Environmental Monitoring: European and Belarusian Experience

Abstract

More than 5 years have passed since the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals. To analyze the goals, it is necessary to carry out environmental monitoring. The results of environmental monitoring are of fundamental importance for environmental management in general since the development and setting of priorities for environmental policy are based on the results of environmental monitoring. To distinguish changes in the state of the biosphere caused by economic and other human activities against the background of natural processes, a global system of special observations is created (for changes in the state of the environment and the reaction of biota to its changes), which is called monitoring.

WMO supported the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Having great experience in environmental monitoring National Meteorological and Hydrological Services and the broader WMO community can contribute to the SDGs achievement at the national and international levels.

Environmental monitoring methods help assess progress toward sustainable development goals such as Goal 6 “Clean water and sanitation,” Goal 7 “Affordable and clean energy,” Goal 11 “Sustainable cities and communities,” Goal 13 “Climate change,” Goal 14 “Life underwater,” and Goal 15 “Life on Land.”

European monitoring systems such as the Copernicus program and the Joint Research Center of the European Commission (JRC) are implementing several environmental monitoring projects. The National Environmental Monitoring System (NEMS) also implements various projects aimed at achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.