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Project
Activities
Country
Needs Assessment
Draft needs assessment (NA) reports have been produced in
each country by national experts who carefully evaluated existing laws,
institutional frameworks and implementation practices. (read
more about the country needs assessments)
Country
Activity Plans
Draft needs assessment (NA) reports have been produced in
each country by national experts who carefully evaluated existing laws,
institutional frameworks and implementation practices. (read
more about the country activity plans)
National Meetings
Representatives of relevant governmental
institutions, NGOs and other stakeholders took part in national meetings
held in all five countries between February and April 2005 to discuss
the findings of the NAs, and feedback to the document was given. (link
to the COs websites with list of participants, meeting reports, agendas)
Based on the document presented and the input given by the participants,
priority issues were identified by the stakeholders.
Regional Meetings
The 1st Regional Meeting took place on April
25-26, 2005 at the REC, in Szentendre, Hungary. Several common problems
were highlighted:
Several countries have weak national legislation or need
to develop more specific legal procedures to implement the Aarhus Convention,
the Water Framework Directive and other relevant directives.
Others need practical mechanisms such as information
centres or training for the personnel assigned to handle public information
requests, so that they respond in a consistent manner.
In some countries, officials deny information on the
grounds that it contains confidential business matters or national security,
despite the lack of rules clarifying what is legitimately exempt and what
should be provided to the public.
In other countries the request was to help to develop
or improve stakeholder involvement in river basin management in conformity
with the requirements of the WFD.
Following the national and regional workshops, country
teams have developed concrete activity plans to address the priority problems
identified and in some cases to test the solutions through local demonstration
projects.
The project will work with government officials and NGOs
to meet their needs. Local experts will write and disseminate desk books
for government personnel in the local language of each country, so that
officials “behind the desk” understand the importance of responding to
information requests in a timely fashion and do so efficiently. Other
manuals will be prepared to inform the public about what information the
government has, how to obtain it, and what to do in case of government
inaction or an outright refusal to provide requested information, or how
to organise better and more efficient public involvement in river basin
management issues.
Steering
Committee Meeting
On April 27, 2005, as a follow-up to the
1st Regional Meeting, a Steering Committee Meeting was held where the
project partners briefed the members about the developments within the
project and discussed plans for future activities.
Pilot
Demonstration Projects
Selected NGOs have been invited to prepare proposals
for pilot activities that will contribute on the local level to the improvement
of access to water information and/or involvement of the public in the
decision making related to water management or the implementation of Water
Framework Directive, and thus demonstrate the development and use of best
practice models.
The experiences gained and the lessons learned will be
shared on the national level and will be used as a contribution to national
level activities. The lessons learned will also be disseminated throughout
the countries via a regional meeting and diverse communication tools.
Summary of the Pilot projects:
Study
tour in US
A study tour to the United States was held on June 13-24 attended by selected
representatives of relevant national authorities and members of the active
NGO community. Activities focused on providing the participants with concepts,
ideas, tools and practical information that they can use in their efforts
to develop effective procedures for access to water-related information
and to stimulate increased public participation in the context of Danube
environmental issues, the Water Framework Directive and the Aarhus Convention.
Study
Tour in The Netherlands
 The
purpose of the activity is to give authorities and NGOs the possibility
to gain experience
and exchange ideas on the implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive’s
public involvement component, to see what the challenges and difficulties
are of such processes both from a national and international perspective.
For more information on the ICPDR, please contact:
ICPDR Permanent Secretariat
Vienna International Centre, D0412, PO Box 500, A-1400 Vienna, Austria
Tel: (43-1) 260-605-738, Fax: (43-1) 260-060-5895
icpdr@unvienna.org
http://www.icpdr.org
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