UNEP/GEF Project “Russian Federation - Support to the National Programme of Action for the Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment” 5th Steering Committee Meeting 24-25 March 2011 UN Building, 9 Leontyevskiy Lane, Moscow Report On the Fifth Meeting of the Project Steering Committee ______________________________________________ Prepared by: the Project Office Status: approved 1 Table of Annexes Annex I List of Participants Annex II Revised Agenda of the Meeting Annex III Summary of the Project Implementation versus the bench marks stipulated in the original Project Document and supplemented by the Project Steering Committee Annex IV Main results of pre-investment studies in the Russian Arctic Annex V Report on Environmental protection System Component Implementation Annex VI Main results of demo and pilot projects implemented on the NPA-Arctic Project life time 2 Report On the Fifth Meeting of the Project Steering Committee Introduction The 5th meeting of the Steering Committee (StC) for the UNEP/GEF Project “Russian Federation - Support to the National Programme of Action for the Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment” was convened on 24-25 March 2011 in the UN Building in Moscow, Russian Federation. The meeting was chaired by Mr. Boris Morgunov, the Assistant to the Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation and the representative of the Project Executing Agency. The meeting started at 10.00 on March 24, 2011. The list of participants is presented in Annex I of this report. AGENDA ITEM 1: OPENING OF THE MEETING AND ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA The Chairman welcomed participants and informed the StC members that this meeting would be the final meeting of the StC for the UNEP/GEF RF NPA-Arctic Project. He invited Dr. Ampai Harakunarak and Mr. Takehiro Nakamura to speak on behalf of UNEP, the Project Implementing Agency. Taking a brief opportunity to benefit from the participation of Mr. Nakamura, the Chairman proposed that the Project exit strategies and transition to the Arctic Agenda 2020 Programme be reviewed and discussed on the first day of the meeting, allowing details to be further discussed on the second day of the meeting. The StC meeting approved the proposed revisions and adopted the new agenda as attached in Annex II of this report. AGENDA ITEM 2: PROJECT EXIT STRATEGIES AND TRANSITION TO THE ARCTIC AGENDA 2020 PROGRAMME The StC reviewed and discussed the development of project exit strategies. It was agreed that the strategies would specify actions and steps for continued improvement of the Russian Arctic environment, after the predetermined objectives of the UNEP/GEF RF NPA Arctic have been achieved, through the results of each project component and the established partnership and cooperative mechanisms. It was advised that the strategies should not overtly identify the plan for applying new GEF funds, but rather propose areas of future work with potential funding sources – as a basis for the Arctic Program development. The meeting acknowledged the GEF fund used to implement the project activities and agreed that some remaining/unutilized project budget (estimated at $25,000) would be used to hire a consultant to develop the strategies. The StC acknowledged a suggestion to transfer the remaining amount of GEF fund to UNEP account after the project is financially closed. A special attention was given to the 3 coordination mechanism(s) required under the Arctic Agenda 2020 Programme with an involvement of various GEF Agencies and Russian Executing Agencies. The meeting also discussed the following points: The Chairman noted that the Project should be completed on May 31, 2011 and all activities of the Project Office (PO) would also be terminated after this date. He also requested that the StC members make decision on follow-up steps including the use of remaining Project funds, “Arctic Agenda 2020” programme preparation and its coordination, project website maintenance, and other relevant matters. The Chairman informed the StC members that the draft Arctic Agenda 2020 Programme conceptual design would be revised taking into consideration comments received from the two meetings and submitted for GEF SEC review by mid April. This document will be also discussed at the Interagency Working Group meeting in mid April. He further welcomed UNEP’s advice and support in developing the Arctic Agenda 2020 including ideas on a coordination mechanism for the programme development and implementation. The UNEP representative noted that the NPA-Arctic project completed all component activities successfully. Both Project managerial structures – Project Steering Committee (STC) and Interagency Working Group performed successfully and the administrative experience gained could be replicated in the new “Arctic Agenda 2020”. It was also emphasised that the “Arctic Agenda 2020” Programme could be seen as an organic output of the NPA-Arctic Project. UNEP’s expertise and contribution during the project implementation as well as the transition period (particularly from now to November 2011) was recognized and continuous support in developing exit strategies for the NPA-Arctic Project was encouraged. UNEP would support the Russian Federation in preparing 2-3 PIFs under the “Arctic Agenda 2020,” as well as other technical backup or program approach (PA) coordination as requested. It was recommended that Project 1 (SAP-Arctic Implementation) under the Arctic Agenda 2020 could establish an integrated programme oversight and monitoring structure that involve all partners and stakeholders. The US EPA representative highlighted excellent implementation of the UNEP/GEF NPA-Arctic Project and recommended the programme coordination structures built on the existing ones (i.e., StC, IAWG, networks of partnership among ministries/agencies and regions). She also emphasized the importance of the Russian Prime Minister’s recent pledge to earmark 740 million RUB (US$ 25 million) for cleanups on the Franz Josef Land Archipelago in 2011 and 2012, which was resulted from the NPA-Arctic demo project. US EPA expressed a strong support to the development of the project exit strategies and the preparation of the “Arctic Agenda 2020” Programme that stemmed from the NPA-Arctic Project and would be a great platform for the new 4 environmental approach and utilization of the green technology in the Russian Arctic. She also supported the proposed idea to allocate remaining unspent project funds for preparation of the project exit strategies and pointed out that existing project managerial structure could be very useful in the Programme preparatory stage and for the future Programme administration. Some opportunities were identified for technical and financial support on capacity development during the transition period and beyond (e.g., training and/or meetings in US on environmental management and clean-up technologies, including an exchange of knowledge and experience in managing the ‘Superfund’ model). It was also informed that at least 18 months would be required for new US grant development. She also suggested that the NPA-Arctic Project need more publicity of its results in mass media and in power structures. NEFCO gave strong support to the development of NPA-Arctic Project exit strategies, as well as the PA process. The institution, however, expressed a couple of concern including on sustainability of the demo and pilot projects which were successfully implemented under the UNEP/GEF NPA-Arctic Project as well as on the establishment of coordination mechanisms with activity under Barents Euro/Arctic Council, EU Northern Dimension and Arctic Council. It was suggested that, through NEFCO’s mandates and work plans, future work under the Arctic Agenda 2020 could utilize the existing forums and facilities for dealing with ‘hot spots’ and bridging other activities. Mr. Chairman requested that NEFCO identify and advise potential support to specific projects/activities of interest under the Arctic Agenda 2020. One opportunity has been identified as the Russian Executing Agency of Barents EuroArctic Council, which will be set up this May under the Barents Hot Spots Facility (BHSF) <http://www.nefco.org/financing/BHSF>, which is managed by NEFCO on behalf of the Governments of Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, involving a grant of up to 70,000 Euros per project. The purpose of the BHSF is to promote project development at the ‘hot spots’ in the Russian Barents Region that were defined in a report by NEFCO in collaboration with the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP) in 2003. The representative of GEF Secretariat noted successful implementation of the NPA- Arctic Project and emphasised that, from GEF Secretary point of view, it is very important to recognize such an achievement when GEF project generated further development as in case of the NPA-Arctic Project. It was advised that the next task is to sustain the Project results by asking how project results can be utilised. He further encouraged that the RF and its partners should work out the way for sustaining the project results. It was also emphasized that the NPA-Arctic Project had established very important and sustainable basis for the next step through development of the Arctic Agenda 2020 Programme; and that Russian priorities identified during NPA-Arctic Project should be taken into account in project exit strategies. He urged the StC to ensure that the proposed programme structure would provide a congregated result through an adequate and effective flow of information.