Agenda item 5(b) the Committee’s activities related to the overview of progress in implementing the strategic plan for 2015–2020, including the evaluation of the success of the Protocol and the development of indicators (ECE/MP.PRTR/C.1/2017/2, annex) This is a sample Title Slide with Picture ideal for including a dark picture with a brief title and subtitle. Meeting of the Parties to the Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers to the Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision- making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters 15 September 2017, Budva

Part I Part II Overview of progress in implementing the strategic plan for 2015– 2020

Overview of the progress in implementing the strategic plan for 2015−2020 Bureau entrusted Compliance Committee with task of preparing overview – which was noted by fifth meeting of the Working Group Job was welcome – consistent with our facilitation mandate and we relish contributing to the strategic overview CC prepared a report based on information provided by Parties in their reports A challenge, because focal area I, most of the targets/indicators covered by NIRs to a great extent, focal areas II and III were not covered by NIRs

Focal area I, implementation of the Protocol by each Party Evidence of Increased harmonization with other databases Credible capacity building New functionalities in databases Support of operators and owners with reporting obligations

Focal area II, lifting barriers to ratification and expansion beyond the ECE region Two ratifications since 2014 No ratification beyond the ECE region Difficulties identifying the number of projects that had been undertaken

Focal area III, development of the Protocol In engaging with indicators, could only give estimates of number of Parties addressing areas for future development

General conclusions on strategic plan Parties had more work done regarding implementation of focal area I, that focal areas II and III Parties set priorities in different ways some countries invest in making their PRTR systems progressive and increase their usefulness for stakeholders and its support functions for decision making processes others pay less attention to the implementation and the making use of the potential that lies in their PRTRs.

Strategic plan - issues Need to consider how to capture information needed to assess progress in implementing the plan existing reporting format is not designed to provide the material for the plan’s indicators how we formulate and use indicators

Part II Part II Evaluation of the success of the Protocol and the development of indicators

Relevance of strategic plan In process of overview of strategic plan noted an absence of concrete indicators of success, no work in train to evaluate the success of the Protocol itself.

Summary of proposals on evaluation So we propose work on the development of further indicators to measure the effectiveness and success of the Protocol to facilitate its systematic evaluation. Consistent with trend already in place at global level to evaluate success of environmental treaties.

Why evaluate? Evidence of success would make it easier to recruit new Parties justify allocation of resources to Protocol indicate where more work is needed

How could the success of the Protocol be measured? Two key purposes of the Protocol environmental information is made available in a coherent, structured, standardized and specific way mechanism to pursue long-term goals, particularly corporate accountability, the reduction of pollution and the promotion of sustainable development. Would need to see how those outcomes are achieved

Proposed solution agreed methodology to measure the success of what the Protocol achieves, strive to achieve synergies with respect to related work on the Sustainable Development Goals PRTR community: officials who have a talent for measuring and providing information in a verifiable form for the use of the public.

Criteria for successful multilateral environmental agreements impact — preferably a concrete and measurable impact - in the context of the breadth and depth of the challenge it faces the breadth of participation, the availability of assistance for Parties that find it challenging to comply; the degree of sharing of information the degree of mutual support.

For the MOP’s consideration Mandate: to make a proposal to evaluate the effectiveness and success of the Protocol, where appropriate building on the methodology already used at the international level, working up concrete metrics Inclusive participatory process with comments from stakeholders overseen by the Bureau and the Working Group