On 18 June, the European Environment Agency (EEA) and its European Environment Information and Observation Network (Eionet) formally endorsed Ukraine as a cooperating country.
Ukraine becomes the eighth EEA cooperating country, joining the Republic of Moldova and the Western Balkan partners. Cooperating countries can engage in the Agency’s activities and become part of Eionet. Similar to 32 member countries, they contribute to and benefit from shared environmental data, assessments and capacity-building activities, supporting improved environmental governance and evidence-based policymaking across Europe.
“Despite the enormous challenges caused by ongoing Russian aggression, Ukraine continues to implement environmental reforms and strengthen its institutions,” said Oleksii Sobolev, Minister of Economy, Environment and Agriculture of Ukraine. “Cooperation with the EEA will help us improve our environmental monitoring and information systems, implement EU environmental legislation, and deepen Ukraine’s integration into European space.”
Leena Ylä-Mononen, EEA Executive Director, welcomed Ukraine as an EEA/Eionet cooperating country: “We have already been working closely with Ukrainian colleagues under the Energy Community framework and in earlier regional projects, and we look forward to building on that foundation. The environmental damage caused by the war is a concern for all of us, and joint work on monitoring, data and assessment will be an important part of what this cooperation delivers.”
Cooperation between the EEA and Ukraine will support Ukraine in building the institutional and technical foundations for future Eionet integration, to provide a roadmap for environmental data reporting in line with the approximation to the EU environmental acquis, and to facilitate Ukraine’s progressive participation in EEA systems, networks and knowledge platforms.
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