On the 30 November 2010 the European Environment Agency launched in Brussels the European Environment – State and Outlook 2010 report (SOER 2010).
SOER is a flagship report of the EEA - the Agency is obliged to prepare SOER every 5 years under Regulation 401/2009 on the European Environment Agency and the European Environment Information and Observation Network. SOER 2010 provides a set of assessments of the state of the Europe's environment and its changes which are presented from a cause-and-effect perspective. The SOER 2010 differs from the previous SOER editions. SOER 2010 is a web portal www.eea.europa.eu/soer. What is also new in SOER 2010 is an enhanced understanding of the links between environmental challenges combined with unprecedented global megatrends. You may read more about SOER 2010 message here.
SOER 2010 consists of three parts:
- Strategic, integrated environmental assessment, including relations to socio-economic processes in the global context;
- The assessment of the state of environment, trends and outlook of changes, including main environmental challenges in Europe;
- Environmental problems from the perspective of the individual European countries.
Additionally, a Synthesis of the report was drawn up - it is currently available in 17 languages and the other language versions will be produced soon.
Chief Inspectorate for Environmental Protection was engaged in the work on SOER 2010, due to its responsibility for coordination of cooperation of Poland with the EEA within EIONET. The work of CIEP included the coordination of and taking part in the consultation process of the part B and the Synthesis, preparation, together with national EIONET experts, of part C and entering it in the SOER 2010 web portal, participation in the translation of the Synthesis into Polish.
The official launch of SOER 2010 was held in the European Parliament and was attended by a Polish delegation: Andrzej Jagusiewicz - Chief Inspector of Environmental Protection and EEA Management Board Vice-Chair, Lucyna Dygas Ciołkowska - Head of CIEP Monitoring and Environmental Information Department and EEA/EIONET National Focal Point PL, Małgorzata Bednarek - NFP PL team member (CIEP MEID). The session was chaired by Domingo Jimenez- Beltran - former EEA Executive Director. The opening speech was delivered by Jerzy Buzek - President of the European Parliament - who praised the work of EEA and emphasized the key issues of the EU policy, including greenhouse gases emission reduction, work on energy package and creating green jobs. Next, Jacqueline McGlade - EEA Executive Director - presented SOER 2010, including key environmental challenges. She also thanked National Focal Points and EIONET for their work on SOER 2010, as well as on additional 17 language versions of the Synthesis (including Polish one). The speeches were also delivered by Janez Potočnik - European Commissioner for the Environment, Joke Schauvliege - Flemish Minister for the Environment, Natural Resources and Culture, Jo Leinen - Chair of the EP Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI).
After the launch the ENVI Committee session was held, open for National Focal Points. During this session Jacqueline McGlade presented SOER 2010 and answered the questions. The NFP PL delegation also took part in the conference "Sharing Environmental Information" accompanying the launch event. The conference, held on 29 November - 1 December 2010, organized by the Flemish Environment Agency and European Environment Agency, was a key event of the Belgian Presidency. It was devoted to the development of the environmental information system and provided a forum for discussion for the EIONET and EEA, JRC, Eurostat and other organizations on the further work on SOER, innovative technologies for sharing environmental information and the development of Shared Environmental Information System in Europe (SEIS), also in the context of the Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe (INSPIRE) and Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES).
SOER 2010 launch in the European Parlament
ENVI Committee session
SEI Conference
SEI Conference
Jacqueline McGlade at SEI Conference