Substantial progress has been made by both governmental officials and citizens in understanding the advantages of public participation and its role in civil society. Most of the CEE government support the idea of public participation - official policy is in favor of public participation, which prevents governmental officers from speaking or acting openly against public participation.
Specifically, the environmental NGO community has developed in the region in both quantitative and qualitative terms, despite having to redefine its role following the democratic changes. There is progress in using non-formal tools of public participation: NGOs have learned how to act professionally, receive support from the community, fundraise, form coalitions, exploit the media and talk to politicians.
The basic groundwork for public participation has been laid in the majority of countries in the region in the form of basic constitutional rights, environmental protection laws and specific public participation procedures. In a few countries, it can be said that the legislation is more than mere declaration - in those countries the new rights and obligations defined in law are actually being carried out in practice. Yet, in others, basic legislative reform has yet to be carried out, and in those countries, obstacles to public participation are obviously greater. Reform of institutions can be viewed in a similar light. Again, the majority of countries in the region have elaborated basic principles and laid the foundations of new democratic institutions. And again, in only some countries can the new institutions be said to be fully functioning.
Access to information is the most significant aspect of public participation where the countries of the region have failed to fulfill their obligations to citizens. Governments in the region should affirm their commitment to freedom of information by developing procedures for access to information and dedicating resources to its implementation. Authorities should also strengthen their enforcement policies and encourage cooperation between citizens, environmental inspectors and other officers. In the absence of proper legal guarantees, provisions and procedures, information can often only be gained through non-formal methods. In many countries access to the proper information is still bureaucratic, requires persistent efforts. Sometimes it is difficult to get even the simplest information and it is especially complicated to receive proper information regarding national level strategic environmental policy issues and international projects. It should be made clear who is responsible for providing the information, under what conditions it is available, when is it proper to turn to higher national level environmental institutions or bodies and what remedies are available if the information is denied.
The lack of openness and transparency in the decisionmaking process is another problem hindering public participation strongly related to the democratic and participatory traditions which have not developed so far equally in every CEE country. Governmental officials and parliamentarians often have an insufficiently open attitude towards other opinions. They believe citizens, even NGOs, cannot provide any useful input, and are only wasting time and money. There is a reluctance on the part of the authorities to make the environmental policy and decisionmaking of the government and parliament transparent and accountable to the public and, on the other side there is a still existing public distrust towards authorities, which eventually leads to a low level of civic involvement in public affairs. These two seem to reinforce each other - the lack of confidence in public authorities and the belief that citizens have no power to control or change decisions and the lack of participatory traditions are some of the legacies of past regimes which still persist.
Transparency of state procedures and processes ensures that officers of the state perform their functions in a responsible, civic manner. The level of public participation and the degree of reform of the system of state administration go hand in hand. Coordination of environmental law drafting with administrative law reform should be encouraged. International attention and assistance should not be neglected in this field. International support should focus on the development of consistent standing rules, with broad standing rights for environmental organizations and citizens with environmental interests. The countries of the region must undertake programs to encourage officials of the state to be more active in their defense of legal requirements, and to act cooperatively with the public.
The relative weakness of NGOs is one reason which prevents them from fulfilling their role as a driving force behind the development of civil society. NGOs are often not taken seriously, they are not able to use proper methods of communication with the public and therefore cannot build up stronger public support, not so much because of the lack of financial resources, manpower and professional expertise, but because of the present difficult social, economic situation, which decreases further the very low level of environmental awareness. In some countries, with the progress in democracy there is already public pressure but in many countries, the traditions of the authoritarian, paternalistic style of decisionmaking are still relatively strong. Even in countries which boast of having made great progress with democracy, there can be found instances of autocratic decisionmaking. Thus, traditionally the policy making "communities" do not include public representatives and NGOs. Very often the governmental bodies use their "own experts" or independent consultant type expertise and do not tend to take an initiative to involve broader audience in decisionmaking.
Another basic problem is that the technique of participating in the decisionmaking process is usually limited to providing only basic information or informing the public and NGOs about a (pending) decision. NGOs are often consulted, but not necessarily listened toÐthe idea of involving them as partners and sharing the burden of the decision itself, asking for alternative proposals and accepting them, is almost non-existent. Joint decisionmaking techniques are used rarely, even in the "development group", this kind of decisionmaking method has no roots in the region. The public and NGOs have a weak influence on the decisions of the governmental institutions or parliamentary bodies, whether monitoring performance or results of policies, providing public assessment of them regularly, or requesting revision or modification when needed. The power to decide is in most cases on the side of government or parliament even when it would be possible to have a joint decisionmaking process, as in the case of a local community problem. This might be also explained by the lack of communication skills both by authorities and NGOs and the inability to discuss issues in a constructive way. Confrontational attitudes tend to dominate cooperative ones, and the parties do not have the negotiation skills or ability to reach a compromise. There are not too many successful positive examples of public participationÐand the existing few are not publicized enoughÐwhich would create confidence between the partners and would also show patterns to follow.
The biggest barriers hindering NGOs in being able to influence more efficiently the decisionmaking processes varies country by country. In some countries, the main problem is the low level of organization and activity, together with limited funding. NGOs are not organized, coordination and networking is often weak and insufficient. NGOs have particular difficulty in identifying priorities and urgent cases for public participation. Often NGOs rely on larger umbrella organizations, instead of using their own initiative. In other countries, competition for funds and foreign contacts results in competition for information and resources, thus decreasing efficiency.
Throughout the region the greatest problem facing the public, NGOs and state administrators alike is the lack of hands-on practice, both with new legislative mechanisms and with more basic democratic concepts. The practice developing in a few countries in the region might stand as an example to other countries that have lagged behind.
Public participation is a dialogue between different parties. Each party has roles and responsibilities in the process and each should make efforts to improve the process. Improvements are needed in the relationship between officials, policy and law makers at all levels, the public and NGOs. Once concrete problems and obstacles in each CEE country are identified, suggestions for improving public participation need to be implemented.
Governments and parliaments need to take the initiative and formally commit themselves to establishing and implementing certain guidelines to make public participation work. Efforts need to be made to set up a comprehensive framework for public participation at all levels of decision and policy making based on the same principles, making the possibilities for public participation clear to everyone. Such a commitment would create a climate of confidence and encourage citizens and NGOs to participate.
Availability and distribution of information, as one of the basic preconditions for public participation, needs improvement. Publicly accessible information systems are needed in each country to inform the public about environmental issues related to the activities and plans of the government in the environmental field, and to gather feedback from the public. Similar systems should be provided also by the parliaments. Apart from these, a data bank of information or an information center on environmental issues needs to be essential and made accessible to the general public. At the same time, NGOs also should be more active in collecting information and sharing it with each other and with the public.
The co-operation among NGOs, and between NGOs and citizens for promotion of public participation, should be improved. There is a need for building and operating services to citizens and to support them in specific public participation cases. These are areas that should be improved at first by the NGOs themselves, but independent foundations can also help by providing training, and disseminating expertise and experience. The NGOs need to develop their own education and training programs, to be able to know and use exactly the legal and non-formal possibilities. Specialized NGOs can provide such programs connected with advisory services and assistance. Much stronger NGO cooperation is needed within the NGO community to establish a network of NGOs specialized in different areas which assist each other and work together in action coalition for joint actions. NGOs are in a unique position of promoting public participation with the different segments of society. They should play a stronger role in encouraging citizens to be interested in public participation in order to help and mobilize them to take action or to support their actions.
At the same time a more cooperative partnership is needed between NGOs and both the central and local government officials, and the businesses. Both sides should learn how to establish a better and more constructive communication in practice. Business is still mostly closed to public participation in CEE, the business community with a few exceptions has yet to recognize that public participation can also promote their interests, and that it should bear the responsibility for well-based, environmentally sound business decisions. Public participation can actually help businesses become more efficient and profitable, by avoiding further problems and the subsequent costs of potential conflicts hindering their operations. Also, the positive image of the environmentally friendly business needs to be developed and promoted. Government authorities, parliamentarians, NGOs, media and businesses equally have a role in advocating the benefits of such a practice through supporting and disseminating knowledge and information about good practices.
Substantial improvements are needed in media relations for governmental officials, citizens, and NGOs. Journalist can promote public participation not only through better information spreading but also through contributing to more transparency of official activities and the citizens work. There is still a lack of attention from media in general for public participation practices in many countries and lack of journalists involved in issues of public participation in environmental protection which needs to be changed.
Capacity and institution building needs to be strengthened to promote public participation at all levels of the decisionmaking process, both on the side of officials, NGOs, and the public. More responsibility for educating and training the parties in the public participation process should be taken by the governments and they should provide more funding for similar activities of NGOs. More attention should be given to the training and education of capable, democratically thinking public officials and more support in terms of funding training projects, educational activities and concrete public participation actions, given to the NGOs with special regard to small local groups which might have bigger problems with fund-raising, and public participation methods. The role of these groups is very important in developing local initiatives and strengthening public participation at grassroots level. The commitment of people must be first of all gained at the local level, where the issues are affecting them more directly.
As the wealth and richness of positive and negative experiences with public participation in the region expand, the need for exchanges within the region becomes more apparent. Nonetheless, initiatives of a pan-European and global scope must still play a critical role in the development of public participation law and practice. Yet in order to provide assistance to Central and Eastern EuropeÕs process of democratization, the attention given to public participation in the international community must be increased. Though regional and international cooperation can positively influence the status of public participation in CEE by advocating the harmonization of existing CEE norms with the international norms until now, international instruments with public participation provisions have been merely talk, with public participation tending to be relegated to a minor position in such instruments.
In some countries where the level of environmental activism is relatively low, such a top-down approach may be useful to some extent. But no one can deny that the future of public participation in the region depends upon the growth of environmental awareness and activism at the grassroots level. Success at this level, in turn, depends upon the ability to organize people into action groups. In this respect, the use of non-formal tools is the avenue which can offer a transition towards the use of more sophisticated legal instruments. There are some indications that the focus of reform in the region may have shifted to laws concerning the formation and activity of NGOs. If so, this would be a welcome development. A comprehensive review of the legal status of NGOs in the countries of the region should be undertaken, focusing on the progress of the revision of laws governing NGO establishment and activity, ease of organization, and opportunities for professional development. Effective NGO activity also requires professional assistance and partnership, especially with journalists, scientists and lawyers. Until now, these contacts have not sufficiently developed in the NGO movement. In particular, access to justice for environmentalists and citizens depends upon effective legal help. The existing initiatives which support indigenous public interest environmental lawyers and other professionals through international professional contacts, training programs, legal education initiatives, clinical law programs, exchanges, and direct support are currently inadequate to meet demand as well as those which advocate citizen activism, help direct citizen actions, assistance to public with non-formal methods. These efforts need to be coordinated. The existing networks in the legal and non-formal field should work together. The non-formal tools being tested now may result in new legal instruments, the successful implementation of the legal instruments might benefit from the flexibility of non-formal methods and the legal methods and procedures might give way to new non-formal tools. The best avenue to success in public participation is for the NGO community and the public to learn to match resources, expertise, and experience in a cooperative effort, and to gain skill in the combined use of legal and non-formal tools.