Driving Forces
Natural Emergencies and Industrial Accidents
In Latvia, industrial accidents are noted to arise from unsafe and worn-out equipment, accidents with pipelines, and leaks, and the transit of dangerous substances. In Slovenia, oil spills are also noted as the most common problem.Natural emergencies include floods, strong storms and forest fires. Besides being noted in Latvia, the former has also become increasingly common during central European summers in Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Czech Republic, and Poland.
In Poland, the continuous emission of polluting substances arising from
the burning of coal for energy has contributed to an alternative form of
natural emergency. Giving rise to acid rain, this practice has helped
to create an ecological disaster area within Poland’s mountain regions,
threatening protected areas, forests, and biodiversity.
Industrial/Energy Production
Many of the reductions in air pollution referenced above have resulted from recent economic changes in the CEE countries, such as the closure of some heavy industries and the switch from coal or heavy oil to cleaner fuels and natural gas. Some countries (the Czech Republic, Latvia) note the use of end-of-pipe and cleaner production technologies as a major contributing factor. Even the import of goods as opposed to domestic production has contributed to this decline.Nevertheless, energy production continues to be a major contributor to air pollution. In Bulgaria, some 80 percent of sulphur oxide emissions can be attributed to thermo-electric power stations, while in Estonia, two oil-shale fired power stations contribute 70 percent of the country’s SO, besides 40 percent NO, and 50 percent of particulates. This sector also contributes to hazardous waste. In Romania, the thermo-electric sector contributes an average of around 70 percent of the total SOx, NOx, and COx. In Latvia, the energy sector contributed 79 percent of pollution in 1997, despite increasingly relying on imported electricity. In other countries, such as Lithuania, relying on nuclear power reduces the impact on air pollution. The use of out of date technologies and an undeveloped technical environment infrastructure was noted as driving forces, besides the continued use of low quality fuels (e.g. in Estonia, Romania)
Industry is also a major producer of solid and hazardous wastes, especially the mining, and metallurgical industries. This was noted in Poland particularly, where these sectors contribute 90 percent of the total quantity of wastes produced.
Agricultural production is also a considerable contributor to soil,
groundwater, and surface water pollution, in spite of falling use of pesticides
in countries like Estonia (owing to a fall in agricultural production),
and the Czech Republic. In Romania, however, 75 percent of nitrogen protoxide
is contributed largely by agriculture, while in Slovenia pig farming contributes
to groundwater pollution through sludge, besides fertiliser and pesticide
use.
Contaminated land from past industrial practice is giving rise to long-term
problems concerning groundwater, soils, surface waters and natural habitats.
Many of the consequent emergencies are the result of military bases, waste
dumps and hazardous waste sites. Problems have been noted in Hungary, Bulgaria,
Estonia, and Lithuania.
Energy Consumption
A reduction in energy demand in the Czech Republic, Latvia and Bulgaria owing to the economic downturn and conversion to gas fired heating has helped contribute to a fall in emissions. High prices in some countries (Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovakia) has or is expected to help dampen demand although the trend in use is still upward among households and municipalities where energy losses from poorly built houses, faulty heating systems and public lighting are common. In other countries, cheap electricity produced by nuclear facilities (Lithuania) has not yet helped to stimulate a decline in consumption. The poor and outdated technical capacity of industry has yet to contribute to a marked fall in energy consumption from this sector. Some countries like Romania do anticipate a fall in demand of around 4 percent by 2000, while Slovenia anticipates a rise of up to 5.5 percent by 2020. Both have institutionalised an Energy Conservation Agency and Energy Office respectively to encourage declines.Traffic Pollution
Economic restructuring in CEE countries is giving rise to higher disposable incomes, and increasing car ownership. Every CEE country is experiencing increased traffic levels, resulting in congestion and a marked rise in air and noise pollution, especially in cities, towns and communities. Vehicles typically contribute up to 90 percent of emissions from mobile sources in countries like Lithuania. This significantly impacts on biodiversity and landscape. Emissions of nitric oxides and carbon oxides are most common. In Bulgaria, this contributes 32 and 48 percent of country totals respectively, in Czech Republic, more than 50 percent of nitric oxides are contributed by traffic. In Slovenia, high tropospheric ozone concentrations and summer smog are commonplace, contributed to (besides the above elements) by emissions of more than 20 tons of hydrocarbons, 100kg of lead, and more than 4 tons of sulphur dioxide on a daily basis.Key contributing factors include the use of imported, 2nd hand cars
without catalytic converters (highlighted in Lithuania, Poland, Romania,
Slovakia), use of leaded petrol (used by 90 percent of the vehicle fleet
in Bulgaria, yet entirely phased out in Slovakia, and Hungary), diesel
oil (Bulgaria), and poor quality fuels imported from Russia (Lithuania).
In Hungary, the decline was in part attributed to the degradation of public
transport services, and in Romania its rising costs. Slovakia identified
both these issues also.
Domestic Waste and Wastewater
A fall in domestic waste has been registered in several CEE countries (including Bulgaria, Latvia, and Poland), while others have experienced a rise (Czech Republic, Romania, and Slovakia). Most countries (particularly Estonia, Latvia, Romania) have observed an increase in the number of waste types, including packaging materials, consistent with the growth of the market economy and increases in consumer spending. Landfilling (both legal and illegal) is the dominant method of disposal (in the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia), however, some countries have begun to implement localised sorting and recycling schemes (Latvia, Hungary, Lithuania, and Slovakia). 1 percent of waste in Poland is composted (the remainder is landfilled), and four municipal waste incinerators are operated in Slovakia (89.14 percent is landfilled). The poor condition of landfills, however, besides the lack of waste treatment is contributing to environmental impacts such as soil, surface and groundwater contamination.Wastewater treatment remains a priority issue in all EU accession countries.
Some 53 percent of the Slovak population and little more than 50 percent
in Slovenia is connected to public sewerage systems, while in Bulgaria,
only 35.3 percent of the population is served by wastewater treatment plants.
Many of these do not work to full capacity (60 percent in Bulgaria) or
not at all (11 percent in Romania). Some 50 percent of Hungary’s
sewage is discharged without treatment, while only 15 percent is treated
biologically in Slovenia. Clearly there exists a need to extend and improve
the sewage treatment network, since insufficient treatment is giving rise
to the eutrophication of rivers (Estonia, Romania), with wastewaters typically
emptied into surface water resources (Hungary, Lithuania, Poland) and coastal
areas (e.g. the Black Sea by Romania). 80 percent of Budapest’s (2 million
inhabitants’) wastewater, for example, enters the Danube untreated, while
in Lithuania, all of Kaunas 420,000 inhabitants’ wastewater is discharged
into the river Nemunas untreated. Some countries have already begun
to experience a decline in wastewater discharges following improvements
to the collection networks and treatment facilities (in Latvia, for example
where discharges declined some 57 percent, and emission of untreated or
insufficiently treated wastewater fell by 30 percent). Slovenia highlighted
the wastewater generated by pig farming as a major problem area.
Law Enforcement
Many countries (including Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania) identified new legal measures, transfers of responsibility, and the revision of fees and fines as areas likely to impact on the state of the environment, however, the critical issue remains enforcement. Countries like Slovenia highlighted the low number of inspectors available to monitor pollution and weak authorities (only five polluters out of 3500 cases brought to court were fined), while Romania noted the scarcity of adequate equipment, trained personnel, and financial resources. Estonia on the other hand interpreted capacity for enforcement to be "good," since the number of violations in the field of nature and environment protection had decreased. In some countries (Lithuania particularly), switches to cleaner production technologies might begin to be attributed to improved law enforcement, however Poland and Slovakia noted the low levels of fees were insufficient in raising awareness or were only driving implementation of end-of-pipe solutions.Institutional
Forthcoming transfers in responsibility to the local level are considered major obstacles and issues of importance in dealing with environmental issues, in Estonia, Latvia and Slovakia for example, while other countries like Hungary, and Romania operate well-organised institutions, but at the state level through regional representatives. Institutional cross-cooperation was noted in Slovenia to be highly dependent on personal character and relationships, as well as a lack of understanding at the municipal level as to the possible benefits of cooperation.Public Awareness
Transition to the market economy, and liberal economic policy has introduced new and increased consumption patters, exacerbated by the abundance of goods and services. It has also brought about and economic hardships, unemployment and differences between social groups, which when combined, in countries like Estonia, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia have contributed to a lack and even decline in public interest to environmental issues. Other countries, like Latvia, note a rise in public awareness. In some countries, the gap between "concern" and a willingness to act was highlighted (Hungary), while in others, many believe "somebody must do something" (Lithuania, for example). In Latvia, this approach was attributed to the mindset inherited from the Soviet era, namely, that people still do not believe they themselves can influence the decisionmaking process.In light of this fall in public interest, environmental education and training activities are actively supported in countries like Estonia, Romania and are policy priorities. On the other hand, such programmes are actively called for within the Slovene and Slovak country reports.
Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe
