Press Release

[Index]

UNECE assesses the environmental performance of Serbia

Geneva, 11 October 2007 -- Mr. Sasa Dragin, Minister of Environmental Protection of Serbia, launched the second Environmental Performance Review (EPR) of Serbia on 11 October 2007 at the Sixth Ministerial Conference “Environment for Europe” in Belgrade. This second EPR of Serbia is the result of close cooperation between UNECE and the Ministry of Environmental Protection, which coordinated the Review. The report has been prepared by a group of international experts working closely with national counterparts. The Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, together with the European Environmental Agency (EEA) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), provided valuable support.

The report devotes particular attention to the country’s legal and decision-making framework; information-sharing, public participation and education; implementation of international agreements and commitments; economic instruments for environmental protection; environmental expenditures and their financing; water management for sustainable development; and energy and environment.

Serbia has made significant progress, but still faces serious challenges ahead

Serbia has agreed to about 30 recommendations in this second EPR and has committed to implementing them. Mr. Dragin outlined the most pressing priorities for the country: harmonization of legislation, further strengthening of administrative capacity for planning, permitting and enforcement, and upgrading environmental infrastructure. He emphasized in particular the following findings and recommendations in this second EPR.

• On the legal and decision-making framework

Since 2002, Serbia has made significant progress in developing environmental legislation and in establishing and strengthening environmental institutions. However, the international experts recommended that t he Government should enhance the capacity of the newly established Ministry of Environmental Protection. Moreover, structural changes must be introduced in all ministries and governmental agencies to ensure the integration of environmental requirements into their respective policies. Information needs to be properly managed to provide a basis for the strategic, legislative, enforcement and decision-making activities of environmental protection authorities. Experts also recommended that the harmonization of the legal framework with EU Directives be continued and improved.

• On information, public participation and education

There is a need to establish an effective network of institutions that collect and transmit environment-related information to the national Environment Protection Agency, with the goal of improving the quality of state-of-the-environment reporting and its disclosure to the public. To ensure that information is reliable and compatible with that produced by other European countries, Serbia should harmonize its monitoring and reporting programmes with international requirements.

• On the implementation of international agreements and commitments

Mr. Dragin confirmed the willingness of Serbia to continue and speed up the ratification of multilateral environmental agreements and the adoption of the National Strategy for Sustainable Development.

• On financing environmental protection

Mr. Dragin recognized that there is an urgent need for the reform of the regulatory and economic instruments for environmental protection. Also, the Minister expressed his view that the Government should establish a coherent and comprehensive information and reporting system for environmental protection expenditures and revenues covering both the public and private sectors, including households. An adequate share of public revenue should be channelled to the Ministry of Environmental Protection and to the Environmental Protection Fund. He suggested that more decisions for managing the environment should be carried out at the local level, and the Government should promote legal and institutional arrangements to strengthen the capacity of municipalities to prepare requests for investment projects.

The Minister pointed out that these activities would require significant efforts from Serbia as well as technical assistance and financial support from the international community – both from the European Commission’s Instrument for Pre-Accession and other donor sources.

Mr. Dragin concluded that the EPR process has proved to be very important for Serbia. The close cooperation between the Serbian national team and the international experts as well as the involvement of a large number of stakeholders in the EPR process with broad consultations at national level has built a feeling of strong commitment to the implementation of the recommendations. The second EPR will be a highly valuable reference for the Ministry of Environmental Protection in particular and for the Government of the Republic of Serbia as a whole in terms of advancing good environmental policy. Non-governmental organizations and other stakeholders will likewise benefit from the Review. This second EPR gives clear conclusions and recommendations to Serbia for achieving further progress, many of which have already been recognized by the country as key priorities and are addressed by its National Environmental Strategy and other environment-related strategic documents. Mr. Dragin also expressed gratitude to the Committee on Environmental Policy of UNECE and to the team of international experts for preparing this important document.

“The challenges pointed out in the 2 nd EPR of Serbia are typically those that our member countries with economies in transition are facing”, noted Mr. Kaj Bärlund, Director of the Environment, Housing and Land Management Division at UNECE. With this remark, Mr Bärlund was also referring to another document produced by the EPR Programme on “Critical issues in implementation of environmental policies” discussed in plenary. Besides the typical problems of countries in transition, the second EPR of Serbia also reflects the efforts of national stakeholders to achieve a better quality of environment in Serbia in line with the pre-accession and accession process requirements of the EU and with international obligations that the country has committed to following, “in particular under the UNECE Conventions”, added Kaj Bärlund.

The EPR Programme was initiated by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) for its members in 1991. In 1993, at the Second “Environment for Europe” Ministerial Conference, ministers requested UNECE to undertake EPRs in countries with economies in transition that were not OECD members. By 2004, the first cycle of Reviews had been completed¹, and UNECE is now performing second Reviews. This second round, while taking stock of the progress made since the first Review, puts particular emphasis on implementation, integration, financing and the socio-economic interface with the environment.

All information regarding the EPR Programme is freely available on the web at: http://www.unece.org/env/epr/welcome.htm. The EPR of Serbia can be found in English and Serbian language at: http://www.unece.org/env/epr/countriesreviewed.htm.

For more information, please contact:

Catherine Masson, Programme Leader UNECE Environment, Housing and Land Management Division Palais des Nations CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland E-mail: [email protected]

Ministry of Environmental Protection of Serbia Department for International Cooperation and EU Integration No.1, Omladinskih brigada str. 11070 Novi Beograd Belgrade, Serbia E-mail: [email protected]

¹The first EPR of Serbia - at that time, part of Yugoslavia - was conducted in 2002.