Introduction
In 1992, when the Institute for European Environmental Policy first published an environmental NGO Directory for Central and Eastern Europe - financially supported by the European Commission's DG-XI - it was the first time that a comprehensive overview of the NGO landscape in Central and Eastern Europe became available. This first edition contained a listing and information about 793 environmental NGOs in the CEE region. Its publication helped to facilitate communication among NGOs in Central and Eastern Europe, between Western and CEE NGOs and between NGOs and other sectors of society. It helped NGOs and other parties to find partners, to trade information and to encourage networking between NGO groups in different countries.
Because of the dynamism of NGO development and the near exponential expansion in the numbers of groups being founded, the Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC) decided to research and publish the second edition of the directory in 1994, this time listing 1,681 NGOs in a similar format to the first edition. Its goals and outputs were largely the same as before.
The third and newest edition of the directory - again generously financed by DG-XI of the European Commission - contains current information on some 2,747 NGOs in fifteen Central and Eastern European countires. These numbers clearly demonstrate that the NGO sector in Central and Eastern Europe is still growing and that older groups are maturing. It also reflects the continuing importance of NGOs - and civil society in general - in nations where environmental concerns are still severe.
As in the previous editions, this newest directory presents short profiles of NGOs in fifteen CEE countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, FYR Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and FR Yugoslavia). However, new to this edition are the results of an NGO needs assessment, carried out by the REC in 1996, which gives an overview of the main challenges to NGOs in the region.
This directory is available not only in a book format but also through the Internet on the REC website (http://www.rec.org/REC/Databases/NGODirectory/), where it has already proved to be one of the REC's most successful and most searched databases.
A directory like this can never be done without the input of many people, I would therefore like to thank the following for their input and efforts: Olinka Gjigaµ, the editor, for her diligence and patience, and those many long hours she has put into coordinating the whole directory project; Curtis Durrant for the NGO needs assessment; Cynthia Fedler for layout; Sylvia Magyar for design and overseeing production; Rossen Roussev for preparing the electronic version of the directory; Daniel Swartz for copy editing and the following country coordinators for persevering with the surveys:
Due to the dynamic nature of the NGO movement, the frequent changes in addresses or other contact details, and the sheer size of the task of collecting the data for the directory, we apologise for any errors that may have crept in or for any groups that were omitted. We endeavour to rectify these mistakes and kindly ask for all up-to-date information to be sent to us. This will ensure that the electronic version of the directory will always represent the current situation.
Alexander Juras
Deputy Director
The Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe
Szentendre, December 1997
