On the Interlinkages of Environment & Health in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
UN Environment, Women Engage for a Common Future “WECF” and “WECF Georgia” facilitated the National Workshop on Inter-linkages of Environment and Health in the
2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in Tbilisi, on 19-20 February 2018, in Tbilisi, Georgia followed by a half-day consultation on the inter-linkages with SDG5 on Gender-Equality and Women’s empowerment, which took place on 21 of February.
The National Workshop was co-organised by the government of Georgia; the Ministry of Environment & Agriculture, UN, WECF Georgia and Greens Movement (Friends of the Earth) Georgia. The National Workshop was supported by the German Environment Agency “UBA” and the Federal German Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety.
The third day which looked at the social and gender inter-linkages was co-organised by WECF Georgia, IDFI, UNDP, the Swedish Embassy and the Human Rights Secretariat of the Government of Georgia.
A total of 65 participants (42 women and 25 men) from the Government of Georgia, UN agencies, European Member State delegations and international cooperation partners, Universities, Private Sector and Civil Society organisations participated in the National Workshop (see annex 1, list of participants).
OBJECTIVES OF THE NATIONAL WORKSHOP
The purpose of the national workshop was to raise awareness of the interconnections between the environment and health dimensions of the Sustainable Development Goals and to develop the strategic partnership of actors to address the environmental and health challenges at national level. The event is part of the implementation of the Sustainable Development Objectives in the context of the international commitments of Georgia.
The National Workshop asked the question “what steps has Georgia taken to achieve the Sustainable development Goals, are we on the right path, and what more needs to be done?” The first day of the National Workshop assessed where Georgia stands now with the SDGs, looking specifically at the environmental and health dimensions. The second day looked at solutions and what more needs to be done. A third day looked particularly at the inter-linkages with the social and gender dimensions.
The workshop input is based on the Voluntary National Review (VNR) which the government of Georgia prepared in 2016, and presented at the High Level Political Forum at the United Nations. The results will be used to feed into the 2nd VNR to be presented next year, and to make adjustments if necessary to the SDG implementation plan. See https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org
The results will also feed into the preparation of the National Portfolio of Actions for the Environment and Health process by the World Health Organisation Europe and the UNECE, to be presented by the end of 2018. See: http://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/environment-and-health/pages/european-environment-and-health-process-ehp
