The pan-European region: environmental challenges

11 Oct 2007

The EEA joins forces with the OECD and the UNDP to voice some key concerns to Europe's environment ministers when they meet at the Belgrade Conference on 10–12 October 2007. Three reports give an in-depth view on the pan-European environment and its policies. Together, they highlight progress made over the past four years towards meeting the region's environmental challenges.

Europe's environment — The fourth assessment

The latest in a series of assessments of the pan-European environment published over the past 15 years by the EEA, the report assesses environmental progress in 53 countries — an area with a total population of more than 870 million people. The region includes: Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia (EECCA), South Eastern Europe (SEE), as well as Western and Central Europe (WCE). The report highlights priority areas such as:

environment-related health concerns (issues related to air quality, inland waters, soil, hazardous chemicals);
climate change;
biodiversity loss;
overuse of marine resources;
the current patterns of production and consumption; and
pressures caused by economic activities (agriculture, tourism, transport, energy).

Improved implementation of existing policies and the setting of clear, realistic targets is a key recommendation of the report. However, a shared environmental information system is also urgently required to deal with a prevailing lack of reliable, accessible and comparable environmental information across the pan-European region.