| Almost all EaP Countries Have Shown a Tendency to Enhance Cooperation with the EU in the Environmental Field |  |
| Monday, 20 October 2014 14:20 | |||
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October 17, 2014, Kyiv — Civil society independent experts presented Second assessment of the environmental governance reforms in the six Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries. The second assessment of the environmental governance reforms in the EaP countries (Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine) has shown a general trend towards strengthening cooperation with the EU in the environmental field in almost all partner countries. Ukraine, in particular, has improved its result up to 70% compared to the previous one (63.3%) in 2011. The results of the study on the good environmental governance progress within the European integration context were presented in the Ukrinform Information Agency during a public discussion “Second Assessment of Environmental Reforms in Eastern Partnership Countries: Views from Civil Society.” The event was organized by MAMA-86, Ukrainian National Environmental NGO, under the auspices of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum with the support of the International Renaissance Foundation. The assessment has been prepared by leading regional civil society experts under the coordination of UNENGO MAMA-86 within the project “Strengthening Capacities of the National Platforms of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum” funded by the EU. Speakers at the discussion, moderated by Anna Golubovska-Onisimova, Head of the MAMA-86 Coordination Board (Ukraine), also included Fikret Jafarov, Head of the Sustainable Development NGO (Azerbaijan), Grigory Fedorov, Head of the Board of Ecodom Public Association (Belarus), Margarita Korhmazyan, Advisor to the Association for Sustainable Human Development NGO (Armenia), Manana Kochladze, Head of the Green Alternative NGO (Georgia), Dumitru Drumea, Executive Director of the ECOS NGO (Moldova), Jean-François Moret, Sector Manager for Energy, Environment, Green Economy and Civil Protection at the EU Delegation to Ukraine, Olga Kvashuk, European Programme Manager at the International Renaissance Foundation, Natalia Trofymenko, Head of the Strategic Planning Department at the Ecology and Natural Resources Ministry, etc. Representatives of Ukrainian environmental NGOs and individual experts joined the discussion as well. This study presents a comparative assessment of developments in the countries’ environmental governance, MAMA-86 Executive Director Zoryana Mishchuk said. It covers the following issues: cooperation with the EU; strengthening administrative structures and procedures; development of environmental strategies, plans and programs; environmental policy integration; provisions for environmental impact assessment; access to information and public participation in decision-making; cooperation on development of Shared Environmental Information System. Experts assessed the countries’ performance on these issues according to the methodology developed by the WWF and Heinrich Boell Foundation with regional NGO involvement. Considering the logic of recent developments in the EaP countries’ cooperation with the EU, the six countries were divided into two groups: Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, which have signed the Association Agreements with the EU (Group 1), and Armenia, Azerbaijan and Belarus, which have opted for other ways of cooperation with the EU (Group 2). According to the experts’ assessment, Moldova is the leader in the Group 1, while Azerbaijan has the highest ranking in the Group 2. Georgia and Belarus have the lowest scores in the two groups, respectively. “It’s estimated that Ukraine ranks second after Moldova among the countries that have signed the Association Agreements with the EU, and therefore committed to comprehensive reforms towards EU standards of good environmental governance. Georgia took the third place”, Anna Golubovska-Onisimova noted. She also pointed out that Ukraine has not much improved its result — the variables are almost the same as 2 years ago. Ukraine’s strengths, compared to others, are close cooperation with the EU in the environmental sphere, setting administrative structures and procedures, as well as development of environmental strategies and plans. “Meanwhile, Ukraine received a low score for compliance with the provisions of the Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters”, added Zoryana Mishchuk. According to the experts, the latest developments in the field of public administration in Group 2 have shown a trend towards centralization. Strategic planning in environmental protection is mainly determined by internal policies and standards. There is a lack of legislation basis for environmental policy integration into other policy areas. In 2011, public experts from all six EaP countries conducted the first independent assessment of environmental governance reforms in the region. The assessment concerns EaP Good Environmental Governance Flagship Initiative, aimed at strengthening the capacity of partner countries to ensure the availability of reliable environmental information by developing Shared Environmental Information System as well as engagement of stakeholders, appropriate environmental assessment and reporting in accordance with EU practices and legislation, and in compliance of the relevant environmental agreements including the Aarhus Convention and the Espoo Convention. Group 1, the overall environmental reforms implementation rating, %
Group 2, the overall environmental reforms implementation rating, %
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