Environment JC 23 October 2000

1. The second meeting of the North/South Ministerial Council (NSMC) in its Environment Sector was held in Navan on 23 October 2000. The Irish Government was represented by Mr Noel Dempsey, TD, Minister for the Environment and Local Government, who chaired the meeting. The Northern Ireland Executive was represented by Mr Sam Foster, MLA, Minister of the Environment and Ms Brid Rodgers, MLA, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development.

2. On the 28 June, 2000, at the first NSMC sectoral meeting on the Environment, Ministers approved the establishment of a Joint Register of current research projects. The NSMC at this second meeting on the Environment sector were given a progress report on the development of the Joint Register to date which included a presentation demonstrating how the Register might be developed for a website. The NSMC noted the plans for further development of the database and agreed the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) and the Environment and Heritage Service (EHS) should proceed to tender for a jointly funded contract to develop a website of current environmental research.

3. The first NSMC meeting in the Environment Sector tasked officials, North and South, to consider areas for co-operation in relation to new technologies for monitoring. Arising from this decision a joint report was prepared covering the monitoring of (i) emissions to air and water, (ii) the aquatic environment and (iii) air quality and deposition. The full report will be available on the websites of the EPA and the EHS. Given the well established methodologies which are in place for monitoring air quality and emissions the Council decided that co-operation should concentrate, for the present, on the aquatic environment. The NSMC agreed therefore, that the initial work in this area should concentrate on three topics:

Chemical Monitoring of Surface Waters, Biological Monitoring of Surface Waters and Fish Stocks.

4. The NSMC received a progress report on the work to date of the Working Group, which was established to consider water quality strategies in relation to the Erne and catchments and implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD). The NSMC endorsed the work undertaken so far by the Working Group and requested that they continue the effective development of its work and report to the Council on progress on an ongoing basis.

5. The Council considered proposals for the establishment of a database of environmental information, as a further area of co-operation. The NSMC noted progress to date, North and South on developing environmental databases across a wide range of initiatives and agreed that a database development and co-operation programme should be taken forward on a progressive basis by the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) and the Environment and Heritage Service (EHS). It was agreed that this programme should place particular emphasis on (i) examining the options for completing the European Environment Agency's CORINE Land Cover Project 2000 on an all-island basis, with appropriate co-operation with the U.K. (ii) developing a number of key databases (such as River Water Quality, Air Quality, Groundwater and a Register of environmental data sources) and (iii) the development of a joint internet portal providing access and information on environmentally related data.

6. The Council considered a proposal for developing co-operation on the Environmental Impacts of Agriculture. It was agreed that a scoping study should be undertaken with a view to the development of co-operative arrangements in respect of nutrient management planning in agriculture and in relation to controls on the cross-border management/movement of slurries, particularly in the context of the EU Directive on Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control.

7. Draft Equality Scheme for Special EU Programmes Body.  The Council, as part of the meeting, approved the release of the Draft Equality Scheme for the Special EU Programmes Body for public consultation. This was a formal approval which will facilitate the Special EU Programmes Body in finalising its Equality Scheme as soon as possible.

Date of Next Meeting

8. The Council agreed that its next meeting in this sectoral format will take place in Northern Ireland in February 2001.

Joint Secretariat

23 October 2000