Conclusions and Recommendations
Environment
The EU accession countries of central and eastern Europe have undergone profound political, economic and social change during the course of the last decade. The transition to a market economy has impacted considerably on the environment sectors, which remains important on the list of policy priorities, in spite of a decline in public awareness. The EU accession process of the ten surveyed countries can be seen as the single most important driving force, since the environment sector is one of those which requires among the greatest attention in terms of meeting EU requirements and harmonising legislation, infrastructure, and standards. In meeting these requirements, all countries have also been found to be in the process of passing on responsibility for environment issues to the local self-governing level.Environment Status and Driving Forces
The state of the environment has been considerably affected by changes in political and economic spheres. The number of national park and protected landscape areas have been increased in order to preserve a generally growing number of endangered species. Today, as in the past, these are being affected by external influences such as deforestation, intensive land use, and transboundary pollution.Air quality generally appears to be improving with the level of most pollutant emissions declining, owing to the closure of heavy polluting industries, and switches from coal or heavy oil to cleaner fuels and natural gas. Some countries note the increasing use of cleaner production and end-of-pipe technologies as driving forces. At the same time however, the energy sector continues to be a driving force in contributing to the emission of air pollutants, driven by rising energy demand. The traffic sector is the largest single contributor to the growing levels of emissions from mobile sources, including nitric and carbon oxides. This clearly is the result of increased vehicle ownership arising from increased purchasing power (a result of economic transition), the use of older second hand vehicles, and a decline in the quality of public sector transport which is increasing traffic congestion.
Water quality is characterised by improving surface water conditions, but declining groundwater quality. Run-off and leaching of ground contamination owing to agriculture and uncollected sewage are presented as the driving forces, while the release of untreated wastewater into surface waters continues to be a priority problem.
Soils continue to be contaminated by a
number of sources, including former military installations, industry contributing
solid and hazardous waste, rising levels of domestic waste driven by the
growth of the consumer society and improper storage and treatment.
Most CEE countries landfill waste under improper circumstances, with only
selected cases of sorting, reuse and recycling. A growing number
of natural emergencies including floods seem to be characteristic of central
European countries.
Policy Responses
In tackling the diverse array of environmental problems and constantly evolving and new driving forces, the CEE countries have established or strengthened institutions with environmental responsibility. For instance, some countries established environment ministries following the political changes, while others have strengthened their regional representatives (inspectorates, departments and so on). Most countries have also passed on responsibility to local self-governing bodies. New policy programmes have been launched often under the aegis of the national environmental action programme (an OECD sponsored initiative) and in light of EU accession requirements. These typically focus on emission reduction, building of wastewater treatment facilities, improved waste management, raising environmental awareness and implementing the policy of sustainable development. Corresponding stricter legislation has been passed in order to implement these policies.Increased attention is being given to enforcing these new policies, laws and standards though inspectorates, which typically still belong to central institutions. In some countries, however, there are still too few inspectors, a lack of adequate equipment, and a too low level of fees and fines, to serve as significant driving forces.
At the regional and local level, policies and actions are slower to
be implemented, in light of what can still be described as a confusion
of responsibilities. While municipalities are expected to be responsible
for their environments, the natural environment tends to remain the property
of the state, and the municipal government typically has real control of
no more than the public utility services, e.g. heating, wastewater, and
waste management companies. Self-governing environmental policy responses
vary, in spite of some countries’ requirement by law. Some local environment
action plans are in place, as well as uptake of Agenda 21, and "sustainable
cities" projects. Some sector specific projects have also been launched
including waste related activities. Supporting legislation can occasionally
be implemented but hardly enforced.
Management through Information Technologies
Predominantly at the national level, but also at the local level, a number of technology solutions are being relied upon to manage environmental problems. Most countries have established "informational concepts" and corresponding implementation of state administrative information systems relying on information technologies, and regional (state) environmental information systems for (in some cases automated) collection and validation of air, water, soil quality and other environmental data (for waste, energy, emergencies). Modelling, satellite, and GIS technology too is being more widely implemented for decsion support both nationally and locally, while meta-data catalogues, Internet and CD-ROM is increasingly becoming the most typical means for (facilitating) information dissemination. Internet connection and PC use too is increasing within environment administration, consistent with growing public use.At the local self-governing level, technology for environmental management
tends to be applied independently (since little opportunity tends to be
given for integrating within the national system), leading to inconsistencies
and incompatible data systems. Limited local funds and awareness
are further preventing their widespread implementation. Typically,
these systems include air and water quality monitoring, GIS, and Internet.
In several countries, databases are being implemented as storage media,
also for environmental impact assessment (EIA) activities.
Environmental Information Access
Access to the information gathered through these systems, in spite of all CEE countries having adopted legislation within the last decade guaranteeing the right to know, is restrained if not problematic. In many countries, the local public administration sector is faced with delays, bureaucracy, and charges for accessing state collected information. In many countries, access still relies on personal relationships rather than established rules. Romania and Estonia appear to be the exceptions.Responding to the need for greater informational transparency, state (and local) institutions are increasingly placing environmental data online on the Internet (albeit, in some cases in limited form) as a means for guaranteeing full public access. Eight of the ten CEE environment ministries have their own webpages, as do their regional representatives in a limited number of countries (Estonia, Poland). Many of the central state bodies responsible for environmental data collection and dissemination are following suit. In some cases, media specific data collected by those bodies with responsibility (for example, hydrometeorological institutes) is also appearing on the Internet.
At the local level, dissemination is being guaranteed through the Internet
sites of municipal governments, which in some cases includes air and water
quality information (Slovenia, Czech Republic, Lithuania). Some (Hungary
and Estonia) are relying on intelligent cities and town halls or telecottage
networks to facilitate access to environmental information. In Prague,
a separate institute is relied on to collect and disseminate municipal
environmental information, through the use of GIS, databases, Internet
and CD-ROM technology. Generally, however, there are very few
community based information systems available, and alongside improving
and implementing local IT systems, this represents a huge market opportunity.
A number of obstacles must first be overcome however, in order to realise
this.
Information Policy Frameworks
This survey has shown, that in seven of the ten EU accession countries, informational policies have already been adopted with corresponding legislation (format and access) and plans have been made for the further widespread implementation of environmental information systems. This demonstrates a clear understanding of the importance of information technology as a support to environmental management. Some countries (Hungary, Latvia, Slovenia), have also embarked on establishing standardised systems for data exchange and format representing the first attempts at creating a framework for inter-operable and compatible environmental information systems. This, however, is the exception rather than the rule, and with centralised state systems continuing to be closed to the contributions of the local self-governing level elsewhere, real informational transparency has yet to be achieved.Recommendations
For the success of those information policies already accepted in the above countries, it is imperative that all goals, objectives conditions and clauses are implemented (besides improving the standard of the telecommunications sector). Where policy is still undecided, it would be advisable to involve as many stakeholders as possible in a national discussion on agreeing a given policy and standard. This will very much assist in the development of the (environmental) information sector and society.Further legislation that calls for the use of information technology within environmental activities (centrally and locally), can help speed this development, for example, through Laws on Environmental Monitoring, like that of Lithuania’s, which also calls for increased municipal activity. Better legislation that defines local environmental responsibility too and improved understanding of environmental issues, will help further the appreciation of environmental information technologies at the local level.
Investments in awareness raising and demonstration of the benefits of telematics-like applications at all levels (through pilot projects, exchanges, and internships) as well as training and capacity building will help further the development of the environmental information society, and should help increase the allocation of funds for related investments. These will also help to overcome commonly identified obstacles such as a poor understanding of the value of information technology and information itself to the decisionmaking process, as well as the lack of qualified staff supporting technology use and implementation.
Finally, among the priority systems and applications identified for
the future, besides wider implementation of monitoring technologies that
help support compliance with environmental standards, there exists a huge
opportunity for decision support systems that encompass and integrate different
types of environmental data and present it meaningfully to policymakers.
Intranet and other networking technologies that can bring together decisionmakers
on a regional, national and transboundary level for improved policymaking
are also to be considered growth areas. The implementation of applications
that rely on Internet and development of community based systems to disseminate
environmental information offer the greatest opportunity for the IST industry
and will help support policies like environmental impact assessment (which
can be considered a huge growth area) and meet public demand for access
to environmental information. These will also assist compliance with EU
Directives (including public access to information, EIA, IPPC etc.), and
European and international environment policy.
Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe
