The Lithuanian Constitution does not include a specific right to a healthy environment, but Art.53 of the Constitution obliges citizens to protect the environment from harmful influence. Art.54 requires the State to concern itself with the protection of the natural environment. These articles provide the same right for citizens as for NGOs to act in cases of environmental protection. The definition of Art.53 and 54 is quite broad, public participation concerning environmental protection and healthy environment can be covered by these articles.
Art.25 guarantees individuals the right to have their own convictions and to freely express them. Art.25 also goes on to state that citizens have the right to obtain and distribute any available information and ideas. There are exceptions in Art.25 for rights of expression and to information: criminal activities - various kinds of discrimination, violation, disinformation, etc. and other cases established by law. These rights are too general (for that reason useful), while covering all legal and non-formal cases of public participation of environmental protection and other various fields of activities. Constitution just gives a brief definition of these rights.
Implementation of the right of association and the right to petition are established by law. These rights in general are quite important and useful for public participation, providing a legal basis for organized activities in all fields (including environmental protection) not prohibited by law.
There is no specific right to petition Constitutional Court for review. But Art.30 provides persons with the right to apply to court if his/her constitutional rights and liberties are violated.
Citizens have the right to participate in the governing of state through elected representatives or directly. (Art.33) This article also guarantees the possibility to criticize activities of state institutions and functionaries, to appeal their decisions. Under this article, citizens in practice have the possibility to indirectly influence legislation and rulemaking through elected representatives, using legal, non-formal mechanisms for public participation. But the Lithuanian Constitution does provide citizens with important basic rights for public participation in legislation and rulemaking, such as the right of initiative and right to referendum.
The right of initiative is stated under Art.68 of the Constitution. When 50,000 or more voting citizens are able to present a project of law, the Seimas must consider this law. This Constitutional provision seems the most realistic and practical of all the Constitutional provisions, but unfortunately, this provision never has been used as the case of public participation for environmental protection.
The right of referendum is an integral part of the system of government and legislation established by the Constitution under Art.9. The Seimas can proclaim a referendum, or 300,000 or more voting citizens can call for one. In the Lithuanian Constitution, there is no specific distinction between national and local level referendum, despite differences between national and local interests. Also, the number of voting citizens at local level should be less than 300,000, because there are less than 300,000 people, in total, in many municipalities. It means that the majority of municipalities in Lithuania have only a theoretical right of referendum. But it seems that the Constitutional provision concerning the referendum would be very difficult to change for many political reasons.
The Constitutional right of referendum is never used for purposes of environmental protection. There has been just one case in 1994, when oppositional parties organized a referendum to promote a package of economic laws, but this case was unsuccessful.
The Constitutional Court rules upon the constitutionality of laws and decrees passed by parliament and the president, and upon the constitutionality of acts of the president and of the government. Ordinary citizens may not initiate action before the Constitutional Court. They may only act indirectly, for example through Members of Parliament (MPs). Constitutional questions which arise in normal court proceedings, however, must be referred to the Constitutional Court for a decision. This mechanism offers perhaps the best possibility for ordinary citizens to cause the Court to consider issues of constitutionality.
Art.73 of the Constitution states that Seimas (Parliament) Ombudsmen must investigate complaints of citizens concerning abuse of official position or bureaucracy of certain officials. Citizens can appeal decisions, abuse and bureaucracy of officials under the Art.33 of the Constitution.
The Law on the Seimas Ombudsmen was passed in 1994. This law includes specific provisions relating to the failure of officials to carry out a duty. In a proper case, the Ombudsman has the power to use a variety of sanctions against the offending official. The Ombudsman has a duty to investigate all proper complaints and must give reasons for rejecting a given complaint.
The Parliamentary Commissioner does not have a direct right to remedy constitutional abuses, but can question the prime minister, other ministers, or officials concerning the abuses. Inquiries to the Parliamentary Commissioner must be answered according to the order established by Seimas. Also, if the Parliamentary Commissioner is not satisfied with the answer of the prime minister, or other minister, he can express distrust (Art.61). In all cases, citizens and NGOs can appeal to the court of law for the final decision as to their rights, or to provide remedies if their rights are infringed.
The Lithuanian Constitution provides citizens with almost all necessary basic rights for public participation. But, many rights can be implemented only in an order established by law (for example right to petition, right of association, etc.). Some rights for public participation need to be included or clarified in the Constitution (for example: right to a healthy environment, right of referendum at a local level). But the process itself is quite difficult and complicated. Only 25% of MPs, or of an electorate (no less than 300,000) have the right to present proposals to Seimas to fulfill or to change the Constitution.
The court is the main and final venue for legal cases of public participation to be used by citizens and NGOs for defense of all rights and interests provided by law. If a person recognizes that his/her rights and liberties are infringed by state institutions or officials, he/she can submit a complaint. This procedure could be used for public participation to protect the environment, human health, etc., because established legal procedure exists to consider such cases.
The courts are costly and complicated to use for public participation. In most cases, losers of a lawsuit must cover their own expenses and that of the winner. Exceptions are allowed in cases where the interests of the state, or interests which are under defense of law, are considered. Other proceedings of the trial process, such as the protection of judges from contempt, closed/confidential proceedings in order to protect citizen complaints, etc. are possible according to the Administrative Code, Civil Code and other related laws. But in practice, the government does not have success in many court cases and should cover trial costs and compensation.
According to surveys public opinion polls initiated by some newspapers, the courts have a very low image in comparison to other state institutions. The media has covered many controversial court cases for which the public was "surprised" by decisions of the judges. For these reasons and other problems of the legal process, court cases are unpopular and not used by NGOs as a tool in public participation practice.
In general, citizens and NGOs requiring access to information can appeal only to the constitutional right or Art.7 of EP. If not satisfied, interested parties can use remedies redressing abuses of their right to information using provisions established by law.
The LEP is still the most important law for public participation, because it provides for all interested parties. NGOs use LEP and appeal to it in their activities - writing comments, articles, statements, complaints, basing their activities on LEP in various cases. In 1995, the Lithuanian Seimas will consider changes to the EP, prepared by the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MoE) and adopted by the government. Some changes concerning rights and duties of citizens, also public participation cases in environmental protection, will be made.
The Law on Environmental Impact Assessment is still being prepared. There are only general procedures for public participation stated in the draft project of EIA. There are no specific provisions for public participation in EIA procedure and there is no mechanism to involve citizens or NGOs. In practice, NGOs or citizens can consider as fact only the conclusions of EIA.
Art.19 of the LEP law requires the obtaining of a permit for the use of natural resources and the discharge of a pollution into the environment. Permits are required for all activities contributing to pollution of the atmosphere, for water use and discharge of pollutants. Also, a declaration of hazardous waste production and permit are required for all enterprises involved in waste storage, land filling or treatment. No separate permit for noise is required.
The public is not provided with information either before the beginning of EIA procedure nor after the final results of EIA have been announced - there is no public access to EIA results, reports and materials. The public cannot propose alternatives in the case of EIA procedure and are rarely informed in time to propose alternatives. There is no public access to permits, and no legal requirement for the public to comment on draft permits or final permits.
Rights and duties of land users and land owners are discussed in Art.7 of EP. There are strict rules related to land use and property rights in protected areas, with many limitations and regulations. The State has the right to manage protected areas or even to establish a protected area without taking into account the claims of land owners. In this case, landowners have the right to appeal to the court of law for compensation. At court, the State is represented by the MOE or other authorized governmental institutions. All cases of conflict are judged by the government, local authority, MOE or other authorized governmental institutions or courts of law. There are no specific provisions or regulations for public participation in the LPA.
The Waste Management Law is in the third year of preparation and it is still unclear when this law will be presented to the government for approval. Waste production, processing and disposal will be covered: control, collection, transportation, treatment and disposal of waste. Waste management is regulated by EP under Chapter IV, Art.23 and under specific rules of government, including inspection control, and economic sanctions against polluters. Only authorized state environmental protection authorities can implement these rules, however. There are no specific procedures for public participation in existing legal rules for waste management. Citizens and NGOs have access to public participation related to waste management through realization of their general rights stated in LEP.
Water management and air management laws are only in the planning stage, although a Water Code and an Air Code are still enforceable, despite many changes since 1991, and determine the use of water, discharge of pollutants, mechanism of economic sanctions, amount of taxes and fines, etc. Water and air management is closely related to the permitting and licensing process, EIA procedures. None of these regulations include any provisions for public participation.
The Law on Energy was adopted by the Lithuanian Seimas on March 28, 1995 and determines general regulations including energy activity, development and management, as well as responsibility for violations of this law; and international activity in the energy sector. One of the goals of the energy policy is to decrease any negative impact on the environment from the energy sector. Art.7, Energy and Environmental Protection, contains provisions concerning environmental protection, but the Rights and Duties of Energy Consumers has no provisions for public participation and the Law on Nuclear Energy is also still in its third year of preparation - it is not known when this law will be presented to parliament for approval.
The Laws on Building/Construction and Territorial/Physical Planning will include some regulations for public participation, but the final draft is not yet complete.
A valuable document is Consideration of documents of territorial planing projects, No.104, approved by the Ministry of Building and Urban Area in July 1994. Responsibilities and duties are divided - the responsibility and obligation to organize detailed procedure for public participation belongs to the Board of Municipal Administration. Local administration should prepare detailed procedures for public participation in cases where documents for territorial planning projects are being prepared. Generally, these rules relate to architectural issues rather than to typical environmental impact assessment issues, but they could be used for the purposes of environmental protection in legal public participation cases. These rules will be reconsidered according to the Law on Territorial Planning, which is currently under preparation.
There is a comprehensive package of land use laws and rules adopted by the Lithuanian Seimas and government which regulate the different conditions and requirements for land use, land property, and the relationship between land owners and the state institutions (governmental/region-al/local) responsible for environmental protection. The main laws are Law on Land Reform, Law on Order and Conditions of Restoration Citizens' Rights to Real Estate Property, and the Law on Land Rent. The Law on Land Reform realizes the right of Lithuanian citizens to property and provides provisions for the reprivatization of property/land confiscated under the old regime.
These regulations are the most controversial laws in Lithuania. They have a direct or indirect impact on environmental issues. Use of these laws for the purposes of environmental protection is quite complicated, because return of land is one of the most sensitive processes of economic reform in Lithuania. There are requirements for environmental protection in all the laws related with land use which mainly address protected areas, forests, lands of specific destination such as land for pipelines, motorways, high voltage lines, etc.
The state has compulsory purchase rights to establish protected areas, recreational zones, as well as land close to Curonian Lagoon and Baltic Sea. Land owners must follow all requirements of environmental protection and territorial planning, protection of natural and cultural heritage during the use of land and forest.
There are detailed public participation provisions in some of these laws and regulations. All public participation requirements are related to the restoration of real estate, land property, purchase and sell, rent of land, etc, but none specifically related to environmental issues. Theoretically, many of the land use laws could be used by citizens and NGOs for environmental protection through legal public participation processes, but in practice it is quite complicated. All these laws and regulations are often reconsidered and changed by the authorities, making the task of even professional lawyers difficult.
Territorial planning includes the legal requirement to comment on drafts and adequate time to prepare these comments, which should be incorporated and considered in final decision. It seems that these rules contain all necessary elements of public participation.
The Law on Public Organizations was approved in February 1995. This law does not include organizations, communities, associations, charity foundations which act according to other laws and includes all necessary requirements and procedures for establishment, registration, and running of various NGOs (including environmental NGOs), as well as possible sources of financing for NGOs.
In general, the law seems acceptable, comprehensive, not discriminating, but again, it is a new law and thus difficult to judge. There is no procedure or regulation established by law or other document related to the financing of NGO activities or private persons from state, municipal or other domestic sources for environmental activities, public participation cases, etc. and no practice of systematical funding, such as grants, donations, etc.
The exception is the Ministry of Culture, which established grants for cultural and youth activities. NGOs can apply for these grants and environmental NGOs have twice received grants from the Ministry of Culture for activities which were combined with cultural and youth problems. The other exception is the Open Lithuania Fund (OLF), sponsored by George Soros, which deals with education in general and runs financial support programs for environmental education, youth activities. Some NGOs have received funding from OLF for specific environmental education projects. Some local municipalities (Kaunas, Jurbarkas, Panevezys) and the MoE supported financially such non-formal events as Bicycle Tour 1995, the Earth Day celebration on an ad hoc basis after concrete agreements. Foreign and international funds and organizations are still the main financial supporters of many Lithuanian environmental NGOs.
Lithuanian NGOs do not have any special tax status. Non-profit organizations act according to the Law on Non-Profit Organizations (LONPO). Other NGOs follow the accounting rules for state budgetary, non-profit institutions (such as schools, libraries, etc.). Many NGOs are insufficiently informed about their specific fields. Clear definition of financial management, accounting, book keeping, specific tax is urgently needed for many Lithuanian NGOs, although there is the NGOs Support Center, established by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Few inspectors are members of environmental NGOs. Single citizens are more active in this field - but citizens and especially NGOs are quite passive when using the possibility for legal public participation in environmental issues. This could be because of the lack of public information and announcement about how the inspectorate system works.
Some NGOs participated in the promotion of the Law on Protected Areas, Law on Forestry and regulations for regional parks by using non-legal mechanisms (pickets, lobbying). Pressure from the public and NGOs resulted in the location of an oil terminal on the Baltic Sea coast was reconsidered. They were successful because of the active participation of NGOs, the public, and local people, and attention of the media.
There are also examples of public participation failures, such as the construction of the Kaisiadorys Hydro Storage Pumping Plant, despite NGO and public pressure against the project. Failures are often the result of strong pressure on behalf of officials and businesses who promote the project. Corruption should also be taken into account as an important factor in such cases. Sometimes elected or nominated officials are not educated or interested enough in environmental issues and do not take the environment into account when considering a project.
The majority of NGOs are concerned with biodiversity and nature protection. Environmental education is a new issue and interest in it is constantly growing among NGOs. Only a few NGOs aim at pollution prevention, development of public participation practices, raising public awareness of modern environmental protection problems, and tools to solve them. The majority of national, and many of the local NGOs, cooperate with foreign and international environmental NGOs. Some national NGOs are members of different international networks and international NGOs. All of these NGOs face the same difficulties with financing (especially from domestic sources), with development of membership, and increasing popularity.
Many of the NGOs are not involved in formal or non-formal public participation fields, nor legal ones. These NGOs work in a closed cycle, mainly specialists and officials, or enthusiasts. About 30 to 40 percent of NGOs are actively involved in public participation. Individual citizens are less active than citizen groups. Areas of key importance, such as participation in the creation of environmental strategy, reviewing of environmental policy documents, drafting legislation, implementation of legislation, EIA, permitting, licensing process, international environmental programs are not within the experience of grassroots NGO influence. A few business and consultancy NGOs have access and are involved into these processes. Such areas as projects financed by International Financial Institutions (EBRD, World Bank, PHARE, others), transboundary issues also require from interested NGOs developed professional skills, good access to information, constant and more professional work. Unfortunately, NGOs are oriented to more traditional nature conservation activities than to the modern, professional environmental protection activities which are closely related with economy, social development, and policy making. Many NGOs do not have an understanding and interest for those areas mentioned here.
Some NGOs share office facilities and information, supporting campaigns and other activities. In some cases, NGOs operate joint projects. But there are no NGO structures for real cooperation to promote public participation systematically using legal and non-formal tools.
To compare the relationship between citizens and NGOs with officials, the best relationships are with local authorities and the parliamentary committee, and the worst with governmental ministries.
Parliamentary committee meetings are closed and NGOs are rarely invited to participate, but MPs and locally elected officials meet with their electorate regularly. The public and NGOs can use this opportunity, but in practice are too passive. There are highly publicized incidents when groups such as pensioners, teachers and some other active social groups meet the prime minister to discuss their problems, raising public awareness of issues - environmental NGOs need to be more creative and use opportunities to meet high state bodies to raise the profile of environmental problems at local, regional and national level.
Local municipalities have tried to be more open (especially after the new elections in February 1995) and are looking to develop non-formal channels. But the government and parliament remain very conservative, even in issues such as the development of the oil terminal on the Baltic Sea shore, no meetings, public hearings or other non-formal mechanisms were initiated by government. The Parliamentary Commission for Nature Protection is more flexible and creative and has organized hearings related to the location of oil terminals, and protected areas, involving NGOs and local representatives.
Because governmental officials will not initiate non-formal mechanisms/channels and do not react to such initiatives, citizens and NGOs have become disappointed and have lost enthusiasm in public participation.
The business community should also be considered an important target group when promoting public participation practices in environmental decisionmaking. In general, businesses do not involve citizens and NGOsÐprojects which could have a significant impact on the environment are presented only to specialists and authorities at the scoping phase, before investment or once the project has started. Final results are sometimes presented to GOs, NGOs, the public, and the media, as in the case of research related to polluted military areas and the Zokniai military airport by the Baltic Consulting Group, when the local authorities and project implementators distributed information.
There is no real green consumerism in Lithuania. Some grassroot NGOs promote ideas, but in general, it is still in the development stage. The most successful promoter is the organic Gaja, which has established a network of food shops where "clean" agricultural products are sold. Farmers of this community follow international rules of production to become certified.
The non-profit organization "Green Lithuania" has prepared a book about green consumerism in the Lithuanian, which will be published in the near future. And a competition "My house: energy saving and environmental protection", organized by the Lithuanian Green Movement and the state television company, can also be considered a green consumer campaign.
The concept of green labeling is not developed in Lithuania at all. Only foreign products are labeled according to whether they are environmentally friendly, but the pubic does not recognize these labels and tends to ignore them.
There are few independent green publications in Lithuania, but they are not popular, the most significant being the newsletter, "Ecologia", a monthly newspaper, "Green World", and a bimonthly newspaper, "Chernobylietis".
There are no independent environmental radio or TV programs, neither at national nor at regional or local level.
During the last three-four years, pickets, demonstrations and protest meetings have become quite popular among NGOs to promote issues at central, regional, and local levels, although popularity with these methods is diminishing.
Lobbying, writing letters of protest, and publishing newsletters and brochures are becoming more and more popular, mainly at central level - lobbying has been used in campaigns against the oil terminal on the Baltic Sea shore, when considering national energy strategy, and when the status and management of state environmental protection institution was under review.
Writing letters of protest, statements, and supplying resolutions are the simplest and most popular forms of non-formal public participation amongst NGOs, citizens and citizen groups, especially at local and regional level, although action seems to be restricted to cases where citizens are directly affected, such as the location of filing stations, new roads, kiosks, etc.
A successful instance where public participation successfully influenced the decisionmaking process is the location of the oil terminal on the Baltic Sea shore in 1993, when the government finally called an "independent" commission to compile a comprehensive analysis of the case, including questions raised by NGOs. And after a wide campaign in 1988-1990, using a variety of non-formal mechanisms and channels, NGOs (Atgaja) forced the central government and parliament to confirm as areas of national importance, the construction of biological water treatment plants in five main Lithuanian cities.
Another important obstacle is the lack of legal assistance when using existing legal avenues, such as the courts. Lawyers are not interested in environmental issues, nor prepared to assist citizens and NGOs in legal cases. Because the public is not informed in due time of proposed, upcoming, or pending decisions, plans and procedures, it makes public participation impossible, even if there exist legal avenues for public participation.
Citizens and NGOs are not familiar with non-legal instruments and are not trained to use them. Cooperation between NGOs, and also between NGOs and citizens is weak and thus inefficient Since there are no traditions or official channels, it is difficult to identify priorities and urgent cases for public participation and to implement them.
No official body, whether parliamentary or governmental, is psychologically prepared to use public participation within existing legal framework and public participation is not promoted at all. Officials are not qualified to organize public participation and are not motivated, their knowledge of existing legal avenues for public participation is limited and because there have been no successful cases of public participation using legal instruments, citizens and NGOs are not inclined to use it.
The media is not seriously interested in environmental problems and there have been a number of cases related to environmental issues where the media has successfully been sued in court by an office for 'violation of honor' - thus making the media wary of controversial issues.
The use of non-legal instruments has decreased and lost popularity amongst society, media and even among NGOs, while the government does not pay serious attention to and does not take into account the needs of the public and NGOs concerning environmental or social issues.
Due to the existing economic and social situation, there is quite a complicated public involvement and public participation in environmental protection related to business. In practice, it is simply risky to be involved in and to act against controversial businesses, because often they are related to mafia groups or sometimes business representatives defend their interests illegally - corruption, threats or even violence.
In the legal field, laws and procedures for public participation in environmental and other related activities need to be developed by parliament and government. The public and NGOs need to be involved in the legislation and rule making process, supplied with information in due time of the proposed, upcoming, pending decisions, plans and procedures on environmental and other related issues. All citizens need to be aware of and involved in environmental and public participation issues, and not merely those which directly affect them.
NGOs need to be supported financially for capability building to promote public participation in environmental protection as an important factor of democracy building and the creation of sustainable society.
The perfection and development of existing legal mechanisms for public participation, and their implementation in practice are the general areas which could and should be urgently improved.
In the non-formal field, efficient use of the existing legal framework and non-legal mechanisms could be strongly improved by building and strengthening the capability of NGOs to operate services to citizens and to support them in public participation cases. Cooperation at all levels needs to be improved, with regular meetings, discussions and informative exchanges on important environmental issues and policy-making.
A comprehensive legal framework should be constructed and adopted by parliament and government, to include a law related to environmental impact assessment, with detailed procedures for public participation. Laws related to access of information and the right to know should be implemented in practice, while existing legal institutions should provide public legal assistance and remedies for infringed rights.
New forms of public participation which meet requirements of this period (transition to market economy, etc.) and are acceptable for society should be developed: a green consumerism; campaigns of energy, water saving and efficient usage; organic agriculture; waste recycling, etc.
NGOs should be more flexible and creative in their activities, develop a public participation service, provide training on issues related to public participation for their members and for the leaders of non-formal citizen groups, other interested people. NGOs should constantly improve their professional skills. The demand for NGOs in Central and Eastern Europe is comparatively new. Development of green lobby is an urgent need and the common activities of NGOs should concern themselves with it.
The view of officials toward usage of non-legal methods should soon be changed. Officials by themselves should use non-legal methods and institutional frameworks to build better relations with citizens and NGOs. They should have regular and more intensive discussions on different environmental issues in order to promote public participation in general in a legal and non-legal framework. Other important groups such as media, business, and political parties that are still passive concerning public participation, should get involved by mean of the non-legal framework.