Environment JC 17 April 2002

1. The sixth meeting of the North/South Ministerial Council (NSMC) in its Environment Sector format was held in Dublin on Wednesday, 17 April 2002. The Irish Government was represented by Mr Noel Dempsey, T.D., Minister for the Environment and Local Government, who chaired the meeting. The Northern Ireland Administration was represented by Mr Dermot Nesbitt, MLA, Minister of the Environment, and Mr Denis Haughey, Minister at the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister.

2. At earlier meetings in the Environment Sector the NSMC tasked officials to work together to identify options to encourage the expansion of waste recycling on an all-island basis, and approved the establishment of a steering group of officials, North and South, to consider and develop a structured co-operative approach to a Joint Market Development Programme for recyclates. At today's meeting, the Council noted the report of the market development steering group on the establishment of an all-island Market Development Programme and approved the next element of the work to be addressed by the steering group. This will involve the submission of proposals for developing an all-island strategic approach to market development for recyclable material, taking account of developments in Great Britain, and the making of recommendations on appropriate linkages between Market Development programmes, North and South. The Council also noted that in conjunction with local authorities North and South, a joint approach is being developed to deal with the problem of waste fridges and freezers in conformity with EU regulations on the disposal of CFCs contained in such equipment. The Council noted progress to date on the establishment of an all-island Community Recycling Network, on which an economic appraisal will shortly be completed. The Council also noted that Northern Ireland does not have the primary legislative powers to introduce similar arrangements to those in place in the South for the collection and recycling of waste farm plastics. The Council agreed that officials should discuss the options available as a result of this legal advice.

3. The EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) will utilise the river basin as the natural unit for water management. The Working Group on Water Quality (WGWQ) requested a Technical Advisory Group to identify all cross-border river basins and to make recommendations on how they might best be assigned to individual river basin districts (RBDs) to meet the needs of the WFD.

The Council endorsed the work undertaken to date by the WGWQ. Ministers agreed that water quality management in relation to the Erne and catchments should be incorporated into the arrangements being developed for implementation of the WDF in relation to cross-border river basins. On the basis of three identified core agglomerations of river basins and their associated coastal waters (i.e. the River Shannon catchment; the Lough Neagh-Carlingford-Dundalk catchments; and the Erne//Swilly/Melvin catchments), the Council asked the WGWQ to recommend areas for delineation as International River Basin Districts (IRDBs) under the WFD.

The Council also requested the WGWQ to prepare proposals for a consultation exercise inviting views from interested parties in relation to recommended IRDBs, and the arrangements envisaged for implementation of the WFD in relation to the IRDBs. Finally the Council requested the WGWQ to bring forward proposals for a joint North/South funding of cross-border WFD implementation activities, and the financing of IRBD projects from INTERREG III funds.

4. The Council noted progress on the scoping study which it had commissioned into the environmental impacts of agriculture, and the estimated timeframe for the completion of the study. The final report will be presented to Ministers at the next Environment Sector meeting of the NSMC in the autumn.

5. The Council noted completion of the work on aNSwer (a North South Website of Environmental Research), a contract for the development of which it had approved at its Environment Sector meeting on 14 December 2001. The Ministers formally launched the website following today's NSMC meeting.

6.The Council noted the completion of the project to develop a joint Environment Heritage Service (EHS) and Environment Protection Agency (EPA) database for recording environmental information, and agreed that the EPA and EHS will continue to co-operate in the collation of data and population of the database for priority areas such as air, nature conservation and waste. The EPA and EHS will report major developments in this work area to the NSMC on an annual basis. The Council also noted that the database will be made available via the aNSwer website.

7. The Council noted the progress made in regard to developing co-operation on information exchange and raising environmental awareness, and approved a work programme for the next 12 months containing a range of co-operative initiatives on shared information resources. These included co-operation on the production and updating of factsheets, the exchange of exhibitions, redesign of the ENFO waste management booklet to include details of local recycling centres and local council contacts in Northern Ireland, co-operation on the production of an all-island Environmental Website Directory, staff exchange, local authority network meetings, and a Waste Management Colloquium for Local Authority Environmental Education Officers and Recycling Officers throughout the island.

8. The Council agreed that the next meeting in this sector would take place in Northern Ireland in November 2002.

Joint Secretariat

17 April 2002