Enhancing Access to Information and Public

Participationin Environmental Decision-making

UNDP-GEF Danube Regional Project Component 3.4

Magda Toth Nagy, Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe

on behalf of Jane Bloom Stewart/Ernestine Meijer, New York UniversityRuth Greenspan Bell, Resources for the Future

Reinforce Public Participation Provisions of WFD, other EU Directives and

Aarhus Convention

The purpose: • Assist officials /water managers in the Danube Basin to

achieve the challenging requirements of the WFD and the Aarhus Convention

• Strengthen access to information and public participation to address priority sources of water pollution in the Danube River Basin (“hot spots”)

Where and when?• Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania, Serbia

& Montenegro (Sept.04 – Dec.06)

How?• Capacity building for

officials tasked to implement WFD requirements

• Targeted technical assistance

• Legal, policy & practical measures

• Field-test approaches at hot spot locations

• Develop country-specific solutions, but share experience regionally

• Harmonized approach• Joint capacity building

Activities• Series of national consultations • Needs Assessments prepared, reviewed• National workshops conducted in 5 countries

• Discussed and agreed on country needs, priorities• Agreed on proposed country activities and

demonstration sites

• Country activity plans developed and implemented• Study Tours for Officials and NGOs to US and the

Netherlands (June, November 2006) to learn from experience of mature systems

Activities

• Regional workshops • To address barriers and problems common to all five countries and define future joint activities• To build capacity to assist with implementation of WFD• To give possibility to participants to share experience and learn from the experience of EU and other countries

• Demonstration projects implemented by NGOs in cooperation with municipalities and agencies

• At 5 selected water pollution hotspot locations• Test ideas at local level regarding public access to water related information and public participation in decision making

• Reports concerning access to information and public participation improvements for ICPDR

• Dissemination of project results, models, lessons learned • in 5 countries • in other Danube River Basin countries• Basin wide dissemination workshop (Oct. 2006)

Anticipated Results/Deliverables

• Identified priorities and gaps • Measures developed to address

them in participatory process• Improved capacity built at national

and local level leading to improvements

• Successful good practice in pilot projects

• Practical country-specific products developed and disseminated (guidance materials, methodologies, manuals, etc.)

Main Objective of Communications Strategy

• To support capacity building and change in mentality for Danube government officials and NGOs

• To ensure wide dissemination of lessons learned in the project

• To enable communications between officials and NGOs in each country and between the five countries

How Communications Strategy Is Developed

Target audience and objectives:• Primary target audience - Actors of the project

– Officials at national and regional agency level (ministries, water directorates, environmental agencies)

– NGOs at regional and national level involved in Danube issues• Secondary target audience - Actors of the project

– Authorities and NGOs at local & hotspot levelObjective for primary and secondary audiences: to involve them in the

project activities and assist them to fulfill their tasks• Tertiary target audience - who can learn from the project

– Officials and NGOs at Danube basin level Objective for tertiary audience: to reach out and disseminate information

to them, share experience/results

How Communications Strategy Is Developed

• Involvement of target audience and others in developing communications strategy

• Identification of target audience, key messages, methods, products and activities at all levels of project activities

– Implementing consortium develops overall project level communications strategy

– Country teams develop national level communication steps– Pilot demonstration project teams develop local level communications steps– DRP expert assists in development of Strategy in all three levels

• Products we will share:– Guidance materials, regulations & recommendations– Manuals and citizen brochures– Training and capacity building workshops/materials– Results of demonstration projects resulting in better access to information and

public involvement at local, hotspot level

How Communications Strategy Is Developed

Tools to be used• Electronic and print media (articles and regular columns)• Web sites at regional, national and local level, links to

ICPDR/DRP• E-mail lists (project participants) and electronic networks• Aarhus clearinghouse, Aarhus and IW community • Local, national, regional and international workshops

Impact of the communications activities will be measured by feedback from different target audiences

Most Significant Results So Far

• Understanding the need to develop a Communications Strategy

• Support from DRP communications expert • Discussions with and capacity building for

project partners at regional, national and local level (regional workshop, direct contacts)

• Designing Communications Strategy

Challenges We Face• Limited skills and capacities to develop and

implement a communications strategy at country and local levels

• How best to make results of the project appealing and understandable

• Public disinterest (competing information and priorities)

• Competing workload demands of participating officials and NGOs

Some Significant Lessons Learned

• Capacity building and expert assistance is needed for the project teams

• Communication is needed in English and in local languages

• Planning should be built into the project preparation phase

• Network of communications experts created and prepared to support work at national and local languages

Our thanks to the UNDP/GEF Danube Regional Project for their

support and trust