The environmental movement in CEE is definitely not an open book for the scientific world. In fact only a few studies, in English, are reputed on this topic. The majority of these studies is done in Central European countries, not in the Baltics, on the Balkan, or in the Former Yugoslavian Republics. It will be interesting to arrange a similar study on East-East cooperation in these three areas. CEE is not a homogeneity at all, though a division into four separate areas might be an option to mutual comparison among CEE as a whole and for qualitative research within the areas themselves. These four areas are the Visegrad countries (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia), the Baltics (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania), the Balkan (Albania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Romania) and four former Yugoslavian Republics (Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia). These areas are supposed to consist of countries with a roughly similar stage of development of the environmental movement. Additional to these four CEE areas, the former Soviet Republics, besides the Baltics, deserve attention as well. Although these countries are not served by REC, an environmental movement develops over there as well. Belarussia, Ukraine, Moldova and the European part of Russia together might be a possible fifth area for researching East-East cooperation. Especially because this area has borderlines with the Central European countries and some East-East cooperation with Slovakia and Poland is already established. Further the first steps are taken to establish a REC like organization to serve these former Soviet Republics. A needs survey among the environmental movement in this area has already taken place. [REC 7, 1995]
The situation in the former Yugoslavian Republics is of course very difficult at the moment. The future is uncertain and the developments in the environmental movement stood almost still during the war. It is clear that the situation in Slovenia differs a lot from that in the other Republics, because Slovenia was not that much involved in the war. The future will tell if and how the former Yugoslavian Republics manage to stay separate countries, start new cooperation or start fighting again. Macedonia can be seen as rather a Balkan country, but it is too early for dividing the other Republics into a convenient research area for a new research on East-East cooperation among environmental NGOs. Because of this the starting point for more research on East-East cooperation might be the Baltics and the Balkan. Some expectations which might guide such research are given below.
In the Baltics we can expect more East-East cooperation within the area itself than with other CEE countries, since historical tights are quite strong among these three countries. Another educated guess is that East-East cooperation with Poland, most probably within East-West networks like Coalition Clean Baltic, will be more likely than East-East cooperation with former Soviet Republics; again because of historical reasons. Contacts with more southern CEE countries are not expected, because of the geographical position of the Baltics and the more northern orientation towards Scandinavia. The environmental movement in the Baltics is again relatively young, just as on the Balkan, but he Baltics have more connection with the West, especially with Scandinavia and Germany. This will give them more chance to strengthen the environmental movement and to establish East-East cooperation than the Balkan countries have. The environmental movement in the Baltics will be mainly focused on water quality issues, connected to nature conservation and environmental education.
On the Balkan nature conservation, both for nature conservation areas and endangered species, might be the biggest concern of environmental NGOs, eventually connected with eco-tourism and environmental education as well. Language problems will be found especially on the Balkan, since all four countries have completely different languages. Here at least one obstacle for East-East cooperation can be foreseen. Stereotyping and nationalism might have a stronger influence on the Balkan, especially around Macedonia. The historical background of the Balkan in general shows ongoing 'love and hate' relationships between the nations. It is the place 'where God put his ass, and forgot about us', like my Albanian colleague says. The Balkan is not a very favorite area to invest Western money. Traditional connections between Albania and Italy exist, and Romania and France have some tights. Support especially for the environmental movement comes for example from Milieukontakt Oost-Europa and the REC which serves Baltics, Balkan and Slovenia and Croatia.
The latter former Yugoslavian Republics seem to be the most successful in building an after war society. Maybe these two could be taken together, while Serbia and Bosnia need to stabilize their socio-economical situation again.
Until now some suggestions and speculations are given for expanding this research geographically. Expansion in other directions is possible as well. A lack of information on the role of Westerners is identified. This research could only recognize the importance of the Westerners for East-East cooperation, but this fills just a small part of the information gap. One of the questions is if Westerners take the role of social movement entrepreneurs like the resource mobilization approach describes NGO founders. Other questions are if Westerners function as development assistants or if they are just there for their own sake. What is their influence on the environmental movement as a whole and on individual groups?
Another follow-up for this research is to have a closer look at the effects of East-East cooperation. In this research we proposed East-East cooperation as efficient and in several cases a profitable strategy for environmental NGOs. Benefits of East-East cooperation are given as an outcome, but only briefly. It might be interesting to see its benefits over time as well. By the end of 1996 RECs EGT has to evaluate the pilot project on East-East cooperation. The Environmental Leadership Training, a program sponsored by REC and EPCE started in 1996. The first experiences of this exchange program can be evaluated by the end of 1996 as well. At that moment EPCE is supporting East-East cooperation for about three years. From the experience of Wolniakowski, the regional coordinator of EPCE during this time, we know that it takes a long time before enough mutual trust between potential partners exists and a joint project eventually starts. An evaluation of a long process, which East-East cooperation is according to the interviewed NGOs, cannot be done in general at one particular moment in time. A process needs to be followed step-by-step and only individual East-East cooperative NGO projects can be evaluated by the concerned NGOs at the end of the project. This means that the evaluation of the pilot project on East-East cooperation can only be done on the granting procedure, the performance of the EGT and the quantity and quality of the applications for grants. The benefits of East-East cooperation for the sponsored projects and NGOs involved should only be evaluated when the projects are finished. Until now an average Earmarked Grants project is running for at least a year. An East-East cooperative project might take longer, so it will be during the beginning of 1998 before the specific benefits of these projects can be measured. In the mean time EPCE might have more perception of the benefits of sponsored East-East cooperative projects.
The last, more theoretical, proposal for additional research is to compare the situation of East-East cooperation with that of West-West cooperation. Are Western environmental NGOs more cooperative than Eastern environmental NGOs? Do other factors play a role? Does the importance of factors in the West differ from those in Central Europe? These questions come forth from the conclusion on the importance of good personal contacts for East-East cooperation, where the available (Western) literature did not mention this factor. The questions leave room for several interesting speculations, which I would like to forward to the interested reader.