Members of the European Environment and Health Task Force (EHTF) will convene for its 14th meeting, hosted by the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) in Utrecht. The 2-day event will review the progress achieved since the Seventh Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health, held in Budapest, Hungary in 2023. At the Ministerial Conference, countries adopted the Budapest Declaration, which prioritizes urgent, wide-ranging action on health challenges related to climate change, environmental pollution and biodiversity loss along with, and in the context of, recovery from COVID-19.
Within the Budapest Declaration, the “Roadmap for healthier people, a thriving planet and a sustainable future 2023–2030” guides countries in accelerating the transitions needed towards making communities sustainable. The Roadmap explains why urgent action is needed in a particular area, offers a list of commitments countries can consider, and suggests measures to achieve them.
Overall scope
The meeting is of significant importance as it will:
- provide a platform to assess the strides made in implementing the commitments of the Budapest Declaration and its Roadmap;
- outline the activities and key milestones to be achieved by the European Environment and Health Process (EHP) in implementing the commitments of the Budapest Declaration in the 2024–2025 biennium and beyond;
- take stock of the work of the EHP Partnerships and agree on future activities;
- elect 2 new members of the EHTF Bureau from the environment and health sectors; and
- give voice to youth organization representatives to discuss the progress made in implementing the Budapest Youth Declaration.
Expected outcomes
The expected outcomes of the meeting include:
- agreement on a 2-year programme of work for the EHTF
- selection of the themes for future Bonn Dialogues on Environment and Health;
- adoption of the updated terms of reference for the EHP Partnerships
- launch of new EHP Partnerships
- adoption of the updated rules of procedure of the EHTF.
Background
The EHTF is the leading international body for implementing and monitoring the EHP, the first-ever process to eliminate the most significant environmental threats to human health in the WHO European Region. It serves as an instrument for Member States to provide policy direction in the field of environment and health within the Region.
The EHTF is composed of leading officials from all Member States in the Region, and representatives of WHO and intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations recognized as EHP stakeholders.
The EHTF meets annually in the period between Ministerial Conferences on Environment and Health.
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