4. Critical Steps to Start or Continue Environmental Improvements
4.1. Management and Administration
ALBANIA
In March 1992, the Committee of Environmental Protection was established within the Ministry of Health. Eleven experts are responsible for the development and implementation of the environmental policy for Albania. The Committee needs to be expanded and given more authority. This will be only possible if the Committee is made independent from the Ministry of Health. The Committee was also criticized for spending too much time on international relations and not enough time on domestic issues. The Parliament will probably approve the employment of 35 more experts that will act as Environmental Inspectors on the district level. Environmental impact assessments are very much needed and a law is being drafted at the current time. Money collected through environmental taxes and pollution fines should be earmarked for environmental purposes and not absorbed into the general State budget.
BULGARIA
Improvements in the areas of environmental administration and management are definitely needed. Currently there is a lack of strong experience in decision-making and problem solving. Better coordination and collaboration between MoE and other ministries and institutions such as the Ministry of Education and the Privatisation Agency are greatly needed. To address this and other needs, an Interministerial Committee for the Elaboration of Priority Environmental Projects and Development was established in November 1993. This committee is regarded as a prototype for a future National Council for Sustainable Development. Similarly, the MoE signed seven Memoranda of Understanding for Integrated Environmental Policy with other ministries including the Ministries of Health and Industries. The management responsibilities and functions of the Ministry of Environment should be much more clearly defined. Regional and local environmental management plans and programs should be developed. Modern monitoring capacities, and methodologies like environmental impact assessments and environmental audits are also required. (In recent developments to address these issues, a new computerized national monitoring, data analysis and information system has been introduced, legislation requiring EIAs passed and a bill concerning audits is being drafted.) Public participation should be encouraged in the environmental management process and mechanisms established to ensure that this happens. One expert suggested that the National Environmental Fund may be more effective if separated from the MoE and the State budget. There was also a recommendation for establishing a bank to support environmental investments.
CROATIA
There is no separate MoE; the environment is integrated with civil engineering and it is only a secondary priority. The need for a separate ministry is recognized, however. The new draft law envisions a new system including a MoE responsible for an overall environmental policy, coordination and cooperation with other ministries, as well as with expert institutions, NGOs and local governments. The MoE would be supported by a separate environmental protection agency serving as a focal point for discussing and drafting environmental laws, and providing expert support. The third element of the institutional structure would be the necessary governmental authorities, inspectorates, local organizations to secure the execution of the environmental policy. Cooperation between the Ministries responsible for areas related to environment is not sufficient.
Environmental responsibilities are not well defined at the local level. There is no clear picture about the state of the environment now. There is a lack of adequate know-how to identify, prepare, and manage projects, and expertise generally is insufficient. There are experts and institutions but most of them are not included sufficiently in the decision making process.
CZECH REPUBLIC
The cooperation between the MoE and connected research and scientific institutions could be improved to ensure that their activities complement each other. Experts criticized that up to now a cooperative effort involving the whole government on environmental issues is largely lacking. Management capacities must be strengthened.
Administration staff, especially at the local level, can not be paid adequately, in comparison to private firms; often qualified experts are lacking.
Duties and responsibilities on the regional / local level must be defined. It is necessary to accelerate the creation of a unified information network between regions.
HUNGARY
The environmental committee of the Parliament was on strained terms with the Ministry for the past four years. Reports on the activities of the MoE to the committee were qualified as unsatisfactory. The Ministry for Environment and Regional Policy is the successor of the Ministry for Environment and Water Management. In both set-ups the environment was forced to play second fiddle. The Ministry needs more environmental experts on its staff. (It is a telltale sign that the Department for Informatics has recently been dissolved.) The regional environmental inspectorates got a bad deal (in laboratory capacity, personnel, equipment, etc.) when separated from the water management directorates. They are struggling with scarce resources and are forced to take part-time contractual consulting work in their own areas of responsibility, creating an enforcerŐs nightmare. Full budgetary support to these organizations should be restored immediately. As yet most local authorities lack independent environmental experts on their staff. In larger cities, environmental committees are formed within the authority. The members, however, usually have other committee duties besides the environment.
FYR MACEDONIA
Improvements in these areas are also strongly needed. There is no separate Ministry of Environment, and according to some of the experts within the current responsible Ministry the environment is a low priority. There are also no specialized research institutions for environmental protection. Cooperation with the other Ministries could and should be enhanced. There is an absence of an effective monitoring and inspection system for all environmental media. The duties and obligations of the local governments in environmental protection are undefined.
POLAND
A more integrated approach to environmental protection is needed. The sectoral approach should give way to a multi-disciplinary one which involves all segments of society in responsibility for environmental protection. This requires making environmental information more accessible to the public. Currently, responsibility for environmental management is shifting from the central government towards local and regional administrations. The roles and obligations of the various institutions and governments involved in environmental protection need to be clearly defined and unambiguous. This is especially important with regards to enforcement.
Existing cooperation within the State government is inadequate, especially between the Ministry of Environment and the Ministries of Agriculture and Industry. Some progress has been made, however, regarding the privatization process as an Inter-Ministerial Unit has been established to consider environmental concerns related to ownership transfers.
Skills and know-how at the government level have improved considerably with the help of foreign assistance and this process should continue.
ROMANIA
The Ministry of Environment was established in 1990 and later renamed the Ministry of Waters Forest and Environmental Protection. Also the network of Field Agencies for Environmental Protection was established as a monitoring and control institution. The MoE is organising an inter-ministerial commission to improve the management of environmental issues within the transformation process. Such a commission may help to improve coordination and cooperation between the ministries, especially between MoE and the Ministry of Industry. Proper environmental management in the industrial sector is seriously lacking. Industrial enterprises have departments of toxicology for worker protection but generally do not have special offices for environmental protection. The value of existing environmental expertise and information is not realized because it is not coordinated or centralized for easy access.
SLOVAK REPUBLIC
The structure of the environmental administration has been reorganized several times since 1990. There is also a high turnover in staff holding the higher positions. The same goes for other bodies which cooperate with the environmental administration (e.g., the directing staff of the Ministry of Privatization has been changed recently). Another issue is that 25 - 30% of the staff of environmental administration had to be dismissed due to a lack of money; the professional positions have been especially affected (about 60% left ).
In terms of cooperation of the MoE with other Ministries and bodies, there is a general lack of understanding of the interdependence of environmental concerns with other issues. The MoE is a young institution; its representatives have to define their new roles in the transformation process in some cases.
SLOVENIA
The structure of the environmental administration is being finalized based on the new environmental framework law. The MoE will be restructured and strengthened and will receive new responsibilities (e.g., nature protection, construction permitting). According to the new structure, a clear division of responsibilities will be defined between the different institutions dealing with the environment. (The division of responsibilities between the State and local authorities, however, remains unclear and cooperation between them needs much improvement.) The water authority has already been passed to the association of the municipal services. An environmental protection agency and environmental inspectorate will be established. The agency will deal with monitoring, planning, preparing rehabilitation programs, enforcement, environmental permitting, and EIAs as well as environmental management. The inspectorate will have a controlling and enforcing role. An environmental fund will be established, which will be operational by the beginning of 1994. Jurisdictional reform is under way, creating 42 regions and regulating other fields which will have an impact on the environmental sector.
REC * PUBLICATIONS * STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES 1 * ANNEX
