Zoï’s mission to ‘reveal, explain and communicate connections between the environment and society’ lies right in the heart of environmental governance. Problem-solving in a participatory manner always depends onhigh quality information. We are striving towards innovative solutions tailored to the different communities’ needs from global players to individuals operating locally.
We focus both on contents – making highly communicative information products - and methods – ‘cookbook’ approaches to generating environmental information for decision-making that can easily be replicated by governments, corporations and individuals. In addition, we also provide training in environmental information management.
Zoï Environment and GRID-Arendal regularly publish VITAL GRAPHICS or VISUAL SYNTHESES, a series of fundamental communication initiatives that promote the interaction between science and the various stages of the policy and decision-making cycle.
Zoï Environment Network is participating in and following larger scale global assessments, such as the IPCC’s, GEO etc. to capture and broadcast their findings at the regional and national levels. In wider-Europe, we support the European Environment Agency (EEA) in producing ‘modern’ regional assessments and eventually building up a shared environmental information system. Zoï has also a wide experience addressing urban environmental issues, eventually helping cities to become ‘greener’.
The Shared Environmental Information System (SEIS) is Europe’s initiative to modernize and simplify the collection, exchange and use of environmental data and information. Initially implemented in the European Union, the approach is gradually being tested by Europe’s eastern and southern neighbours. Zoï, together with the Austrian Environment Agency and an IT group Eau de Web in Romania supports the European Environment Agency (EEA) in implementing SEIS in the 16 countries of Eastern Europe, the South Caucasus (in association with REC Caucasus), the Balkans and in the Mediterranean region. Zoï is busy preparing the "SEIS Cookbook".
Zoï Books are produced for the United Nations, the European Union, regions and countries and a growing community of readers world-wide. We closely cooperate with GRID-Arendal in providing environmental information for decision-making.
The fundamental objective of the GEO Cities project is to promote a better understanding of the interaction between urban development and the environment, providing the region’s local governments, scientists, policy-makers and the public with reliable and up-to-date information to help them improve urban environmental planning and management. The GEO Cities assessments provide information on the state of the environment, the main factors for change, and the policies affecting the environment and emerging themes.
In September 2009 the United Nations Environment Management Group agreed to establish an Issue Management Group on Green Economy. This group was tasked to prepare a report to assess how the United Nations system could coherently support countries in transitioning to a green economy. The report is expected to facilitate a common understanding of the green economy approach and the measures required for the transition. The report is also envisioned to contribute to the preparatory process for the 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD or Rio+20) where “the green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication” is one of the two themes; the other is “the institutional framework for sustainable development”.
The Second Assessment of Transboundary Rivers, Lakes and Groundwaters is the most comprehensive, up-to-date overview of the status of transboundary waters in the European and Asian parts of the UNECE region. It covers more than 140 transboundary rivers, 25 transboundary lakes and about 200 transboundary groundwaters. It has been prepared upon request by the Sixth “Environment for Europe” Ministerial Conference as an input for the Seventh Ministerial Conference in Astana in September 2011.
Collection of articles and photographs from the Press-tour on Dniester River. The training was organised by Zoï, in July 2011, under the Environment and Security initiative (ENVSEC).
Newspaper article in Wochenzeitung (German) - Russian - English
Alex Kirby's broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 27th October 2011
Audio mp3 file
Broadcast transcription
Photos collection
Video
IHPA- POPs Newsletter
This assessment report describes the existing institutional cooperation in Armenia in the field of water resources, atmospheric air, soil and biodiversity protection and waste management, assesses current environmental inter-institutional cooperation in these priority fields and identifies the country's capacity for taking SEIS implementation forward.
Maps of Central Asia: Aral Sea basin, Kazakhstan (south part), Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan
Collection of articles from the Press-Tour and Master-Class in Belarus Polesie. The training was organised by Zoï, in July 2010, under the Environment and Security initiative (ENVSEC).
Europe contributes to global environmental pressures and accelerating feedbacks through its dependence on fossil fuels, mining products and other imports. Conversely, changes elsewhere increasingly affect Europe. This assessment of global megatrends focuses on the impact of global pressures on Europe. A global-to-European perspective is relevant for European environmental policy making because Europe’s environmental challenges and management options are being reshaped by global drivers such as demographics, technologies, trade patterns and consumption.
Zoï has provided the Russian translation of the report for the European Environment Agency.
State of the Environment in Donetsk region, Ukraine, Reports: 2007-2008 Russian 2006 Russian
This report reflects the current situation on public health in the country, including children’s health, and the impact of environmental factors on their health, as well as an overview of national priorities, policies and activities that were conducted to improve the existing situation.
This publication integrates two streams: the arguments of leading researchers for a more fundamental response to the multiple threats to our single planetary environment with the artistic vision of a world in which everything has been redistributed to achieve radical equity. Both argue for a new way of managing the earth and its resources - a way that provides for everyone’s basic needs. The alternative? Science, they say, offers the probable answer: a return to the dark ages.
