REC INITIATIVES
The message broadcast from Sofia was clear: Economic and environmental policies must be integrated, and mechanisms must be developed to finance priority environmental projects in Central and Eastern Europe. For this to happen, both policymakers and citizens from all walks of life need to become more involved in the environmental decisionmaking process. If viable solutions are to be found, critical social, economic and environmental issues need to be addressed by the widest number of constituents possible.
REC Initiatives moves this process along by highlighting strategic environmental issues and sharing experiences that help policymakers and citizens come together to solve the region's environmental problems. Much of the Initiative Team's work in 1995 involved conducting surveys and producing reports, manuals and case studies on public participation, approximating EU legislation and developing national environmental strategies, issues that are integral to improving environmental protection activities in Central and Eastern Europe.
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION PROGRAM The Sofia conference provided REC Initiatives with an opportunity to present the findings of the Public Participation Program's most recent product. Status of Public Participation in Environmental Decisionmaking in Central and Eastern Europe, published in October 1995, examines the successes and failures of public participation in Central and Eastern Europe during its transition to democracy and a market economy, including analyses that identify areas of improvement and further needs. It will serve as a benchmark for measuring the progress of public participation in environmental protection.
AT THE SOFIA CONFERENCE Magdolna Toth Nagy, the REC's Public
Participation Project coordinator, delivered a presentation on the status of public participation in Central and Eastern Europe.
The Public Participation Program also released the Baltic Supplement, an addendum to the original Manual on Public Participation in Environmental Decisionmaking which the REC published in 1994. The supplement extended the REC's analysis of the legal and nonformal tools available in Central and Eastern Europe by including Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Other chapters were updated and expanded in order to make the coverage more comprehensive and easier to read. Like the original, the supplement was published in English and each of the local languages, and covers such issues as the historical and legal context of public participation, instruments for public participation and several case studies.
Both of these publications were written to increase awareness among citizens and policymakers regarding the importance of public participation to the environmental decisionmaking process, and to show them how far they have come and how far they still have to go. But the best indicator that public participation is slowly being integrated into the environmental decisionmaking process was the fact that the Environmental NGO Coalition was given a seat alongside government leaders at the Sofia table.
COMPARATIVE STUDIES Because it is an effective way to generate the funds needed to finance environmental protection in Central and Eastern Europe, internalizing the costs of environmental protection has been an important catch phrase at every environment conference since Rio. Assisting Central and Eastern European countries integrate market-based tools into their environmental policy is one of REC Initiatives' most important goals. Prompted by needs voiced by REC constituents, including a mention in the Environmental Action Programme for Central and Eastern Europe (EAP), Initiatives has provided comparative analyses of various policymaking tools that are important to Central and Eastern Europe.
A SEMINAR ON NATIONAL Environmental Action Programs held in Budapest was part of REC Initiative's comparative studies efforts in 1995.
During 1995, in keeping with the focus at Sofia, Initiatives worked on a project to document the progress made by ten Central and Eastern European countries in approximating EU environmental legislation. Approximation of European Union Environmental Legislation includes individual country reports, prepared by in-country experts, and a regional overview that compares the state of approximation in various Central and Eastern European countries. Because EU approximation is such an important issue, this report is regarded as one of REC Initiative's most impressive achievements to-date. By assessing the progress CEE countries have made in the approximation process, and by identifying the obstacles that have slowed it down, this report provides policymakers and citizens with a better understanding of the problems these countries face in adjusting their legal systems.
ASSISTANCE TO THE ENVIRONMENTAL ACTION PROGRAM The Environmental Action Programme (EAP) was a key element on the agenda at the Sofia conference. The EAP has been the focal point for developing sound environmental policy in Central and Eastern Europe since it was adopted by European environment ministers at the Lucerne conference in 1993. The REC too realized the importance of this process and, in 1995, initiated a program to help CEE countries implement the national and local environmental action programs that grew out of the EAP. The EAP assistance program helps the EAP process by involving the widest number of constituents in the process, and by identifying problems, sharing experiences and strengthening a framework of mutual assistance.
BY INFORMING THE CITIZENS of CEE about their right to participate in the environmental decisionmaking process, both formally and informally, the REC hopes to improve the health of the environment and encourage the development of civil society.
The first product of this program, published in early 1995, is the Status of National Environmental Action Programs in Central and Eastern Europe, a report identifying the progress made by twelve Central and Eastern European countries in implementing their own national environmental action plans. In an effort to help municipalities build their capacity for environmental management, REC Initiatives also began work on a report that will document the progress made in implementing environmental action strategies at the local and regional level in five CEE countries.
REGIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL CENTER * ANNUAL REPORT 1995