Accomplishments in the third quarter include: The main activities of this quarter were the Project kick-off meeting, which took place October 11-13, 2000, the meeting of Project Steering Committee following the kick-off meeting on October 14, 2000, and preparation for the first in-region capacity building and direction setting meetings, which will be held in Hungary on January 30 and 31 and in Ljubljana in early February. The main goal of the October kick-off meeting was to review the Needs Assessments and other information, and to agree with the partners from the two countries, Hungary and Slovenia, on the concrete focus of the project activities and on aims for final outputs. The Project Steering Committee’s goal was to discuss and evaluate the progress of the project and plans and give recommendations for future directions. The upcoming capacity building meetings will implement the strategies agreed upon during the October meeting to build the capability of Hungary and Slovenia to meet the standards set by the Aarhus Convention in the context of their Danube clean-up commitments. During the Third Quarter the following activities were carried out: The Project Implementation Team (PIT) met with Hungarian and Slovenian project participants from October 11 to 13 at REC headquarters in Szentendre, Hungary including government officials from different levels and NGOs. (Preparation for this meeting is described in our previous quarterly report.) The members of the PIT presented the project objectives and goals, the Needs Assessments of the current situation in Hungary and Slovenia, and reviewed the existing standards for public access to environmental information and public participation in environmental decisionmaking under the Aarhus Convention and the countries Danube clean-up commitments.   The Hungarian and Slovenian consultants presented their respective findings from the preparation of the two country-specific needs assessments, outlining the problems and gaps in access to environmental information and concerning releases of nutrients and toxics to international waters with a view to promote public participaton in environmental decision-making in each country. The project participants provided input on these findings, elaborating on the issues brought up by the consultants' reports and adding their personal experiences in dealing with access to environmental information and related participation provisions in national law and practice. The meeting was designed so that project participants could apply this information to decide the most significant issues and problems to address and accomplish in the time frame of the Project.   Two alternative case study examples were presented by the Hungarian and the Slovenian consultants which focused on specific locations or situations which could highlight the problems associated with inadequate access and participation in the Danube watershed, and be used as a focal point for addressing these inadequacies. Based upon these presentations, both the Hungarian and Slovenian participants met in native-language break-out sessions to determine which of the two case studies prepared for each country would be most useful to employ throughout the course of the project.   After consideration of all relevant factors, the Hungarian participants chose to focus upon hotspots on the Tisza river, and review them in the context of the cyanide spill from Romania which poisoned the stretch of the river that runs through Hungary and the ongoing rehabilitation process. In the course of the project, this case study will be used not to examine the circumstances of the Tisza spill itself, but to understand how another such catastrophe might be prevented through better public access to environmental information and public participation in environmental decision making.    The Slovenian participants chose a pulp and paper factory that discharges significant amounts of nutrients and toxics into the Danube watershed as their case study example. This example will give an opportunity for the project to consider how public access to environmental information and participation in decision making can help to reduce the flow of toxics from industrial facilities to the Danube. The pulp and paper factory case study example also offers the opportunity to consider a municipal water treatment facility associated with the mill.   The Hungarian and Slovenian participants each determined a series of priority issues that they would like to be considered in relation to their chosen case study examples at the capacity building meetings in late January/early February. These issues include for both countries: the definition of environmental information and the clarification of other legal terms; proper handling of exemptions to public access to information, particularly how confidential business information is defined and handled; other exemptions to the right to access information; a determination of who can access information; the facilitation of access to environmental information; and necessary changes in the institutional framework of each country.   During the discussions, the Hungarian and Slovenian participants identified the most useful outputs expected from the project to improve the situation of public access to information in the two countries. In addition to capacity building activities and recommendations on how the legal, institutional framework and practices should be improved in the two countries, the Hungarian participants recommended to prepare a set of practical guidelines for public officials responsible for public access to environmental information and a small brochure for citizens to facilitate accessing such information. The Slovenian participants suggested to prepare legal guidelines for public officials responsible for public access to environmental information to facilitate the interpretation and use of existing legislation in practice.   On October 14, the Project Steering Committee meeting was held with the participation of Tehmina Akhtar and Istvan Tökés from UNDP, representatives of the Hungarian Ministry of Environment, NGOs and the PIT. (Unfortunately, due to other commitments, the representatives of the Slovenian Ministry of Environment could not stay for one more day after the workshop.) The PIT described the status of the project, what had been accomplished and plans for the next quarter of the project. The PIT found this a very useful meeting and gained insights and recommendations for further development of project activities from the experience and perspective of the Steering Committee members.   Following the meeting in Szentendre, the PIT attended the GEF International Waters Conference in Budapest on October 14-17, 2000. At the conference, PIT members were asked too give short presentations and participated in several panel discussions. Specifically, members of the PIT discussed the importance of public access to environmental information and participation in environmental decision making as a component of the protection of international waters, and how access to information can help achieve the goals of GEF IW projects, the needs for NGO projects and also the experience of NGO execution of GEF projects. The members of the PIT received excellent feedback from these sessions, and learned a great deal about possible synergies between this project and other GEF IW projects.   In the months after the October meetings, the PIT has been working intensely to prepare for the next major activity of the project, the first in-region capacity building sessions in Slovenian and Hungary. The Slovenian participants decided to organize a one-day roundtable focusing on the clarification of the legal terms regarding the issues identified in October workshop as of priority importance. The Hungarian participants decided to organize a two-day capacity building event about the priority issues mentioned above in the Tisza region. These sessions will take place in Szolnok, Hungary (a town on the Tisza River) from January 30 – 31, and in Ljubljana, Slovenia on February 2. The sessions will be conducted in the national languages of the respective countries, although members of the PIT will prepare materials to serve as the basis of the discussions and will be present to answer questions and to offer guidance. Translation will be provided.   Logistics for the capacity building sessions Szolnok and Ljubljana have been arranged. A draft agenda and draft list of participants for each session has been determined following consultation with the partners from the respective ministries and NGOs.   Background materials for the meeting will consist, among others, of a reference manual that project participants can use to easily access examples of different country practices from the United States, European Union member States and Central and Eastern European States, corresponding to priority issues highlighted during the October meetings including how information requests are handled and exemptions to accessible information, particularly confidential business information. The report will have three sections: one on the United States (to be completed by NYU and RFF), one on the EU requirements and the practices of certain EU member countries with a focus on the Netherlands (to be completed by the project’s EU consultant) and one on the practices of certain countries from Central and Eastern Europe (to be completed by the REC). The document will be fully indexed in an integrated fashion to maximize its utility for project participants, and have an integrated glossary of terms used.   The preparation of this material has been extremely time intensive, and has involved extensive contact among the members of the PIT, as well as with the project consultants and participants, to ensure that issues considered in the report would be of the highest priority to the participants to the capacity building sessions, and to assure that all materials are presented clearly. The report will evolve through the project, as the PIT and the participants identify issues and solutions and will become in the end one of the outputs of the project. The consideration of additional issues will be included in successive versions throughout the course of the project.   Preparation has already begun for the Netherlands and US Study Tours that will occur from late February to mid-March. Lists of candidate participants are being organized this moment, and the PIT has begun to finalize a list of topics that will be discussed.

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