Environment

To date, the Council in this Sector has:

(a)  identified Environmental Research, Water Quality Management and Waste Management as initial priorities for co-operation and approved action on taking them forward. On Environmental Research, this will include the establishment of a joint register of current research projects and identifying new technologies for monitoring. On Water Quality, this will include the taking forward of activity by a newly established North/South Working Party on water quality matters in relation to the Erne and catchments and the implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive which came into force on 22 December 2000. On Waste Management, this will include officials working together to encourage the expansion of waste re-cycling in Ireland, North and South;

(b)  approved the joint collaboration by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Environment and Heritage Service (EHS) in tendering for a jointly funded contract to develop an interactive website of current environmental research. The contract has been advertised and was awarded in June 2001;

(c)  endorsed a report from from Consultants Kirk, McClure, Morton (KMM) commissioned by the Working Group on Water Quality. The Report made recommendations for the implementation of Erne/catchment management strategies in the context of the EU Water Framework Directive, which came into force on 22 December, 2000;

(d)  approved for publication and placing on the relevant agency websites, a joint report on 'New Technologies for Monitoring: Status and Prospects', prepared jointly by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Environment and Heritage Service (EHS);

(e)  agreed that co-operation on new technologies for monitoring be referred to the Working Group on Water Quality to advance work in respect of three areas identified for particular concentration. The three areas are (i) chemical monitoring of surface waters (ii) biological monitoring of surface waters and (iii) fish stocks;

(f)  agreed that a database development and co-operation programme should be taken forward on a progressive basis by the EPA and the EHS with particular emphasis on (a) examination of the options for completing the Corine Land Cover Project 2000 on an all island basis and (b) development and integration of a number of key databases (e.g. river water quality, air quality, groundwater, register of environmental data sources). The co-operation would begin with agreement on a suitable framework for a register of environmental data sources and then populate the register through a phased approach;

(g)  agreed that a joint internet portal for providing customers with information on environmentally related data will be developed when the register of environmental data sources has been established;

(h)  agreed terms of reference for a proposed scoping study on environmental impacts of agriculture, including an inventory of relevant environmental management practices and controls currently applied to agriculture, North and South, with a view to the development of co-operation arrangements in respect of (a) nutrient management planning in agriculture and (b) controls on cross-border management/movement of slurries, particularly in the context of the EU Directive on Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control;

(i)  agreed that officials would work together to identify options to encourage the expansion of waste recycling in Ireland, North and South, in particular a joint approach to market and manufacturing development for secondary materials and recyclates.