On the 1st of March 2023 the European Environment Agency organised the EEA-Eionet Day. It was the largest gathering of EEA-Eionet ever. The first part of the conference was streamed online allowing a huge number of EIONET experts to participate. As regards the Chief Inspectorate for Environmental Protection the full conference was physically attended by Ms Anna Katarzyna Wiech, Head of the Department of Environmental Monitoring, the EEA Management Board Member Alternate, and Ms Małgorzata Bednarek, the EEA/EIONET National Focal Point, working in the same department.
It was a special event, organised in connection to the upcoming end of the second term of the current EEA Executive Director, having performed the role for 10 years, and to the modernisation of the European Environment Information and Observation Network EIONET. The aim was to emphasize the position of the EEA and EIONET as the key providers of comprehensive and reliable knowledge on the environment and related quality of life, answering the needs of the European Green Deal and the 8th Environmental Action Programme as well as accelerating the implementation of the EEA-Eionet Strategy 2021-2030.
The agenda included inter alia: the keynote speeches and a panel debate with Hans Bruyninckx, EEA Executive Director and Laura Burke, EEA Management Board Chair, the presentation of the new EEA products, parallel thematic worskshops as well as sessions and events to exchange the knowledge on the EIONET projects and activities and to strengthen the working contacts.
As Hans Bruyninckx highlighted, various orgnisations can produce the data but “it’s what you do with the data that makes us unique”. It is not about sending the data to the EEA or the Commission, but about creating the knowledge and connecting it with the policy debate. The point is building the innovative cooperation network prepared to take the lead and drive the knowledge creation and supporting policies at the EU and national levels. It is inter alia necessary to take the integrated approach as regards the environmental assessments, put the socio-economic context and take into account the complexity of the world and uncertainties.
From right: Magdalena Jóźwicka-Olsen, EEA; Anna Katarzyna Wiech, Head of the Department of Environmental Monitoring in the CIEP; Małgorzata Bednarek, EEA/EIONET National Focal Point, CIEP DEM ; Beata Kłopotek, Department of Waste Management in the Ministry of Climate and Environment.
The event was preceded by the first this year meeting of the EEA/EIONET National Focal Points and the workshop organised by the European Commission dedicated to the evaluation of EEA and EIONET in the years 2017-2021. At both meetings Poland was represented by Ms Malgorzata Bednarek, EEA/EIONET National Focal Point in Poland, DEM CIEP.
