News and Events

Final Stakeholder Meeting under the UNDP/GEF Rio Conventions Project
04.10.2010

On 27 September, 2010 in Sofia, Bulgaria took place the final Advisory Board meeting of the UNDP/GEF Rio Conventions Project. The meeting was attended by representatives from the Parliamentary Environmental Committee, key departments at Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works (MRDPW), Ministry of Environment and Waters (MoEW), UNDP, Sofia University and NGOs. The Rio Conventions Project is the first from a series of projects in CEE and NIS regions in the cross-capacity building area of environmental protection and regional development, funded by the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) and shall serve as an important best practice to fine-tune further GEF funding in the region in that focus area.

The major results achieved under the project and reported during the presentations include:
• Developed and institutionalized set of training courses (one-day, ten-day and a Master Course) within Sofia University focusing on the implementation of the three Rio Conventions at the different planning levels;
• Training of more 350 experts from MRDPW, MoEW, district and municipal administrations to apply practical tools and knowledge in their daily work to facilitate meeting the national objectives under the Rio Conventions;
• Developed system of 7 strategic indicators (related to biodiversity protection, climate change and desertification) for monitoring and evaluation of the impact of strategic planning documents (national, regional, district and municipal development plans and strategies) on the environment;
• Developed prototype GIS application at MRDPW, based on the 7 strategic indicators, to facilitate the monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of strategic planning documents;
• Developed methodologies for update and midterm evaluation of strategic planning documents related to regional development and spatial planning to include global environmental issues;
• Pilot testing of the project-developed strategic indicators for global environmental issues integration in strategic planning through the update of the District Development Strategy of Plovdiv District.

In addition, a detailed Exit Strategy from the project was developed and implemented in the period July – September, 2010 which shall guarantee the sustainability of overall project results.

Information regarding the First Stakeholder Meeting under the UNDP/GEF Rio Conventions Project

Information regarding the Second Stakeholder Meeting under the UNDP/GEF Rio Conventions Project