The Regional Environmental Reconstruction Programme for South Eastern Europe REReP Record

Concrete choices I heard the word “betonisation” for the first time in Zagreb in November. It was used casually by a university student in her early 20s named Mirna, who was describing what she thought has become the most disturbing environmental problem for her generation. Although Mirna and I come from different countries, I immediately grasped the meaning. All over Central and Eastern Europe, betonisation means the same thing — covering green space with concrete. Apart from illustrating the ever-growing pressure exerted by investors on the environment, betonisation is often a sign of wrongdoing by authorities. The Achilles’ heel of locallevel governance — corruption can easily overshadow the immense positive potential of local environmental action in the eyes of the public. Converting a children’s playground into a parking lot overnight is probably one of the most innocent kinds of betonisation. More emblematic cases include the building of the Mammut shopping mall on top of a small city garden near Budapest’s Moscow Square in 1998. Or the gradual transformation of Sofia’s Southern Park into a large construction area for buildings of various size, from a Hilton hotel to ordinary apartment houses, and most recently the city’s newest hypermarket. An architect well familiar with the method for obtaining building permits in Sofia explained how it works: in a green area the first permit paves the way, literally. It’s usually issued for a parking lot, a petrol station or a “temporary building” such as a pavilion. The next steps are easier, as once the area is covered with concrete, it is no longer a green space. And few would protest when a bazaar turns into a shopping mall one beautiful day. The problem with betonisation is that many communities lose their natural sources of clean air. Instead, they gain yet another supermarket, parking lot or office building. Nature falls victim to development and human greed. Yet, there is another side to the coin of local governance: good environmental solutions are easier to plan and implement at this level. “Municipalities in CEE have an impressive record of nature protection and public health achievements,” said Beata Wiszniewska, who consulted many local environment projects in Poland and the rest of CEE. Wiszniewska’s observation is confirmed by numerous environmental success stories at the local level. Many of them have resulted from carefully designed local environmental action plans promoted by the REC. Others have benefited from capacity building and direct financial assistance from Western funders. But in all cases, individuals have made the difference. A colourful example of this is Argetim Fida, the energetic mayor of Debar, a Macedonian town of about 20,000 near the Albanian border. Unlike in other Balkan places, people with different languages and religions in Debar have managed to coexist peacefully over the past decades. The municipality has beautiful natural surroundings, including snow-capped mountains, the confluence of the Radika and Crni Drim rivers, a picturesque canyon and two thermal springs. Fida is committed to economic development that harmonises with these natural assets. A physician by profession, Fida was one of many who sought a better life abroad after the mid-1980s. Years spent in Switzerland and the United States taught him the value of a good environment for local communities. “Our nature is our main capital, we need to protect it,” he said. Since taking up office more than a year ago, Fida has initiated several projects aimed at improving the local environment. One of them, a Dutch-funded initiative, has allowed the municipality to prepare a feasibility study for the construction of a new wastewater treatment plant and a landfill. The study and some training for local authorities on how to obtain financing for environmental facilities were part of a regional project implemented by the REC. Venelina Varbova, who coordinated the work in three small border municipalities of the Western Balkans, found the outcomes very rewarding. “The level of commitment and personal responsibility of local authorities is higher in smaller municipalities,” she explained. But Varbova remains cautious about betonisation. “Countries in the Western Balkans are now going to face the same pressure on local environments that the rest of CEE did,” she warned. Yet Fida remains optimistic. “In the central [administration] everyone remains anonymous, while here everyone knows everybody. We cannot be as corrupt as they are,” he said, and insisted that it is possible to court investors without letting them pollute or destroy the environment.

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