Committee on Environmental Policy (CEP), held in January 2017, to the EHTF’s invitation to WHO and UNECE to consider establishing a joint secretariat for the European environment and health process. Keywords ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY – trends CONGRESSES EUROPE Address requests about publications of the WHO Regional Office for Europe to: Publications WHO Regional Office for Europe UN City Marmorvej 51 DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø Denmark Alternatively complete online requests form for documentation, health information, or for permission to quote or translate, on the WHO/Europe website (http://www.euro.who.int/pubrequest). Document number: WHO/EURO:2017-3011-42769-59674 © World Health Organization 2017 All rights reserved. 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The views expressed by authors, editors, or expert groups do not necessarily represent the decisions or the stated policy of the World Health Organization. 3 Contents Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 1 Review and adoption of final draft outcome documents for the Sixth Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health ....................................................................................................... 1 Progress in preparations for the Ministerial Conference ........................................................... 2 Annex 1. Scope and purpose ...................................................................................................... 4 Annex 2. Programme ................................................................................................................. 5 Annex 3. Short report of the meeting ....................................... Error! Bookmark not defined. Annex 4. Participants ................................................................................................................. 6 1 Introduction 1. The WHO Regional Office for Europe convened the seventh meeting of the European Environment and Health Task Force (EHTF) to conclude the preparations for the Sixth Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health, which would take place in Ostrava, Czech Republic, on 13–15 June 2017, by completing the drafting of the political outcome documents of the Conference. In addition, the EHTF received updates on other preparations for and the programme of the Conference, including the main outcomes of the 22nd session of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Committee on Environmental Policy, held in Geneva, Switzerland, in January 2017. 2. The EHTF comprised representatives of 36 Member States and nine other stakeholders in the European environment and health process (EHP): WHO, UNECE, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the European Environment Agency (EEA), the Regional Environmental Center (REC), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the European Environment and Health Youth Coalition (EEHYC), ECOFORUM and the Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL). The EHTF was welcomed by the WHO Regional Director for Europe, who summarized progress achieved in the negotiation of the political outcome documents for the Ministerial Conference. The EHTF adopted the agenda and programme of the meeting, and the report of its sixth meeting, held in Vienna on 29–30 November 2016. The meeting was chaired by Robert Thaler (Austria). A request was made for the nomination of a co-chair from the health sector. See Annex 1 for the scope and purpose of the meeting, Annex 2 for its agenda and Annex 3 for the list of participants. Review and adoption of final draft outcome documents for the Sixth Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health 3. The EHTF received new drafts of the three outcome documents for the Conference in Ostrava – the Conference declaration and annexes on action to implement it and institutional arrangements for the EHP – in two forms – one showing all the changes and comments made through the consultation process in February–March 2017 and the 10th meeting of the EHTF Ad Hoc Working Group, held in Frankfurt, Germany on 24 March, and the other a clean version with all changes incorporated. The EHTF expressed appreciation for the progress that had been made in the redrafting of the outcome documents. After a very lively and detailed discussion of the third draft of the declaration, the participants agreed on a fourth draft for presentation to the Conference. 4. In considering the third draft of Annex I, the EHTF decided to retain it as an annex to the declaration, and to rename it a compendium of possible actions that Member States could consider including in their national portfolios for action on environment and 2 health. The EHTF discussed the actions proposed and asked the Working Group to use its comments to finalize the compendium as soon as possible. The EHTF discussed Annex II, on institutional arrangements for the EHP, in detail and agreed on a third draft, which would be finalized for adoption at the Sixth Ministerial Conference. It also decided to hold a final open-ended meeting of the Working Group during the Ministerial Conference. Progress in preparations for the Ministerial Conference 5. The EHTF received an update on progress in the preparation of the Ministerial Conference, including the form and content of the programme, which was intended to address the seven priority issues in a cross-cutting way. WHO had received 19 applications for the 14 programme slots for side events. The EHTF agreed that all 19 would be accepted and asked the Secretariat to determine how to combine some of the proposals, and to inform the organizers of these decisions as soon as possible. 6. To promote the Conference, WHO held the second of three briefings for diplomats during the EHTF meeting. The first had been held in Geneva, Switzerland in the previous week and the third would take place in Prague, Czech Republic in May. The second enabled the 21 ambassadors and their representatives attending it to meet with EHTF members at a working lunch. Chaired by the WHO Regional Director for Europe and with the participation of the Ambassador of the Czech Republic to Denmark, the Chair of the EHTF and representatives of the WHO Regional Office for Europe, UNECE and UNEP, the briefing described the preparations for the Conference; its priorities, frameworks and proposed political outcome documents; and UNECE’s and UNEP’s input to the Conference and priorities for EHP. Any other business and closure of the meeting 7. In addition, the EHTF was informed of the main outcomes of the 22nd session of the UNECE Committee on Environmental Policy (CEP), held in January 2017. At its meeting in November 2016, the Task Force had invited WHO and UNECE to consider establishing a joint secretariat for the EHP. In its January session, the CEP determined that funds from its regular budget could not be used for this purpose and decided to discuss the invitation further at its next session, on the basis of a background document that would assess the extrabudgetary resources that would be needed. Finally, the twenty- first meeting of the Working Group of the Parties to the Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters, held on 4–6 April 2017, had included a thematic discussion on the EHP. 8. The EHTF Chair thanked the participants for their active and constructive participation and the secretariat for the preparations: The WHO Regional Director thanked the Chair 3 of the EHTF for his highly effective chairmanship and all participants for their contributions, and the EHTF warmly thanked its Chair for his excellent chairmanship. 4 Annex 1. Scope and purpose The seventh meeting of the European Environment and Health Task Force (EHTF) is convened to conclude the preparations of the Sixth Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health, which will take place in Ostrava, Czech Republic, on 13–15 June 2017. The main purpose of the meeting is to finalize the drafting of the political outcome documents of the Ministerial Conference. In particular, the discussion will focus on the following main areas: 1. negotiating the outcome documents of the Sixth Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health: EHTF will review and finalize the draft outcome documents for the Ministerial Conference proposed by the Ad Hoc Working Group – the ministerial declaration and its two annexes – to be adopted in Ostrava; to complement the background to the discussion on the outcomes of the Ministerial Conference, the Secretariat will present the outcomes from the online consultation on the draft outcome documents conducted in February–March 2017; 2. reporting and informing: EHTF will be updated about the preparations for and the programme of the Sixth Ministerial Conference in 2017; furthermore, EHTF will be informed about the main outcomes of the discussions held at the 22nd session of the UNECE Committee on Environmental Policy (Geneva, Switzerland, 25–27 January 2017). 5 Annex 2. Agenda Monday, 10 April 2017 Registration Agenda items 1a and 1b: opening of the meeting and election of the EHTF co-chair Agenda item 3b: report on the main outcomes of the discussions held at the 22nd session of the UNECE Committee on Environmental Policy (Geneva, Switzerland, 25–27 January 2017) Agenda item 2: review and adoption of the final draft outcome documents for the Sixth Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health Reception hosted by the Dr Zsuzsanna Jakab, WHO Regional Director for Europe Tuesday, 11 April 2017 Agenda item 2 (continued): review and adoption of the final draft outcome documents for the Sixth Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health Briefing for the ambassadors of WHO European Member States on the Sixth ministerial Conference on Environment and Health Agenda item 3a: update on the preparations of the Ministerial Conference Agenda item 4: any other business and closure of the meeting 6 Annex 3. Participants Member States Albania Eralda Mariani, Officer for Epidemiology, Ministry of Health, Tirana Armenia Anahit Aleksandryan, Head of Hazardous Substances and Waste Policy Division, Ministry of Nature Protection, Yerevan Nune Bakunks, Deputy Director General, National Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Ministry of Health, Yerevan Austria Robert Thaler, Head of Division, Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management, Vienna Sonja Spiegel, Deputy Head of Department, Federal Ministry of Health and Women’s Affairs, Vienna Azerbaijan Emin Garabaghli, Head of International Cooperation Division, Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources, Baku Belarus Siarhei Sychyk, Director, National Coordinator within European Environment and Health Process, Republican Unitary Enterprise “Scientific Practical Centre of Hygiene”, Minsk Alena Drazdova, Head of Laboratory of Environmental Factors and Health Risk Assessment Technologies, Republican Unitary Enterprise “Scientific Practical Centre of Hygiene”, Minsk Belgium Isabel De Boosere, Attaché, Federal Public Service Health, Food Chain Safety and Environment, Brussels Fabrice Thielen, Chair of the National Cell Environment & Health, Federal Public Service Public Health Croatia Krunoslav Capak, Head, Croatian National Institute of Public Health, Zagreb Sibila Žabica, Head of Independent Sector for European Affairs, International Cooperation and Protocol, Ministry of Health, Zagreb Czech Republic František Mudroňka, Department of International Affairs and the European Union, Ministry of Health, Prague Lukas Pokorny, Head of International Organization Unit, Ministry of Environment, Prague Vladimira Puklova, Senior Researcher, National Institute of Public Health, Prague 7 Denmark Pernille Thygesen, Academic Employee, Danish Health Authority, Copenhagen France Caroline Paul, Head of the Unit EA1, Outdoor Environment and Chemicals, Directorate- General of Health, Ministry of Health, Paris Emmanuelle Jouy, International Health Officer, Ministry of Health, Paris Marie-Pierre Meganck, Head of International Unit, Ministry of the Environment, Energy and the Sea, La Defense Germany Karin Höppner, Senior Scientific Advisor, Federal Ministry of Health, Bonn Birgit Wolz, Head of Division, Environment and Health, Federal Ministry for the Environment,, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety, Bonn Barbara Werschkun, Consultant, Science Bureau, Berlin Georgia Nana Gabriadze, Head of Environmental Health Division, National Centre for Disease Control and Public Health, Ministry of Labour, Health and Social Affairs of Georgia, Tbilisi Hungary Tamas Pandics, Director-General, National Public Health Centre, Budapest Ireland Siobhán McEvoy, Chief Environmental Health Officer, Department of Health, Dublin Italy Aldo Di Benedetto, Medical Officer, Directorate-General of Health Prevention, Ministry of Health, Rome Massimo Cozzone, Senior Officer, Ministry for the Environment Land and Sea, Rome Kyrgyzstan Asylbek Sydykanov, Deputy Director, Department of Disease and State Sanitary Epidemiological Surveillance, Ministry of Health, Bishkek Lithuania Romualdas Sabaliauskas, Director, Centre for Health Education and Disease Prevention, Vilnius Olita Rusickaite, Public Health Specialist, Centre for Health Education and Disease Prevention, Vilnius Malta Karen Vincenti, Consultant, Public Health Medicine, Ministry for Health, Valletta Monaco Patrick Rampal, Co-Chair, EHTF Working Group on Climate Change and Health; President, Monaco Scientific Centre 8 Montenegro Borko Bajić, Institute of Public Health, Environment; Health Focal Point, Ministry of Health, Podgorica Netherlands Joris Vandervoet, Deputy Director, Safety and Risks, Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment, The Hague Brigitte Dessing, Policy Advisor, Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment, The Hague Esther Putman, Policy Advisor, Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport, The Hague Norway Kjetil Bordvik, Senior Adviser, Ministry of Health and Care Services, Oslo Poland Wojciech Hanke, Research Director, Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine, Lodz Leszek Karski, Director of Strategy and Communication Department, Chief Inspectorate of Environmental Protection, Warsaw Portugal Telma Branco, Head of Unit of European Affairs, Ministry of Environment, Lisbon Russian Federation Oxana Sinitsyna, Deputy Director of Scientific Research, A.N. Sysin Research Institute of Human Ecology and Environmental Health, Ministry of Health, Moscow Natalia Kostenko, Deputy Director, Department of Science and Innovation, Development and Management of Medical and Biological Risks for Health, Ministry of Health, Moscow Evgeny Kovalevskiy, Leading Researcher, Research Institute of Occupational Health, Moscow Serbia Biljana Filipovic, Head of Unit for International Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection, Belgrade Ljiljana Jovanovic, Head, Department of Health Technology in the Sector of Health Care, Ministry of Health, Belgrade Slovakia Katarína Halzlová, Expert Advisor, Public Health Authority of the Slovak Republic, Bratislava Spain Santiago Gonzalez Muñoz, Head of Service, Environmental Health Risk Assessment, Ministry of Health, Social Services and Equality, Madrid Sweden Agneta Falk Filipsson, Head of Unit, Public Health Agency of Sweden, Solna Marie-Louise Heikensten, Senior Adviser, Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, Stockholm 9 Switzerland Sabine Unternährer, Deputy Head of Transport, Energy and Health Section, Sectoral Foreign Policies Division, Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, Bern Guido Barsuglia, Head of Section, Federal Office of Public Health, Bern Damiano Urbinello, Scientific Advisor, Federal Office of Public Health, Bern Tajikistan Samardin Aliev, Director, Scientific Research Institute of Preventive Medicine, Ministry of Health and Social Protection, Dushanbe Muzafar Salimov, Head of International Department, Committee of Environmental Protection under the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan, Dushanbe The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia Dragan Gjorgjev, Policy Adviser, Institute of Public Health, Skopje Stakeholders ECOFORUM Sascha Gabizon, Executive Director, WECF International (Women Engage for a Common Future), Munich, Germany Ivana Savić, Executive Director, Centre for Human Rights and Development Studies (CHRDS), Belgrade, Serbia European Environment Agency (EEA) Catherine Ganzleben, Project Manager Environment, Cooperation with International Bodies and Countries, Copenhagen, Denmark Adriana Gheorghe, Project Manager Environment, Health and Well-being, Copenhagen, Denmark European Environment and Health Youth Coalition (EEHYC) Danilo Arsenijevic, Executive Board Member, Vilnius, Lithuania Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL) Roberta Savli, Deputy Director, Brussels, Belgium Regional Environmental Center (REC) Eva Csobod, Head of Health and Environment Topic Area, Szentendre, Hungary United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Lorea Coronado-Garcia, Sustainability Specialist, Istanbul Regional Hub, Turkey United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Nicholas Bonvoisin, Chief of the Operational Activities and Review Section, Environment Division, Geneva, Switzerland Virginia Fuse, Environmental Affairs Officer, Environment Division, Geneva, Switzerland United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Wondwosen Kibret Asnake, Programme Management Officer, Geneva, Switzerland 10 WHO Regional Office for Europe Zsuzsanna Jakab, WHO Regional Director for Europe Srdan Matic, Coordinator, Environment and Health Elizabet Paunovic, Head of Office, European Centre for Environment and Health, Bonn, Germany Francesca Racioppi, Senior Policy and Programme Adviser, Environment and Health Policy and Governance WHO Secretariat Marina Hansen, Programme Assistant, WHO Regional Office for Europe Dorota Jarosinska, Programme Manager, Environmental Exposures and Risks, European Centre for Environment and Health, Bonn, Germany, WHO Regional Office for Europe Vladimir Kendrovski, Technical Officer, European Centre for Environment and Health, Bonn, Germany, WHO Regional Office for Europe Dalia Lourenço, Communications Consultant, WHO Regional Office for Europe Marco Martuzzi, Programme Manager, Environment and Health Impact Assessment, European Centre for Environment and Health, Bonn, Germany, WHO Regional Office for Europe Oliver Schmoll, Programme Manager, Water and Sanitation, European Centre for Environment and Health, Bonn, Germany, WHO Regional Office for Europe Rodrigo Scotini Moreno, Policy Consultant, WHO Regional Office for Europe Nino Sharashidze, WHO Consultant, Tbilisi, Georgia Julia Solovieva, Administrative Officer, European Centre for Environment and Health, Bonn, Germany, WHO Regional Office for Europe The WHO Regional Office for Europe European Environment and Health Task Force (EHTF) The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations created in 1948 with the primary responsibility for international health matters and public health. The WHO Regional Office for Europe is one of six regional offices throughout the world, each with its own programme geared to the particular health conditions of the countries it serves. Member States Albania Andorra Armenia Austria Azerbaijan Belarus Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czechia Denmark Estonia Finland France Georgia Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Israel Italy Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Malta Monaco Montenegro Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Republic of Moldova Romania Russian Federation San Marino Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Tajikistan The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia Turkey Turkmenistan Ukraine United Kingdom Uzbekistan Document number: WHO/EURO:2017-3011-42769-59674 World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe UN City, Marmorvej 51, DK-2100 Kopenhagen Ø, Denmark Tel.: +45 45 33 70 00 | Fax: +45 45 33 70 01 E-Mail: euceh@who.int/ Website: www.who.int Original: English