Inception Report on Component 3.4 Danube Regional Project
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INCEPTION REPORT ON COMPONENT 3.4 DANUBE REGIONAL PROJECT "ENHANCING ACCESS TO INFORMATION AND PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN ENVIRONMENTAL DECISION MAKING" IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA, BULGARIA, CROATIA, ROMANIA, SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO December 2004 1 PREPARED BY THE CONSORTIUM OF MAGDA TOTH NAGY The Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe 2000, Szentendre Ady E. ut, 9-11 Hungary JANE B. STEWART AND ERNESTINE MEIER New York University School of Law (NYU) 77 1/2 Charles St., New York, NY 10014 USA RUTH GREENSPAN BELL Resources for the Future International Institutional Development and Environmental Assistance (IIDEA) 1616 P Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20036 2 This Inception Report is prepared for component 3.4 of Objective 3 of the Danube Regional Project (phase 2). The overall focus under Objective 3 is to enhance awareness raising in civil society and reinforce the participation of NGOs and other interested parties in water management and pollution reduction (nutrients and toxic substances) with particular attention to transboundary cooperation and river basin management in the context of the Water Framework Directive. 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 6 PART I INCEPTION PHASE 7 COUNTRY CONSULTATIONS 7 1. Presentation of Danube Regional Project and Project Component 3.4 8 2. Feedback on barriers to public access to information and public participation in environmental and water–related matters 8 3. National and operational teams 10 NEEDS ASSESSMENT 11 1. Preparatory documents 11 1.1 Outline for Needs Assessment 11 1.2 Questionnaire for Needs Assessment 12 2. National consultants 12 2.1. Selection process 12 2.2 Selected national consultants 13 ICPDR ASSESSMENT 14 1. Access to Information 14 2. Public Participation 14 COMMUNICATION ON PROJECT COMPONENT ACTIVITIES 15 ACTIVITIES SIMILAR OR OVERLAPPING WITH DRP COMPONENT 3.4 16 POSSIBLE CHANGES TO TERMS OF REFERENCE 17 PART II IMPLEMENTATION PHASE 18 WORK PLAN 18 ACTIVITIES 21 1. Criteria and selection process on the local demonstration projects 21 1.1 Selection criteria 22 1.2 Selection process 23 2. Technical assistance by NHL consultants 24 3. National capacity building workshops in 2005 25 4. Needs assessments 26 4 PART III ANNEXES - 27 A1 COUNTRY CONSULTATIONS 28 A2 PROJECTS IMPLEMENTED WITH IMPACT TO DRP 3.4 83 A3 LIST OF OPERATIONAL TEAMS 91 A4 OUTLINE FOR NEEDS ASSESSMENT 92 A5 QUESTIONNAIRE FOR NEEDS ASSESSMENT 94 A6 TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR NEEDS ASSESSMENT 96 A7 CVs OF EXPERTS 99 A8 PROPOSED CHANGES TO THE DRP 3.4 TOR 137 5 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Component 3.4, in particular, will focus on supporting emerging processes of improved public participation in environmental decision making, with emphasis on better access to environmental information in decision making on hot spot prevention and cleanup. Over a period of 28 months, the Consortium of the Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC), Resources for the Future (RFF) and New York University School of Law (NYU) will assist and advise in building capacity in government officials who are the “front lines” of access to information and responsible for implementing public participation through targeted training and technical assistance activities carefully tailored to the needs and circumstances of each country. National and local NGOs and the public involved in the Danube and water-related issues, the main stakeholders and partners of the officials involved in public participation, when engaged actively in this capacity building, will in turn support full and effective public involvement in planning in the context of the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) and prevention and cleanup of Danube hot spots, an effect that should last long after the Danube Regional Project (DRP) has been completed. Component 3.4 begins with an Inception Phase. The purpose of this initial phase of four months is to take the first steps in getting the project started and to take decisions on the activities that will take place in the second, implementation phase of the project. This report has two parts. The first part describes the inception phase. Not each and every step taken or decision made is mentioned in Part I of the report. The aim of Part I is to provide the project donors and those responsible for both the larger DRP and Component 3.4 with an overview of the most important steps taken, findings and decisions made in the first four months of the project. The second part of the report is dedicated to the Implementation Phase of the project. Part II starts with a detailed work plan, which indicates the different activities that will be undertaken and the different work products that are prepared for these activities or will result from them. The work plan also provides a detailed timeframe of when and how activities are undertaken and when and how work products are prepared. A following section on activities highlights some of the main activities and work products planned for the Implementation Phase, describing what these activities and products consist of and how the Consortium has envisioned they should take place. The last section for Part II indicates a minor budget reallocation, decided by the Consortium after reconsideration of one of its activities in the Implementation Phase. 6 PART I INCEPTION PHASE COUNTRY CONSULTATIONS In October and November 2004, the Consortium organized country consultations in each of the five participating countries.1 The national consultation meetings were successful and were received with interest. Although in Serbia and Montenegro and Croatia the meetings were organized on rather short notice due to the late start of the project component activities and the capacity problems of the REC Country Office in Croatia, most relevant agencies and stakeholder groups were represented in the meetings, and there was active participation and good discussion. Major input and feedback was received that will be useful during the implementation of activities. The major in-country partners and project participants are aware of the proposed objectives, content and activities of the project component and a good working relationship has been established with them. However, some invitations for the consultations were sent out relatively late. Such late invitations can affect the perception of the component and may have resulted in lower representation by a few stakeholders that we would otherwise liked to have in attendance at some of the first national consultations. Preparation time for meetings in the future should not be underestimated. It was agreed that for future meetings, written invitations and materials would be sent well in advance, i.e., at least two weeks before the actual meeting for national meetings and, if at all possible at least one, or preferably even two months before international meetings. Advance verbal notification is not sufficient for some stakeholders. The main objectives of the meetings as defined beforehand by the Consortium were: To present to relevant stakeholders the UNDP-GEF Danube Regional Project and particularly Project Output 3.4 Enhancing Access to Information and Public Participation in Environmental Decision-making; To collect feedback at the national level on the project activities and expected outputs (including the scope and inputs needed for the needs assessment); and To identify experts and relevant stakeholders who should take part in the national teams, discuss the process of their establishment, and to start building stakeholder ownership of component 3.4. The consultation meetings in the five countries followed basically the same agenda developed by the Consortium in consultation with DRP. Where necessary, this agenda was adapted following requests by the national partners and the REC Country Offices. The meetings were chaired by the REC Country Office Director or the REC Project Manager and co-chaired by a representative of the Ministry of Environment and Waters. In some countries professional facilitators were used to lead the discussion, e.g., in Croatia. (For the meeting agenda, list of participants and meeting minutes of each country consultation, see Annex 1.) In each country, a representative of the ICPDR head of delegation was asked to address the meeting with an opening speech and to present the delegation’s perspective about the participation of the country in the ICPDR, DRP project activities as well as their views about the Project Component 3.4 and the implementation of the WFD access to information and public participation provisions in the country. 1 Serbia and Montenegro: October 12 in Belgrade; Bosnia and Herzegovina: October 14 in Tuzla; Croatia: October 22 in Zagreb; Romania: November 16 in Bucharest; Bulgaria: November 26 in Sofia. 7 1. Presentation of Danube Regional Project and Project Component 3.4 In the consultations, the general context in which project component 3.4 plays a role was presented by either Rayka Hauser, DRP Public Participation Expert or Magda Toth Nagy, REC Project Manager. The presentation included the goals and the approach of the ICPDR and the Danube Regional Project regarding public participation, and how the different project components (including component 3.4) address this issue. Details on Project Component 3.4 were presented by Magda Toth Nagy, REC Project Manager. Both presentations were followed by questions and answers. After the presentations, a plenary discussion followed about the current situation of public access to information and public participation in environmental