Document VNODpQ5gr5pyM9E9n3zpLdZq

UNITED NATIONS P-1 AR _ 363 Economic and Social Council ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR EUROPE EXECUTIVE BODY FOR THE CONVENTION ON LONG-RANGE TRANSBOUNDARY AIR POLLUTION Working Group on Strategies and Review (Thirty-seventh session, Geneva, 26-30 September 2005) Item 5 of the provisional agenda Distr. GENERAL EB.AIRAVG.5/2005/11/Rev.l 30 September 2005 ORIGINAL: ENGLISH DRAFT 2006 WORKPLAN FOR THE WORKING GROUP ON STRATEGIES AND REVIEW Prepared by the secretariat in collaboration with the Chairman on the basis of inputs from the expert groups and task forces of the Working Group 1.1 STRATEGIES AND REVIEW Description/objectives: Assessment of ongoing scientific and technical activities for the review of existing protocols or preparation o f new ones; negotiating revisions of protocols, including their annexes; promoting the exchange of technology; preparing proposals for strategic developments under the Convention. The Working Group will assist the Executive Body in all policy-related issues. Main activities and time schedule: Taking into account relevant activities under EMEP and the Working Group on Effects, as well as the initiatives of the European Community and other Parties, and on the basis o f information received from its expert groups, the Working Group will, in particular: Documents prepared under the auspices or at the request of the Executive Body for the Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution for GENERAL circulation should be considered provisional unless APPROVED by the Executive Body. GE.05-32203 000388 P-2 EB.AIR/WG.5/2005/11/Rev. 1 page 2 (a) Assess work for a review o f the 1999 Gothenburg Protocol, including progress in reducing acidification, eutrophication and ground-level ozone and the pollutants responsible for these effects, and work carried out under items 1.3 (economic assessment) and 1.8 (ammonia abatement). It will also review work on item 1.9 (particulate matter) as well as work carried out under item 2.3 (integrated assessment modelling) o f the EMEP workplan. It will present proposals to the Executive Body on further action for the review o f the Protocol; (b) Assess work on the review and possible amendments of the Protocol on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), taking into account progress under item 1.4 (Review and assessment o f POPs); (c) Inititate discussions on management strategies for new substances, as requested by the Executive Body; (d) Assess work on the review o f the Protocol on Heavy Metals, taking into account progress under item 1.5 below (Review and assessment of heavy metals); (e) Review progress in the exchange of information and technology, including work carried out under item 1.6 (techno-economic issues) below; it will also review information received on productrelated measures to reduce emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), POPs and heavy metals and progress in other work carried out under item 1.7 (exchange of infoimation and technology); (f) Continue to provide assistance to the Eastern European, Caucasian and Central Asian (EECCA) countries with regard to the organization of annual workshops on the implementation o f the recent protocols to the Convention, whilst recognizing the importance o f providing adequate resources for this work; (g) Assess progress made in the Convention's communication strategy and consider possible future needs; (h) Hold its thirty-eighth session from 18 to 22 September 2006, and a further meeting of Heads o f Delegation from 3 to 5 May 2006, if the Executive Body so decides. 1.2 REVIEWS OF STRATEGIES AND POLICIES FOR AIR POLLUTION ABATEMENT Dgscription/objectives: Overview o f air pollution abatement in the UNECE region, giving a comprehensive description of national and international strategies and policies, including legislation in force and emission levels. Providing, together with emission data, a basis for the Implementation Committee to review compliance by Parties with their obligations under the 000389 P-3 EB.AIR/WG.5/2005/11/Rev. 1 page 3 protocols to the Convention. Reviews for purposes o f compliance are carried out every two years; a general policy review is carried out every four years. Main activities and time schedule: (a) The compliance and general policy review is scheduled for 2006. The draft questionnaire, to be considered by the Executive Body at its twenty-third session (EB.AIR/2005/4/Add. 1), will be made available by the secretariat through the Convention's Internet home page as of 15 January 2006. with a deadline for responses of 31 March 2006. (b) Replies will be posted on the Internet and made available to the Implementation Committee. The secretariat will prepare a draft summary review for consideration by the Executive Body at its twenty-fourth session. 1.3 ECONOMIC ASSESSMENT OF BENEFITS FROM AIR POLLUTION ABATEMENT AND ECONOMIC INSTRUMENTS Description/ob|ectives: To develop further the work on benefits and economic instruments undertaken by the former Task Force on Economic Aspects of Abatement Strategies and to enable economic considerations to be taken into account in the discussion/review o f the protocols to the Convention. Main activities and time schedule: The Netwoik o f Experts on Benefits and Economic Instruments, led by the United Kingdom, with Norway as rapporteur, will provide the framework and expertise for a series o f workshops. The Network will meet only on the occasion o f planned workshops and include not only economists but also representatives from other specialist groups. The Network will hold a workshop on 6-7 April 2006 in Syracuse (Italy), on damage to materials including cultural heritage, in cooperation with the International Cooperative Programme on Materials of the Working Group on Effects. 1.4 REVIEW AND ASSESSMENT OF PERSISTENT ORGANIC POLLUTANTS Description/ob|ectives: To work on the review o f the Protocol on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs): this includes technical reviews of substance dossiers, as specified by the Executive Body. A Task Force on POPs, led by Canada and the Netherlands, will carry out the technical work for this. Main activities/time schedule: The Task Force will: (a) Continue work on polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PeBDE) and perfluorooctane 000390 P-4 EB.AIR/WG.5/2005/11/Rev. 1 page 4 sulfonate (PFOS); (b) Initiate any Track A and Track B reviews o f dossiers on other substances forwarded by the Executive Body; (c) Undertake work resulting from the review of sufficiency and effectiveness o f the Protocol, as agreed by the Executive Body; and (d) Hold its fourth [and fifth] meeting[s] in 2006. 1.5 REVIEW AND ASSESSMENT OF HEAVY METALS Pescription/ob|ectives: To work on the review of the Protocol on Heavy Metals, including the review of its sufficiency and effectiveness and the review of additional heavy metals, product control measures or products/product groups. A Task Force, led by Germany, will carry out the technical work for these. Main activities and time schedule: The Task Force will: (a) Complete the technical work on the review o f the sufficiency and effectiveness o f the Protocol taking into account the best available scientific information on the effects of depositions of heavy metals, assessments o f technological developments, changing economic conditions and overview of emissions; prepare a report summarizing the work; (b) Continue the technical work necessary to assess the extent to which a satisfactoiy basis exists for the application of an effects-based approach; review information and prepare a progress report on the basis for an effects-based approach; (c) Complete the work on (a) and propose a timetable for completing the work described above and report to the Working Group on Strategies and Review in September 2006; and (d) Hold an informal, editorial meeting on (a) above 7 to 9 Februaiy 2005 in Dessau (Germany). The Task Force will hold its third meeting from 9 to 12 May 2006 (venue to be confirmed). 1.6 TECHNO-ECONOMIC ISSUES Descnption/objectives: To explore further best available techniques (BAT) for emission abatement, including their efficiency and costs; to continue to develop a techno-economic database (ECODAT) and methodologies for evaluating uncertainties and to draw up draft revisions of techno-economic items in annexes to protocols. 000391 P-5 EB.AIR/WG.5/2005/11/Rev. 1 page 5 Main activities and time schedule: The Expert Group on Techno-economic Issues, with France as lead country, will: (a) Continue to collect and store techno-economic data on emission control options and abatement techniques in selected sectors, their costs and ranges of uncertainties; data will be collected according to the nomenclature for reporting (NFR) provided in the Guidelines for Estimating and Reporting Emission Data; (b) Provide data on reference installations and control technologies, investment and operational costs, to the Centre for Integrated Assessment Modelling (CIAM) following consultations with national experts; (c) Make data available for future consideration of revision of technical annexes to protocols; (d) Provide the Working Group with summaries of background information on sectors covered by ECODAT; (e) Make efforts to assess emerging technologies and their abatement efficiencies; (f) Organize training sessions for experts to increase understanding o f the needs and aims of the Expert Group; (g) Publish regularly a newsletter on the work of the Expert Group and its outcomes; and (h) Hold its ninth and tenth meetings in 2006. 1.7 EXCHANGE OF INFORMATION AND TECHNOLOGY Description/obiectives: To create favourable conditions for implementing technology-related obligations o f the Convention and its protocols, to facilitate the implementation of existing protocols and the accession o f non-Parties, particularly countries with economies in transition; to examine the needs for updating techmcal annexes and guidance documents to the protocols. Main activities and time schedule: (a) The secretariat, with support from the Trust Fund, will publish guidelines for the implementation of the Protocol on POPs, the Protocol on Heavy Metals and the Gothenburg Protocol in English and Russian; 000392 P-6 EB.AIR/WG.5/2005/11/Rev. 1 page 6 (b) The secretariat will continue its project on capacity-building for air quality management and the application of clean-coal combustion technologies in Central Asia (CAPACT), funded by the United Nations Development Account and supported by national experts and EMEP centres, and report progress to the Working Group at its thirty-eighth session; (c) With the support of the Trust Fund, the secretariat will extend the workshops planned under CAPACT to other countries outside the Central Asian region; (d) The Working Group on Strategies and Review, in collaboration with the secretariat, will develop a medium-term plan, including fund-raising, to promote implementation of the Convention and its protocols in countries with economies in transition. 1.8 A M M O N IA ABATEM ENT Description/objectives: To prepare input for the review of the Gothenburg Protocol, including the promotion and use o f the Framework Advisory Code of Good Agricultural Practice for Reducing Ammonia Emissions as a basis for Parties to establish national codes and to quantify relationships between recommended control options/techniques and resulting ammonia emissions (EB.AIR/WG. 5/2002/3); Main activities and time schedule: The Expert Group on Ammonia Abatement, led by the United Kingdom, will: (a) Seek to improve emission inventories and projections of ammonia and other nitrogen species from agricultural and non-agricultural sources; (b) Complete the updating o f the Guidance Document on Control Techniques for Preventing and Abating Emissions of Ammonia, including cattle farming (EB.AIR71999/2, chapter V), taking into account the Framework Advisory Code and the European Union Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) Best Available Technology reference document (BREF) for pigs and poultry as well as other relevant BREFs; (c) Improve the quality of reported ammonia emissions and measurements; review strategies to measure emissions of nitrogen compounds and consider a future workshop comparing measurement and modelling techniques used in Europe; (d) Consider setting up a small informal group to look at costs of ammonia abatement techniques; provide cost information to the Expert Group on Techno-economis Issues; r 00393