[Index]
Environmental impact assessment pays off
as countries cooperate and the public
makes its voice heard
Geneva, 27 May 2004 - The United
Nations Economic Commission for Europe
(UNECE) will hold the third meeting of
the Parties to the Convention on Environmental
Impact Assessment (EIA) in a Transboundary
Context in Cavtat, Croatia, on 1-4 June.
The Convention is intended to help make
development sustainable by promoting international
cooperation in assessing the likely cross-border
impact of a proposed activity on the environment
before giving it the go-ahead. It came
into force in 1997 and now has 40 Parties. 1
A review of its implementation
reveals that it is increasingly being
applied to potential sources of cross-border
pollution. For example, Austria and Germany
have used it to assess a project to build
interim storage facilities for spent fuel
in southern Germany. As a result, Austria
was told of the project and the concerns
of the Austrian public were presented
at a public hearing in Germany. Moreover,
the permit included a consideration of
the cross-border impact.
Case studies from Azerbaijan,
Bulgaria, Croatia, Finland, Italy and
the United Kingdom also illustrate that
practical experience with international
public participation is growing. Members
of the public are informed of a project
planned in another country that may have
an environmental impact on their own country.
They usually receive such information
directly or through announcements in local
newspapers in their own language. The
public can make comments on the project
or on the environmental documentation
either directly to the developer or during
a public hearing.
According to Mr Wiek
Schrage, the Convention’s Secretary,
“the case studies indicate that
comments are treated the same, irrespective
of boundaries, which means that the final
decision on a project will reflect the
comments of the public from the potentially
affected countries. This is precisely
the result that the Convention’s
negotiators had in mind.”
This meeting will also
be the first opportunity for the Signatories
to the new Protocol on Strategic Environmental
Assessment (SEA) to the Convention to
meet. This Protocol was signed in May
2003, at the fifth Ministerial Conference
“Environment for Europe” in
Kiev, by 36 States2 and the European Community,
and is expected to enter into force within
the next two years.
Both the Convention and
the Protocol are also open to non-UNECE
member States. Countries from outside
the UNECE region are already taking a
keen interest in the methods and tools
for sustainable development that they
promote. Senior environment officials
from, for instance, Algeria, China, the
Islamic Republic of Iran and Lebanon are
expected to attend the meeting in Cavtat.
For further information, please contact:
Mr Wiek SCHRAGE
UNECE Environment and Human Settlements
Division
Palais des Nations, office 407
CH - 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Phone: +41 (0) 22 917 24 48
Fax: +41 (0) 22 917 06 13
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: http://www.unece.org/env/eia/
________
1 Albania,
Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium,
Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech
Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France,
Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Liechtenstein,
Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway,
Poland, Portugal, Republic of Moldova,
Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden,
Switzerland, the former Yugoslav Republic
of Macedonia, Ukraine, United Kingdom
and European Community.
2 Albania,
Armenia, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and
Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus,
Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland,
France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary,
Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg,
Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal,
Republic of Moldova, Romania, Serbia and
Montenegro, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain,
Sweden, the former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia, Ukraine and United Kingdom.
Ref: ECE/ENV/04/P09