Final Conference Twinning SK03/IB/EN/01 Institution Building in the Environmental Sector

1. Final Conference Twinning SK03/IB/EN/01 Institution Building in the Environmental Sector „Progress in Priority Dataflow Reporting“ by RTA Ulrike Stärk staerk@sazp.sk ulrike.staerk@umweltbundesamt.at

2. Twinning SK03/IB/EN/01 • Objective : strengthen administrative, monitoring and enforcement capacity in the environmental sector and improve reporting (air, water, waste, nature) • Guaranteed result: improvement in national environmental data reporting from Slovakia to European institutions, esp. the EEA • Specific, practical, and easily measurable project objective: improved ranking of Slovakia in the Priority Dataflow Assessment of the EEA

3. Environmental Reporting in Slovakia • MoE delegated responsibility for fulfilling environmental reporting obligations to Slovak Environmental Agency (SEA) • EEA National Focal Point located at SEA; coordinates Priority Dataflow Reporting • streamlined approach: together with Umweltbundesamt SEA is building a National Reporting Obligations Database (SK REPORTnet) to execute this demanding task • SK REPORTnet: info on who does what in environmental reporting

4. What are Priority Data Flows ? • national environmental data reporting obligations towards EEA; of special importance for implementation of environmental legislation and policy-planning. • focus on agreed, stable and well-defined data collection areas, to allow countries to focus their resources to put regular data reporting procedures in place • key thematic areas: air pollutant emissions, air and water quality data as well as data on protected areas (currently 12 dataflows) • annual scoring; used for EEA indicator-based reporting

5. Status in 2004 • 7th EEA Priority Dataflow Progress Report (8/04) • so far, continuous progress (2000-2003): • 72% of possible data set deliveries • Rank 15 (of 32 EEA member countries) • No delivery of data to EEA Central Data Repository (CDR) – common practice with EEA member countries

6. First steps towards progress • Goal: improve EEA national network • National Reference Centre (NRCs) network was reviewed: 11 national institutions were invited to nominate experts (35 in total) to provide best available data in specific expert areas • Experts received basic training in EIONET tools (ROD, CDR, CIRCA) • NRC technical capacity (Internet, EIONET access) assessed • Oct 2004: Priority Dataflow Workshop at SEA to improve national Slovak data deliveries to EEA (SEA decides to upload deliveries to CDR)

7. Total score of 84% of possible data set deliveries (+12% compared to 2004) 6th place in EEA 2005 ranking (2004 data) of 32 EEA member countries Improvement due to Increased awareness of reporting tasks among Slovak institutions as a result of a PDF workshop and systematic follow-up on Priority Dataflows Streamlining of dataflows, better communication between institutions involved in PDF reporting International (Austrian) expertise with Priority Dataflow Reporting directly passed on to Slovak experts;hands-on training with different Reportnet tools. Status PDFReporting in 2005

8. Overall performance of countries in 2004 Constant Progress in PDF Reporting

9. Status 2006 (1) • CLRTAP: +1 for on-time delivery • First ever NEC delivery • UNFCCC data were delivered • EU-GHG: +1 for inventory report

10. Status 2006 (2) • Annual ozone: EoI station codes not provided • Designated areas: information on altitude, habitats + centre coordinates provided by 15/6, credited in 2007

11. Status 2006 (3) • New dataflow water quantity: 2 smileys • Maximum score for 1st delivery on contaminated sites management

12. Draft 2006 PDF Assessment • Draft summary of national deliveries published on EEA website end May 2006 – 2 week deadline for NFP comments • Further improvement for SlovakRepublic • Highlights: first deliveries under NEC Directive and on contaminated sites management, maximum score achieved • +1 points for CLRTAP and EU-GHG • 2 smileys for new dataflow water quantity • Problem with UNFCCC

13. Draft 2006 PDF Assessment • CDDA (Central Database on Designated Areas): missing information on altitude (for a total of 1154 areas) and centre points (for 52 areas), were provided by SNC before the reporting deadline, 15 June 2006. • CDDA data considered first delivery of the next reporting cycle, so relevant credit (i.e. smileys) will only be awarded in the course of the 2007 assessment. • The 2006 data request includes specific request to deliverdigital boundaries for designated areas – SNC ready to deliver complete datasets

14. Success Factors • Success reflects the good cooperation between involved institutions • Reliable network of experts at NRCs • Good NFP coordination • Raised awareness of importance of priority dataflows • Growing commitment of institutions involved in environmental reporting

15. Outlook • Big challenge:keep up the good work, stay committed • Room for improvement in several PDF areas including UNFCCC, timely delivery of annual ozone, CDDA • Close follow-up of Slovak NFP for EEA of new data requests, and related changes to the network • Continue cooperation at European level (SEEIS) • Problem/risk: frequent change of staff at governmental institutions

16. Resumé • Project successfully concluded • All mandatory results reached (including improvement in operational reporting to EEA), project objective and purpose reached • Wonderful personal memories of two years spent in Slovakia

17. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTIONĎakujem Vám za Vašu pozornosť