The FPP Component 2 “Improvement of Transboundary Monitoring Capacity in the Dnipro Basin” as proposed has incorporated and taken into account the following inputs and activities:

×          Results of initial review of existing arrangements for environmental and water monitoring in the Republic of Belarus and their analysis in the context of harmonization with the international and European approaches – these results were submitted in the form of National Baseline Reports (NBR) on the Improvement of Transboundary Monitoring Capacity in the Dnipro Basin to the National Programme Management Committees in each country for their review and approval;

×          Comments and recommendations produced by various international workshops held during the preparation of the National Baseline Reports and the present document to the FPP Component 2;

×          Decisions made by the Belarusian and Ukrainian National Programme Management Committees (NPMC) to approve the National Baseline Reports;

×          Results and outcomes of various analytical activities, including the causal chain analysis undertaken to identify key issues relating to monitoring and their potential causes; stakeholder analysis; formulation of objectives, targets, and short-term objectives/milestones required to be achieved to ensure the progress towards the long-term objectives; identification of performance indicators to enable the monitoring of project implementation; analysis of risks, both actual and potential, that may impede progress towards the specified objectives; logical framework analysis etc.

The development of the Dnipro Basin Transboundary Water and Environmental Monitoring Programme has involved three stages:

Stage 1: The first version of the Dnipro Basin Transboundary Water Monitoring Programme was produced within the framework of the UNDP-GEF Dnipro Basin Environment Programme (the Programme) in 2002-2003 by the International Working Group associated with the International Thematic Centre for Pollution Monitoring based at the Ukrainian Scientific Research Institute of Ecological Problems in Kharkiv.

Stage 2: The following two projects of relevance were implemented through the EU Tacis Programme in the Pripyat River Basin within the Republic of Belarus and Ukraine in the period from 2004 to 2007 (hereinafter referred to as the Tacis Pripyat Projects):

×          Joint River Management Project – Pripyat River Basin[1], 2003-2004;

×          Transboundary River Basin Management Project Phase 2 – Pripyat River Basin,
2007-2008.

These projects have involved the development of measures aiming to enhance the capacity for surface water monitoring in the Republic of Belarus and Ukraine, and their implementation has helped to consolidate and strengthen the Dnipro Basin Transboundary Monitoring Programme through the supply of required monitoring equipment to the Republic of Belarus and Ukraine, and preparation of an amended/refined list of hydrobiological indicators for monitoring. The current version of the Dnipro Basin Transboundary Water and Environmental Monitoring Programme has drawn on the outcomes produced under the above mentioned Tacis Projects.

Stage 3: As part of the DBEP PDF-B Project implemented in 2006 through 2008, the International Working Group[2], with technical/organizational support and assistance from the International Thematic Centre on Pollution Monitoring and in line with the provisions of the Programme Document RER/05/G43, has worked to review and update the Dnipro Basin Transboundary Monitoring Programme so that to ensure that the Programme is consistent with the national environmental management and monitoring priorities, incorporate results produced under the Tacis Pripyat Projects, and modify/expand the scope of the Dnipro Basin Transboundary Monitoring Programme in order to provide a broader environmental monitoring framework for the Dnipro Basin where water quality is considered as one of its integral elements. The Stage 3 activities resulted in the preparation of the Component 2 Project Proposal for inclusion in the FPP proposed to be implemented in 2008-2011, and the Dnipro Basin Transboundary Water and Environmental Monitoring Programme (TMP), which forms an annex to the Component 2 Project Proposal.

Throughout all these stages, the TMP has been developed in line with the national laws and regulations of relevance to environmental monitoring, and taking into account the existing bilateral agreements signed between the Republic of Belarus, Russian Federation and Ukraine. The TMP as proposed also takes account and reflects national priorities in the field of environmental monitoring, and recommendations produced by the UNECE Task Force on Monitoring and Assessment established under the Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (Helsinki, 1992).

The TMP is considered as an important implementation mechanism for the Dnipro Basin Strategic Action Programme (SAP) and National Action Plans (NAP) for Environmental Rehabilitation of the Dnipro Basin. Pursuant to the provisions of the PDF-B Programme Document RER/05/G43, the TMP is also expected to provide information required to monitor and measure the success in implementing the Full-Sized Project.

For the TMP to become fully valid and effective, special orders/regulations are required to be issued by relevant ministries and agencies responsible for environmental monitoring within the Republic of Belarus and Ukraine. This implies that a relevant Order is to be issued by the Minister of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection in the Republic of Belarus, and an Inter-Ministerial Order needs to be signed by the Minister of Environmental Protection, Chief of the State Sanitary Service, First Deputy Minister of Health, Head of the State Committee for Water Management, and Head of the State Hydrometeorological Service in order to enable the TMP implementation in Ukraine.

If and once the proposed Intergovernmental Agreement between the Republic of Belarus, Russian Federation and Ukraine on Cooperation in the Field of Sustainable Management and Protection of the Dnipro Basin (the Agreement) has been signed and the International Dnipro Basin Commission (IDBC) established, the latter will be responsible for all further reviews, revisions and priority shifts/modifications in the TMP version of 2008.