| Since 1989, nearly all the countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and, more recently some from the former Soviet Union have undertaken the radical transition from centrally planned to free-market economies. Often referred to as "economies in transition," the transition process is characterized not only by drastic changes in economic and social structure, but also by substantial changes in legislation and regulatory frameworks. Environmental legislation has been no exception, with an increasing number of measures and regulations targeted towards the more efficient use of natural resources and toward mitigating negative impacts on the environment.
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| Sofia Initiatives | The Third Conference of Environment Ministers, held under the auspices of the "Environment for Europe" process in Sofia during October 1995, resulted among other things in the adoption of the so-called Sofia Initiatives. The aim of these Initiatives was to accelerate the implementation of the Environmental Action Program (EAP) for Central and Eastern Europe through policy, regulation and investment measures. The Initiatives summarized the achievements and proposals for future work in the Central and East European countries in 4 major areas:
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| SILAQ Background | The Initiative for the general improvement of Local Air Quality in Central and Eastern Europe (addressed hereafter by this Report) focused on two specific areas: (1) the promotion of unleaded gasoline throughout the CEE region, and (2) the significant reduction of sulfur and particulate emissions. The Initiative concentrated on local air pollution rather than on transboundary air pollution, since most of the countries participating are signatories of the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution (LR-TAP) and are active participants in the UN Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) working group dealing with transboundary air pollution. While SO21, NOx and particulate matter pollution is usually discussed jointly due to the similarities in emission sources and the technologies introduced to reduce their emission, this Report addresses only SO2 and particulate matter. However, when discussing mitigation measures, the value in combining different emissions reduction mechanisms have not been omitted. The Sofia Initiative on Local Air Quality (SILAQ) has aimed to promote cooperation among air pollution control experts at national and municipal levels in developing and implementing activities for measurable improvements in air quality in highly polluted urban areas. The Initiative has tended to rely on "East-East" experience sharing and in introducing closer cooperation with Western partners. The objective of the Initiative has been to identify the areas where the greatest environmental benefit can be achieved at the least cost, and on this basis concentrated on:
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| Participating Countries | Though the Initiative was open to all countries involved in the Environment for Europe process, the core countries within the working group included Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. This Synthesis Report is based largely upon information collected from questionnaire surveys conducted by Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia as well as those Country Reports submitted by the Czech Republic, Romania and Hungary. While the Report focuses mainly on the SILAQ countries, it also provides illustrative examples and emission trends for other CEE and EU countries. Also taken into consideration are the results of the workshop held in Bratislava between January 20-22, 1998, and discussions and materials provided by participants from the REC, the World Bank and the US EPA. It is well understood in transition countries that the reform process has provided a window of opportunity for the implementation of new legislative, regulatory and economic instruments aimed at improving the quality of environmental management. This is why broad consensus exists among these countries that reform should have two objectives: first, to improve the economic performance of a country through price liberalization, privatization, establishment of capital markets, fiscal reform and decentralization; and secondly, to ensure a sound basis for sustainable development by introducing economic and environmental criteria at all levels of the decisionmaking process. Within such a political, legislative and economic context, the SO2 and particulate reduction issue seeks to promote proper solutions and to incorporate these initiatives within overall policy targets.
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