European trends in urban environmental

management, information
and awareness raising

Morten Wasstøl
UNEP/GRID-Arendal
 From Agenda to Action

What will I discuss in this presentation?

• European urban environmental policy context
and main challenges
• Learning from the Managing Urban Europe
project
• The GEO Cities project comes to Europe
• Implications for Environmental Information
Systems
 EU Urban Thematic Strategy

• The strategy is one of 7 thematic strategies

under EU’s Sixth Environment Action
Programme “Environment 2010: Our Future, Our
Choice”
• Strong focus on sectors and “decoupling”
• The strategy is finished in December/January,
but will only result in a communication
 European city cooperation on urban
sustainability
• From the Rio Summit in 1992 to the Aalborg
Commitments in 2004
• 10 Commitments: Governance, local
management towards sustainability, responsible
consumption and lifestyle choices, planning and
design, better mobility and less traffic, local
action for health, vibrant and sustainable local
economy, social equity and justice, local to
global
 Main environmental management
challenges
• Decoupling economic growth and pressures on
the environment
• Integrating environmental considerations into
sectoral policies
• Mainstreaming environment and sustainability
issues into the core of cities’ policy making
 Managing Urban Europe -25

• The largest European project so far on cities’

environmental management systems (EMS).
• Improve the environmental quality and
sustainability of European cities by delivering a
framework for better implementation of already
existing environmental management systems
(EMS) like EMAS, ISO 14001 and ecoBUDGET.
• Key concepts: Addressing the functional area,
managing flexibility and gradually expansion of
scope
 Managing Urban Europe:
5 main steps in the management cycle
1. Baseline review
2. Preparation of the plan
3. Approval of the plan
4. Implementation of the plan
5. Reporting and evaluation

continue...
 Using Oslo as an example

• Using assessments, plans and environmental

management systems

• http://www.byradsavdeling-for-miljo-og-
samferdsel.oslo.kommune.no/miljo/english/
• http://ucp.ewindows.eu.org/reports/oslo-en/
 The GEO Cities project

• Initiated by UNEPs regional office in Latin

America and the Caribbean
• Addressing the major cities in the region
• Over 20 reports are finished
• The concept are now exported to Europe, Africa
and Asia-Pacific
 The GEO Cities project:
key elements
• UNEP initiated process
• Building on the GEO
approach to
assessments
• Broad participation
within the cities
• Outlook
• Policy advice
• Partnerships
Implications for environmental
information systems

?
 Questions for the working groups

Focusing on meeting the information needs..

• Who should the environmental information

system serve?
• What kind information should it provide?
• How must the environmental information system
be designed to be relevant for the various stages
of cities’ environmental management
processes?