Post on 17-Jan-2016
Addressing Water Eutrophication in the Baltic Sea Basin Through Sustainable Watershed Management and Strengthening Institutions for Cross-border Cooperation and Public Involvement
Peeter Unt
Peipsi Center for Transboundary Cooperation
Funders: US Environmental Protection Agency REC
Participating NGOs: Peipsi CTC and Estonian Fund for Nature Center for Environmental Policy WWF LatviaChudskoe Project
Case-study regions:Emajõgi River/Lake
Peipsi in EstoniaVelikaya River in
RussiaSalaca River in
LatviaMinija River in
Lithuania
4 reports on current status
of public participation in
water management in
the respective countries based on case-studies
4 action plans for improving the situation
with public participation in water management
www.riverdialogue.org/NGO
Current practices of public participation in water
management in Estonia
1) Legal background analysis+ water related cases of Estonian Fund for Nature legal help project2) Practices of public participation 3) Analysis of expert interviews4) National action plan
16 expert interviews
around Lake Peipsi basin
and the ministries in
February 2003
TALLINN
www.riverdialogue.org/NGO
Problems related to the implementation of the Water Framework Directive
1) Actual implementation: legislative principles vs reality
2) Lack of resources: both financial and human – nobody to give wider public sufficient knowledge regarding the idea, consequences and impacts of compiling a water management plan.
3) Conflict of interests. Mostly due to the totally different level of awareness and informedness, not in the favour of the local level. Dissatisfaction and protest is intensified by the feeling that “the state does not give us anything, only demands from us”.
Problems related to the public participation: lack of know-how and experience;
shortage of both financial and human resources;
low awareness level of the population and weak interest towards environmental issues.
Recommendations1) Better communication between sub-basin water management plan coordinators
2) Communication strategies and practical action plans for the involvement of the public should be devised at the ministerial and agency levels.