Ecological legislation
Ramsar Convention on Wetlands
Signed February 2, 1971 in Ramsar, Iran.
The treaty's Parties -154
The goal is to halt the worldwide loss of wetlands and to conserve those that remain. Contracting Parties have designated 1674 wetlands sites totaling more than 300 million acres for inclusion in the Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance. Wetlands play a crucial role in healthy fisheries; near-shore coastal wetlands are the nursery grounds of some deeper ocean species and most of the coastal species that make up fish catches.
One billion people rely on fish as their main source of protein, yet approximately half of commercially important marine fisheries and inland stocks are fully exploited, and another quarter are over fished, depleted, or recovering, while the demand for fish continues to grow.
With thirty-three registered Ramsar wetland sites, Ukraine plays an important role in protecting Europe's environmental heritage. The Danube Delta, which has been part of the UNESCO world heritage since 1991, currently hosts about 90 species of fish and 300 species of birds, of which many are extremely rare or about to become extinct.
For further information, visit the Ramsar Web site at www.ramsar.org.
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC)
Signed on June 1992 at Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia.
It entered into force March 21, 1994. Parties -
The Goal of the Convention is stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system.
In order to concretize and strengthen the commitments and mechanisms of the Convention, after two and a half years of intense negotiations, the Kyoto Protocol was adopted at the Third Conference of the Parties (COP) in Kyoto, Japan, on 11 December 1997. It entered into force on February 16, 2005.
National Reporting on the UNFCCC implementation
Article 12 of the Convention requires each Party report to the COP, through the Secretariat, on the policies and measures that it has adopted to implement its commitments and also greenhouse gas inventories. In accordance with this article, the Conference of the Parties has elaborated several different types of reports and related guidelines and procedures consistent with the common but differentiated responsibilities of Parties.
National Communications and annual greenhouse gas inventories, submitted by the Annex 1 Parties (among them – Ukraine), are the main source of information for the assessment of the level of the implementation of the Convention and progress monitoring of the Parties in achieving the Convention Objective.
Ukraine ratified the Convention on October 29, 1996 and on August 11, 1997 became a Party under the UN procedures.
Ukraine did first steps aimed to implement the reporting commitments according to Article 4, paragraph 4, and Article 12, paragraph 1, of the Convention. At the beginning of 1998 Ministry of Environment Protection and Nuclear safety prepared and submitted to the Secretariat the First National Communication of Ukraine on Climate Change and in 2000 submitted greenhouse gas inventories for the 1991-1998 period. These documents were prepared by the group of independent experts under coordination of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources of Ukraine.
At present Ukraine must prepare and submit greenhouse gas inventories by the April 15, 2005 and, according to the COP decision 4/CP.8 Annex 1 Parties must submit their Fourth National Communication by January 1, 2006.
For further information please contact:
Yuliya Harnyk
tel./fax: +38 044 254 5764
tel.: +38 044 5857885
CITES
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)
Parties 150 countries
The goal is to control trade in a number of species of plants and animals, their parts and derivatives upon crossing the country borders. The names of these species appear in a Control List that is updated every two years, following the meeting of the Parties to the Convention. The list provides the names of CITES species and indicates whether they are Appendix I, II or III species.
Appendix I species are rare or endangered. Trade in these species for primarily commercial purposes is prohibited. As a result, Appendix I species must be accompanied by a CITES export permit issued by the exporting country and a CITES import permit issued by the importing country.
Appendix II species are neither rare nor endangered at present, but could become so if trade is not controlled. The species in Appendix II must be accompanied by an appropriate CITES export permit issued by the exporting country before entry to the importing country will be allowed.
Appendix III species are not endangered but are subject to special management within the listing country (as indicated in parentheses beside the Appendix number). Species in Appendix III must be accompanied by an appropriate CITES export permit issued by the exporting country if the trade is with the listing country, or by a certificate of origin or a re-export certificate if the trade is with a country other than the listing country, as required by the Convention.
Convention on Biological Diversity
Opened on June 5, 1992. Rio de Janeiro (Brasil) Entered into force on December 29, 1993 Parties - 185 countries including European Union.
Ukraine signed the Convention on June 11, 1992 and ratified it on November 29, 1994.
Goal:
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conservation of biological diversity;
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sustainable use of biological diversity;
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fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources.
Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety.
A supplementary agreement to the Convention on Biodiversity known as the Protocol.
Opened on January 29, 2000 entered into force on September 11, 2003
Ukraine has become a Party according to the Law of Ukraine # 152-IV, September 12, 2002.
Goal: To protect biological diversity from the potential risks posed by living modified organisms (known as GMOs) resulting from modern biotechnology. This Protocol became the first legal document aimed to regulate movement of GMOs across borders and establish practical rules and procedures for the safe transfer, handling and use of it.
For further information please contact:
Galyna Prystinska
tel./fax: +38 044 254 5764
tel.: +38 044 5857885
Aarhus Convention
Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters.
Goal: The Convention recognized the rights to access to information, to public participation in environmental decision-making, and to access to justice in environmental matters.
The Convention requires the parties to notify the public concerned – effectively, timely, and adequately – at the early stages of decision-making and to ensure that “in the decision due account is taken of the outcome of the public participation” (Art.6). If the right to environmental information or to participation is violated, anyone can have a right to challenge in court the decision taken.
The non-governmental organizations play a special role in spreading the principles and requirements of the Aarhus Convention.
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