EUROPEAN ENVIRONMENT AGENCY (EEA)

The European Environment Agency (EEA) provides independent information on the environment, thereby helping those involved in developing, adopting, implementing and evaluating environmental policy, as well as informing the general public.

EEA's mandate is:

• To help the Community and member countries make informed decisions about improving the environment, integrating environmental considerations into economic policies and moving towards sustainability
• To coordinate the European environment information and observation network (Eionet)

The agency is governed by a management board composed of representatives of the governments of its 33 member states, a European Commission representative and two scientists appointed by the European Parliament, assisted by a committee of scientists. It is headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark.

The Member States of the union are members; however the Council Regulation establishing it provided that other states may become members of it by means of agreements concluded between them and the EU.

The EEA has 33 member countries and six cooperating countries. The European environment information and observation network (Eionet) is a partnership network of the EEA and the countries. The EEA is responsible for developing the network and coordinating its activities. To do so, the EEA works closely together with national focal points (NFPs), typically national environment agencies or environment ministries. The NFPs are responsible for coordinating networks of the National Reference Centres (NRCs), bringing altogether around 1000 experts from over 350 national institutions and other bodies dealing with environmental information.

Apart from the NFPs and NRCs, Eionet currently covers six European Topic Centres (ETCs) in the areas of air and climate change, biological diversity, climate change impacts, vulnerability and adaptation, water, land use and spatial information and analysis and sustainable consumption and production.

The 33 member countries include the 28 European Union Member States together with Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and Turkey.

The six Balkans countries are cooperating countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia as well as Kosovo. These cooperation activities are integrated into Eionet and are supported by the European Union under the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance.

International cooperation

In addition to its 33 members and six Balkan cooperating countries, the EEA also cooperates and fosters partnerships with its neighbours and other countries and regions, mostly in the context of the European Neighbourhood Policy

• EaP states: Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgira
• UfM states: Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestinian Authority, Syria, Tunisia
• other ENPI states: Russia
• Central Asia states: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan

Additionally the EEA cooperates with multiple international organizations and the corresponding agencies of the following countries:

• United States of America (Environmental Protection Agency)
• Canada (Environment Canada)
• PR China (State Environmental Protection Administration)