Europe and Central Asia
Regional Network of Ozone Officers

The Regional Ozone Network in Europe and Central Asia was created in 2003 with the technical and financial support from the Multilateral Fund, the Czech Republic, Hungary and the Slovak Republic. It is now part of UNEP DTIE's OzonAction Compliance Assistance Programme and includes the following 12 member countries:

Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia, Turkey and Turkmenistan.

The ECA network is a dynamic group of countries spread over three sub-regions (Caucasus, Balkan, Central Asia). The following Countries with Economies in Transition (CEIT countries) participate in selected network activities as part of their GEF-funded institutional strengthening projects:

Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan.

Several former ECA network countries have already acceded to the European Union and have been reclassified as Article 2 countries. Candidate countries include Croatia, Macedonia (FYR) and Turkey and potential candidate countries Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia.

The network is supported by implementing agencies (UNDP, UNIDO, World Bank) and bilateral partners (Austria, Czech Republic, European Commission, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Sweden) as well as the Multilateral Fund and Ozone Secretariats. Additional partners include the World Customs Organisation's Regional Intelligence Liaison Office (RILO CIS), the International Institute of Refrigeration (IIR) as well as industry, TEAP and TOC experts.

Regional networking provides a regular interactive forum for Ozone Officers from the region to exchange experiences, develop skills, and share knowledge and ideas with counterparts from both developing and developed countries in order to meet compliance, the provisions of the Montreal Protocol and its amendments. Through regular network and thematic meetings and on-going dialogues, networking helps ensure that Ozone Officers have the information, skills and contacts required for managing national ODS phase-out activities successfully. Specific compliance assistance is provided to countries with compliance issues.

The ECA network is coordinated by 2 staff based in Paris. Institutional strengthening and training projects are implemented by the IS/CP/RMP Officer also based in Paris.

Achievements

Major achievements of the ECA network concern the high level of Article 7 and Country Programme data reporting and the ongoing ratification of the remaining amendments of the Montreal Protocol. All countries have their ODS legislation and licensing systems in place.

A significant achievement is the participation of four GEF-funded CEIT countries in the network meetings since 2006, which was made possible through a co-funding approach. Experts from ECA network countries also participated in the MeBr training organised in the GEF-supported CEIT countries. We expect to continue this synergetic cooperation in future.

Two Sub-regional Green Customs workshops financed by the Government of Norway and the Czech Republic were organized by UNEP in Georgia and Uzbekistan. These workshops sensitized customs and enforcement officers on how important their role is in implementing trade-related Multilateral Environmental Agreements such as the Montreal Protocol, CITES and the Rotterdam, Stockholm, Basel Conventions.

The establishment of the framework agreement between RILO CIS and UNEP will support activities related to regional customs cooperation and prevention of illegal trade. RILO CIS participates in the ECA network meetings and compiled cases of illegal trade in ODS in their member countries. Cooperation with RILO ECE was also initiated.

The ECA network also funded the participation of selected experts in international conference focusing on innovation in refrigeration technologies and methyl bromide alternatives.

Information exchange and the implementation of ECA network activities is supported by the ECA website which receives more than 1000 hits per months. The site provides up-to-date information on network activities as well as meeting documents and presentation (http://fr1.estis.net/sites/ecanetwork/).

The evaluation of the ECA network in the context of the CAP evaluation provides an overall positive assessment highlighting that CAP is one of the most important instruments to facilitate compliance; that the ECA network coordinates well with other implementing agencies; that there is good cooperation and mutual assistance between more advanced and less advanced countries; and that the involvement of GEF-supported countries in the ECA network activities is a very positive aspect.

ECA network brochure “Solidarity & Partnerships – 20 Years of the Montreal Protocol – 4 Years of the Regional Ozone Network for Europe & Central Asia - a regional contribution to the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Montreal Protocol to highlight the contributions of all stakeholders and partners to the successful implementation of the Montreal Protocol in the ECA region and to put a face to the main actors on the stage and behind the scene. The brochure is in English/Russian and was launched during MOP 2007 and the Environment for Europe conference.

ECA network brochure "Solidarity & Partnerships" (English/Russian)

Side event of ECA network during Environment for Europe conference, Belgrade, Serbia, 10-12 October 2007 – organized in cooperation with UN Economic Commission for Europe and the Government of Serbia on “20th anniversary of the Montreal Protocol: Contribution to Climate Change mitigation and to preventing environmental crime”. The side event was facilitated by Mr. Christophe Bouvier, Director of UNEP's Regional Office for Europe.

Side event of ECA network during Environment for Europe conference, Serbia, 10-12 October 2007

First regional celebration of 20th Anniversary of Montreal Protocol during ECA network meeting, Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, 26.2.-2.3.2007 - H. E. Minister Makhtumkuli Akmuradov, Minister of Nature Protection of Turkmenistan opened the ECA network meeting and the first regional celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Montreal Protocol which included mission statements of the participation organizations, discussions on the future of the Protocol and full media coverage.

ECA network meeting in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, 26 February - 2 March 2007

Approach

Beside the implementation of the agreed ECA work programme, the following strategic objectives will be pursued:

- Inter-regional cooperation with UNEP Regional Offices e.g. to share information on illegal trade issues (iPIC), CD-ROM / web-based customs training, to review meeting agendas and to recommend resource persons
- Inter-agency cooperation with bilateral partners and implementing agencies i.e. during network, thematic and contact group meetings
- Stakeholder cooperation e.g. with Regional Intelligence Liaison Offices (RILOs) and International Institute of Refrigeration (IIR)
- Thematic & contact group meetings e.g. to review TPMP implementation or MeBr phase-out projects, to support national stakeholder consultations and data collection
- Programmatic assistance e.g. to develop electronic tools for issuing licenses, to comply with plans of action, to up-date legislation, to improve licensing systems and for special compliance initiatives
- Regional awareness focusing on activities with regional scope e.g. videos with sub-titles, bilingual booklets, outreach of existing awareness materials and regional conferences
- Country-to-country assistance e.g. to train new Ozone Officers, to verify reliability of data, to share lessons learned from project implementation and to support special compliance initiatives
- High-level missions and letters to ministers in coordination with all stakeholders involved and on a case-by-case basis e.g. to support ratification and signing of project documents
- Information exchange with GEF-assisted CEIT countries and joint activities through co-funding approaches e.g. joint meetings or
- Synergetic cooperation with GEF-supported CEIT countries
- Funding expert participation in international conferences focusing on innovation in refrigeration technology and methyl bromide alternatives
- Green Customs Initiative activities in the ECA network in coordination with RILO CIS and RILO ECE
- Supporting the implementation of UNEP climate neutral strategy e.g. through tree planting, use of electronic conferencing, participation in Billion Tree campaign and Climate Neutral network

UNEP climate neutral strategy aims:
(1) to reduce the climate footprint of UNEP through adoption of sustainable management practices
(2) to ‘lead by example’ and to raise awareness of similar organizations, of governments, and of the public as a whole
(3) to develop methods, procedures, and approaches that could be used by others to achieve the same

As part of UNEP’s climate neutral strategy, a preliminary comprehensive GHG inventory was prepared in March 2008 and a verifiable comprehensive inventory is scheduled for March 2009. It is planned to off-set UNEP’s 2008 carbon footprint through the purchase of certified emission reductions (CDM Gold Standard). The price for such emission reductions is fluctuating and currently around 36 USD per ton CO2.

ECA climate-friendly approach to organize regional network meetings

According to UNEP’s climate neutral strategy, the ECA network adopted its climate-friendly approach to organise regional network meetings from 1 January 2008. The first climate-friendly network was hold in Tirana, Albania, 25-28 March 2008 aiming to minimize its carbon footprint while creating awareness on climate change and testing new approaches such as tree planting.

The following activities have already been implemented in the context of the ECA network meeting in Tirana, Albania:

1. Off-setting of approximately 44 tons of carbon emissions from participants travel through purchase of certified emission reductions (CDM Gold Standard) according to UNEP’s carbon neutral strategy. The resulting costs of approximately 1600 USD correspond to 5% of the travel costs (tickets & DSA) or 7% of the ticket costs.
2. Commitment of the ECA network towards reducing its carbon footprint through joining the UNEP’s Climate Neutral Network (http://www.climateneutral.unep.org/)
3. Planting of local tree species if their long-time growth can be ensured and raising awareness through registration of the planted trees in UNEP’s Billion Tree Campaign (www.unep.org/billiontreecampaign/)
4. Electronic dissemination of workshop documents and presentations as well as up-loading of such documents to the meeting website to avoid print-outs (http://fr1.estis.net/sites/ecanetwork/)
5. Description of the ECA climate-friendly approach on the home page of the EAC network to demonstrate commitment and raise awareness of others (http://fr1.estis.net/sites/ecanetwork/)
6. Sharing of good practices and lessons learned from climate-friendly meetings with colleagues and friends and through the media with the general public

Further options will be tested in the context of future meetings:

7. Verification of flight itineraries as proposed by the travel agency by an independent service (e.g. UNON) to minimize flight time, travel time and costs
8. Alternative modes of travel e.g. by train or car where meaningful, feasible, cost efficient and recommended by local UNDP offices
9. Expert presentations via web-, video or phone-conference to avoid unnecessary travel
10. No or reduced air-conditioning in the meeting and hotel rooms
11. No use of plastic cups and plastic bottles
12. Inclusion of vegetarian food options in the lunch menu
13. Energy / environmental audit of the meeting venue in the margin of the meeting e.g. using a checklist

Tree-planting experience

During the first climate-friendly meeting of the ECA network, the Honourable Minister Lufter Xhuveli of the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Water Management of Albania, arranged a symbolic tree-planting event during which participants from 30 different countries planted 70 trees near to the meeting venue Chateau Linza. The intention of the symbolic tree-planting event was raising awareness on climate neutral strategies among the participants.

The trees, tools and holes were prepared in advance to the meeting and therefore the activity took about half an hour. It was well received by all participants, had some recreational side-effect and contributed to team-building. The tree-planting was followed by a group session and a coffee break. The overall time requires was about 1 hour.

The ECA network has registered these trees in UNEP’s Billion Tree Campaign www.unep.org/billiontreecampaign/) and signed up as an inter-governmental partner of UNEP’s Climate Neutral Network (http://www.climateneutral.unep.org/)

Photos from tree planting in Albania, 25-28 March 2008

Montreal Protocol and climate change

Already in the past, the Montreal Protocol contributed significantly to climate protection by phasing out substances which had contributed to both ozone-depletion and global warming at the same time. Such contribution has been found to be 5 – 10 times more than the expected contribution by the developed countries under the Kyoto Protocol during its first commitment period between 2008 – 2012. This synergetic effect will further be accentuated through the accelerated phase-out of HCFCs, which was recently decided by the XIXth Meeting of the Parties.

Contact

Please provide any comments and suggestions to:

Mr Halvart Koeppen
Regional Officer for Europe and Central Asia
UNEP DTIE
OzonAction Programme
15 rue Milan
75441 Paris Cedex 09
France
Tel: (33)1443714-32
Fax: (33)1443714-74
Email: halvart.koppen@unep.fr