The overall long-term goal of the Danube Pollution Reduction Programme (GEF/ WB) is to stimulate sustainable, institutional and financial arrangements for effective environmental management of the Danube River Basin. The highly complex Danube Pollution Reduction Programme involves multiple stakeholders in 11 countries:
Croatia, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ukraine and Moldova.
The goal of this Part of the Project is to enhance the NGO participation in the UNDP/GEF Pollution Reduction Programme on the national and regional level. The expected result is effective participation in defining strategies for pollution reduction and management of water resources and related ecosystems and in planning and implementation of concrete actions and projects of the Pollution Reduction Programme. The revitalization of the Danube Environmental Forum and of national NGO's should assist the public awareness raising, reinforce cooperation with government agencies and create a general sense of responsibility and engagement of all stakeholders in sustainable management of international waters.
The programme has the following objectives which follow for different steps of development of the whole:
- to start and maintain a process of CEE NGO involvement in the UNDP/GEF Pollution Reduction Programme and in the Danube Environmental Programme as a whole
- to train a group of CEE facilitators to support the above mentioned process to organise national and regional consultation meetings to reactivate the Danube Environmental Forum as a permanent NGO representation
Through this Programme, the environmental NGOs and associations working on these issues will contribute to the ultimate goals of Danube River Basin Environmental Programme:
improving the quality of the environment in the entire Danube River Basin and saving its values and its current beauty, through multinational cooperation via a multi stakeholder approach. Cooperation with other layers of society such as business, governmental representatives, research institutions, universities, schools etc., is strongly recommended as the most effective way to find solutions for Danube environmental problems.
National cooperation is crucial for running environmental projects and raising public awareness, since often the nature of the Danube's problems affects the whole country as well as the whole Region. The level of CEE NGO participation in the activities related to the Danube Environmental Programme is at this moment limited. Reasons are numerous but the most important one is that there was not enough effort put into maintaining a structure of permanent NGO/private sector participation and involvement. This led to dissolution of the Danube Environmental Forum. With this project it is envisaged to develop, set up and maintain an ongoing participation of NGO/private sector representatives in the future development of the Danube Basin River.
Here are some of the expected results of the National NGO Meeting:
- to bring together national and local NGOs working on the Danube related issues and to establish links of cooperation between them.
- to discuss NGOs concerns, opinions and ideas and to determine common policies and goals in pollution reduction and sustainable management of water resources and aquatic ecosystems.
- to define NGO position regarding the Danube Pollution Reduction Programme and to select NGO representative to participate in forthcoming National Planning Workshops.
- to identify national representatives to participate in the Regional NGO Consultation Meeting to revitalize the Danube Environmental Forum (DEF).
The Ministry of each respective country was already requested by the GRF/PCU to created a National Expert Team for each country, which now consist: Water Quality Data Expert/Information expert, Water Engineering expert with knowledge in wetland rehabilitation, Financial Expert, Socio- economist with knowledge in population studies. The national experts will be recruited for a period of one to three months in order to provide data and information for the Danube water pollution, identify the Danube hot spots, collect information on programmes and projects for pollution control and pollution reduction, analyse engineering structures (dams, channels, etc), define the financing mechanisms, and participate in the preparation of investment portfolio.
Each of the experts will have to organise his/her work under the supervision of the Country Programme Coordinator and under the guidance of an International Consultant who is contracted by the GEF/PCU to assure quality data from the country expert teams. The Country Programme Coordinators (or designed National Focal Points) are responsible to implement the UNDP/GEF work programme at the national level and to coordinate all project activities, which include: supervising the work of national experts teams, in cooperation with REC and REC LO, organising NGO Participation Meeting (more info follow in description of REC role) organising the National Planning Workshop (due in spring '98) where selected participants (8 participants from various ministries, 5 participants from Local Authorities, 5 participants from scientific institutions, 8 NGO representatives, 2 representatives from donor organisations and representatives of UNDP/GEF will evaluate the work of the National Experts Team
Budget
USD 55,749,650
Total Cost of the project
USD 9,907,650
GEF Allocation to project
Partners
The main focus is on helping the poorest people and the poorest countries, but for all its clients the Bank emphasizes the need for:Investing in people, particularly through basic health and educationFocusing on social development, inclusion, governance, and institution-building as key elements of poverty reduction Strengthening the ability of the governments to deliver quality services, efficiently and transparently Protecting the environment Supporting and encouraging private business developmentPromoting reforms to create a stable macroeconomic environment, conducive to investment and long-term planning.
The EBRD is composed of amultinational staff and in-house Board of Directors representing shareholders (61 countries plus the European Community and European Investment Bank).
Contacts
Sr. Operations Officer
Principle Environmental Specialist
Director