Workshop in Slovenia focuses on the integration of health in environmental impact assessments
Slovenia is one of eight Member States of the European Union (EU) taking part in the multicountry project "Capacity Building in Environment and Health (CBEH)", co-funded by the European Commission, Directorate General for Health and Consumers (DG SANCO).
As part of this project, Slovenia's National Institute of Public Health is organizing a two-day workshop (18–19 June 2012) in collaboration with other national institutions and the WHO European Centre for Environment and Health. The workshop will focus on the exchange of experiences related to environment and health impact assessments, and specifically on enhancing integration of health (equity) in environmental impact assessments and strategic environmental assessments. Participants will analyse capacity gaps within the health and environment sectors and discuss options for in-depth training. They will also develop a country-specific proposal for development of a continuous training framework through the inclusion of certain environment and health training modules.
Previous project activities
On 15 May 2012, a half-day national workshop in Slovenia highlighted the following topics:
- the European environment and health process;
- European Union priorities;
- implementation of Parma Declaration commitments in Slovenia;
- environmental impact assessment (EIA) in relation to health impact assessment;
- strategic environment assessment from the public health perspective;
- health and environmental emissions;
- experience with the preparation of EIA and environmental assessments;
- risk communication;
- effects of air pollution and nano-particles on health;
- the use of quantitative methods for risk assessment.
An international training workshop on environment and health was also held in Riga, Latvia, 19–23 March 2012, for 70 representatives of the environment and health sectors from the eight participating EU Member States. Aims of the event were to provide new insights on pressing environment and health topics, offer in-depth training options on specific areas in environment and health, and to provide opportunities for networking among participants of different sectors and countries.
The training was structured around four components:
- key lectures delivered by international experts;
- case studies presented by country representatives;
- parallel in-depth modules related to health in impact assessments and quantitative methods;
- training of trainers.
