Center for Ecological Research
Slovenia
Project No. 20553: ECOSVET: Legal and Nonformal Support to Environmental NGOs
Slovenia
Project No. 20553: ECOSVET: Legal and Nonformal Support to Environmental NGOs
One of LABECO's most important programs, "ECOLAB 1.O," is an environmental computer network providing access to information and promoting networking among NGOs, other civic organizations and the general public. LABECO established the ECOSVET project to carry out legal and nonformal advisory service activities.
A similar database was compiled on both state and local organizations engaged in environmental protection. This database also listed specialists from various environmental fields, environmental journalists, scientists, public officials, and NGO resource people and included their fields of specialty and spheres of competence.
A legal advisory service was also set up to consult NGOs and the general public, to facilitate their more effective participation in environmental decisionmaking and to coordinate their efforts. Help will be given in using nonformal (non-legal) methods of public participation. Information is also provided on valid regulations and legislative amendments.
Networking activities have been undertaken to promote the participation of law and social science students in the work of NGOs. To this end, contacts are also being established with experts in various fields of environmental policy on the national and international level.
A workshop, "Environmental Coalition - Building and Lobbying," was organized for NGO activists. The workshop's aim is to strengthen cooperation among Slovenian NGOs, acquaint them with basic rules of lobbying, and let them share their experience.
Materials have been compiled on current cases that have received assistance from LABECO's advisory service. This collection includes a set of books, booklets, newsletters and other materials published in Slovenia and abroad, and it serves as a resource library for the advisory service.
The advisory service spent close to 400 hours consulting with the help of three experts during phases I and II of the project. The legal advisory service is also supported by a library containing major literature on environmental law. Library users are free to use our computer databases.
A computer database was made available on the Internet at http://www.kud-fp.si/retina/okolje/ecosvet/index.html. This database includes, among other information, a register of current domestic environmental regulations, multilateral international treaties and conventions ratified by Slovenia, the jurisdiction of local and state environmental agencies, a listing of experts and the text of cases. Short abstracts of Slovenian legislation and cases will be provided in English as well.
As indicated by the above accomplishments, most objectives were met during the project's implementation phase.
Experience has shown that some local governments are ambivalent because they could earn substantial income from certain investments. They have been compelled, however, by pressure from the community or from NGOs to oppose such plans.
The Vransko-Arja case concerns a constitutional complaint by an environmental NGO against a particular section of the highway now being built in Slovenia. The highway crosses the country from the Hungarian border to the Slovenian coast and to the border with Italy. The section at issue passes through an environmentally sensitive area that is also the site of a water reservoir for the city of Celje. ECOSVET argues that the authorities failed to fulfill their obligation to prepare an EIA in the matter. The case is presently before the Constitutional Court, which has yet to make a decision.
The first problem ECOSVET encountered was that the environmental threat was immediate and quite substantial. The environmental inspector was contacted, and after his intervention, work was halted on this part of the highway. But construction of the rest of the highway continues, which means that ultimately, no matter what the Constitutional Court decides, no feasible alternative will be left but to construct the highway in such a way that it passes through the area, as originally planned. The most that can thus be hoped for is that the project will be modified to render it more environmentally sound. If an EIA is not carried out in sufficient time and the project is implemented anyway, any later modifications will be more or less cosmetic no matter what the Court decides.
The second problem is the slow-moving pace of the legal procedure. Although the Constitutional Court was petitioned to impose a restraining order, it has not even considered the request yet. More than half a year has elapsed without a single hearing or consideration of the case, even though the Court itself had classified the matter as urgent. Given that the Constitutional Court works at a snail's pace, this is not an effective forum for such cases. Once the Court makes a decision, the project will have progressed so far that no matter what the decision, the environmental damage will to a large extent already have occurred.
On the positive side, ECOSVET managed to obtain support for the constitutional complaint from more than 30 Slovenian NGOs. This is a good example of collaboration and mutual support among environmental NGOs.
