Belarus—Support to Effective Air Emissions, Radiation Monitoring, and Improved Environmental Management

Belarus has made significant progress toward reducing air pollution in recent decades. However, the air quality in the country is not in compliance with its standards and is often the cause of serious health effects.

One main goal of this project is to harmonize relevant legislation in the fields of air quality monitoring and management and data collection systems. It addresses the country’s needs to improve air quality management and monitoring while aligning its environmental permitting regulations with international and European Union (EU) standards.

The intervention supports investments in natural capital and cleaner technologies to encourage low-carbon development and reduce adverse impacts on public health in Belarus.

Sample Activities

• Assist Belarus in improving air quality management and carrying out air quality monitoring in compliance with the EU Acquis, the Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution, and other international environmental agreements.
• Align environmental permitting regulations in Belarus with international and EU standards.
• Develop Belarus’s capacity in air quality modelling and management.
• Elaborate Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans for four major cities using urban air quality models and a transport policy support tool to support evidence-based decision making.

Select Results

• Outlined legislative and regulatory amendments to be incorporated in the country’s legal frameworks related to air quality monitoring and management.
• Compiled a list of national regulatory legal acts and their respective provisions to introduce the best EU policy approaches and experience in the field of air quality management.
• Drafted key provisions for Belarusian legislation and regulations in order to achieve harmonization of the national system of environmental permits with EU best practices.
• Reviewed legislation recently prepared by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection staff concerning integrated environmental permits.