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At today's press conference, Minister of Natural Resources and Spatial Planning Jože Novak, State Secretaries Lidija Kegljevič Zagorc and Miran Gajšek, Director of the Office for Natural Disaster Recovery Ervin Vivoda, Director-General of the Water Directorate Lidija Globevnik and Acting Director of the Water Agency Urška Hočevar presented information on the implementation of works and plans for the future.

Minister Dr Aleksander Jevšek, State Secretary Dr Lidija Kegljevič Zagorc, State Secretary mag. Andrej Rajh, and European Commission delegation led by Sofia Alves, Director responsible for Administrative Capacity Building and Programmes Implementation in the Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy in the European Commission, were on a field visit to the municipality of Črna na Koroškem to learn more about the projects funded by the EU Solidarity Fund.

With these awards, now in their 19th year, the Commission recognises the most innovative, inspiring and effective Life projects in three categories: nature and biodiversity conservation, the environment and climate action.

Portorož, 2 June 2025 – On June 1-2, as part of Slovenia’s Presidency of the MED9 group, Bojan Kumer, Minister of the Environment, Climate and Energy hosted a two-day meeting of energy and environment ministers.

Portorož, Slovenia | 28–30 May 2025 – Representatives from Mediterranean countries, international organizations, and financial institutions are meeting this week in Portorož for the 2nd Sub-regional Meeting on Environmental Assessments in a Transboundary Context in the Mediterranean Sea.

The second annual meeting under the second Swiss contribution took place on Wednesday, 14 May 2025. The meeting was attended by representatives of the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), the Ministry of the Environment, Climate and Energy, the Ministry of Cohesion and Regional Development, the Budget Supervision Office and the Ministry of Finance.

To mark Earth Day, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Spatial Planning held an expert consultation on our role in protecting the planet in the face of climate change. Participants presented systemic spatial planning measures, seismic activity aspects, landslides, mining and resource extraction. The consultation also addressed key legal and information arrangements aimed at reducing the impact of natural disasters.

Ministers Kumer and Jevšek signed a Support Measure Implementation Agreement under the Swiss-Slovenian Cooperation Programme. The Ministry of the Environment, Climate and Energy will direct funding towards agri-photovoltaic pilot projects, the digitalisation of local energy concepts, investments in energy communities and the replacement of fossil fuels with shallow geothermal energy in the heating sector.

The Slovenian Nuclear Safety Administration hosted the Spring plenary meeting of the Western European Nuclear Regulatory Association (WENRA) in Bled, Slovenia, on 8 and 9 April.

At the proposal of the Minister of Natural Resources and Spatial Planning, Jože Novak, the Environment Council yesterday in Brussels discussed, among other things, the activities and achievements of Slovenia's Presidency of the Barcelona Convention, particularly in the context of the current and upcoming global negotiations on the protection of oceans and waters.

Last June, the Council of the European Union adopted a Regulation on nature restoration. The overarching objective of the Regulation is to restore at least 20% of the EU's terrestrial and marine areas by 2030 and all ecosystems in need of restoration by 2050. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Spatial Planning has therefore started to prepare a National Nature Restoration Plan, which will be a key document for the implementation of the Nature Restoration Regulation.

On the occasion of World Water Day - 22 March - the Ministry of Natural Resources and Spatial Planning (MNVP) organised an event to bring together connoisseurs and experts to share their views on the hydrological challenges posed by climate change and human interventions. Altered water runoff and sediment regimes are greatly increasing water-related risks and hazards.

Minister of the Environment, Climate and Energy, Bojan Kumer today met with the European European Commissioner for Climate, Net Zero and Clean Growth, Wopke Hoekstra. The visit was an opportunity for an in-depth discussion about the new European Commission's priorities in the areas of clean transition, climate policies, and sustainable EU growth and
the Clean Industry Deal and upcoming legislative initiatives, among which the revision of the European Climate Law, announced by the Commission in the first quarter of this year, stands out.

During its presidency of MED9, Slovenia will focus on strengthening Europe's resilience and competitiveness, youth empowerment and capacity-building in higher education, digitalisation and culture as well as the EU enlargement and other foreign policy issues. A number of events will be organised during the Presidency, which you can follow on the dedicated MED9 website.

Under this year's theme "Wildlife Conservation Finance: Investing in People and Planet", World Wildlife Day (WWD) 2025 highlights the urgent need for innovative and sustainable financial solutions to preserve the planet's biodiversity and secure a prosperous future for both wildlife and humanity.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Spatial Planning organised the fourth consultation with the mayors and other representatives of Slovenian municipalities. The Minister of Natural Resources and Spatial Planning, Novak, and the Minister of Cohesion and Regional Development, Dr Jevšek, along with their colleagues and representatives of the Government, presented information regarding flood recovery, the analysis of the municipalities’ needs, and EU funds absorption.

Slovenia took over the presidency of the commission that protects the world's most international river basin last December, at the regular meeting of the commission's contracting parties. At today's ceremony, which was organised by the Secretariat of the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR), Slovenia officially took over the presidency in the presence of high representatives of Danube countries. The ICPDR, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, has significantly contributed to improved cross-border cooperation in reducing water pollution, reducing flood risk and improving the ecological status in the Danube River Basin.

Minister of Natural Resources and Spatial Planning Jože Novak hosted, on behalf of Slovenia as the presiding country, ministers and other high representatives of the contracting parties to the Alpine Convention at Brdo pri Kranju. At the Alpine Conference, ministers and other high representatives of the contracting parties reviewed the work performed, which the Slovenian presidency led under the slogan "Quality of life in the Alps for everyone", took note of the results achieved by the Convention's working bodies in the last two years and approved the mandates for their future work.

Slovenia has reached an important milestone in international energy diplomacy. Presiding at the 15th session of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) Assembly, Slovenia will for the first time take on the role of a global advocate for renewable energy, as well as the presidency of an international energy organisation.

At the United Nations Climate Conference in Baku, representatives of the countries today, in the early morning hours, reached a new agreement. According to this agreement rich countries, including Slovenia, will provide at least USD 300 billion in climate assistance to developing countries every year from 2025 to 2035.