Memorandum by Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and Development
The OECD/EAP Task Force Secretariat was asked
by the Committee on European Communities of the House of Lords
(UK) to provide its views on the environmental aspects of the
European Union TACIS programme. TACIS provides technical assistance
to the New Independent States of the former Soviet Union. This
memorandum has been prepared on the basis of experience of the
Secretariat in co-operating with several TACIS environmental projects
and NIS representatives active in the EAP Task Force. The views
expressed in the memorandum, however, may not reflect those of
the OECD, EAP Task Force or the members of these bodies.
BACKGROUND
EAP Task Force and its Secretariat at the OECD
OECD work on environment in the NIS is carried
out through the Secretariat of the Task Force for the implementation
of the Environmental Action Programme (EAP) for Central Eastern
Europe (CEE). The Task Force was established by Environment Ministers
from the European region, USA and Canada at the "Environment
for Europe" Conference in Lucerne in 1993 as an ad hoc body
comprising CEE countries and the New Independent States of the
former Soviet Union (NIS)[3]
and Western governments, International Financing Institutions
(IFIs) and international organisations. In Task Force work, representatives
of Environmental Citizens Organisations (ECOs), Parliaments, Trade
Unions and industry participate as partners. The main goal of
the EAP Task Force has been to assist CEE/NIS countries in environmental
improvement through building effective policy and institutional
frameworks. The Task Force Secretariat is located in the Non-Member
Countries Branch of OECD's Environment Directorate.
The Environmental Action Programme provides
a methodology for transition countries to identify economically
efficient and environmentally effective solutions to their specific
environmental problems. Countries participating in the EAP Task
Force agreed to implement the EAP principles at the country level
through the development of National Environmental Action Plans
(NEAPs). The Task Force work focuses on three main areas:
— the development and implementation
of NEAPs;
— environmental financing; and
— environmental management in enterprises.
Project Preparation Committee (PPC)
At the Lucerne Conference, the Ministers have
also established the PPC, a sister-organisation of the EAP Task
Force, to facilitate external environmental investments. The PPC
functions as a network of donors and IFIs. The secretariat is
based at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
(EBRD).
Environmental Conditions and Policy Framework
in the NIS
After several years of transition, environmental
conditions in the NIS continue to be very difficult. Following
major declines in output, the level of pollution went down. most
countries are now slowly returning to the path of economic growth,
but there has not been strong evidence of de-coupling of pollution
and growth levels. Resource intensity of GDP remains high due
to lack of economic restructuring and technological upgrading.
At the same time problems of past pollution remain unresolved.
Lack of public financing for basic environmental services brought
some of them, such as water treatment, to the edge of collapse
in several NIS. There are a number of emerging problems caused
by changes of consumption patterns, including household waste
generation and pollution from transport. There are some recent
reports, such as Europe's Environmental Assessment "Dobris+3"
prepared by the European Environmental Agency and the World Bank
analysis of the environmental situation in the NIS prepared for
the "Environment for Europe" Ministerial Conference,
in June 1998 in Denmark, which present a more detailed analysis
of the state of the environment in the NIS.
The slow pace of economic, political and social
reforms hindered improvement of environmental conditions in the
NIS. Lack of demand for environmental improvements, weak policy
and regulatory frameworks and inadequate institutional capacity
to deal with environmental problems, have been identified as major
stumbling blocks for further progress. In order to strengthen
environmental policy frameworks, several New Independent States
have developed National Environmental Action Programmes which
are designed to help national environmental authorities to tackle
urgent environmental problems and to ensure the development of
long-term environmental strategies aiming at sustainable development.
Following a request by Ministers at the third "Environment
for Europe" Conference in Sofia in 1995, the EAP Task Force
prepared reports evaluating progress made by CEEC and NIS in the
areas of NEAPs, environmental financing and environmental management
in enterprises. These assessment reports will be presented at
the ministerial conference in Denmark. For more detailed evaluation
please refer to the documents provided separately.
TACIS ENVIRONMENTAL
ASSISTANCE TO
THE NIS
Efficient and well co-ordinated assistance of
the donor countries and the IFIs is needed to help the NIS to
address past and emerging environmental problems. TACIS, as a
special instrument designed to provide technical assistance to
the NIS, has played an important role in this respect. Over the
last five years, the OECD/Task Force Secretariat has been involved
to a different degree in a number of TACIS projects on environment,
including the following:
— Development of Common Environmental
Policies.
— Raising Environmental Awareness.
— Establishment of the new regional
environmental centres.
— Project preparation capacity building
in Ukraine.
— Promotion of Cleaner Production in
the NIS.
Based on this experience, and mainly on comments
by the NIS countries active in the Task Force, the OECD/EAP Task
Force Secretariat would like to make the following comments on
TACIS activities in the field of environmental protection, which
cover several points of the questionnaire. Numbering follows the
original questions.
1. Environmental problems in the NIS
As mentioned above fundamental obstacles for
environmental improvements in the NIS include weak policy framework
and institutional capacity of environmental authorities. At the
same time economic hardship and difficult process of building
civic societies led to low political and public demand for environmental
improvements. The slow pace of economic, political and social
reforms in the NIS and very limited (in some NIS virtually zero)
financial resources for environmental investments, serious impediments.
Foreign technical and financial assistance plays an important,
and sometimes key, role for promoting environmental protection
in many NIS. Weak environmental institutions and low political
priority for the environment within NIS governments have created
obstacles to the development and implementation of effective assistance
programmes. Unclear environmental priorities and cultural differences
imposed further hurdles for efficient donor-recipient communication.
2 and 5. Priorities of TACIS and emphasis on environment
in 1996 TACIS Regulations
European Union support to the NIS has operated
on the basis of demand-driven country programmes. In such programmes,
however, environment has not been among the priority areas, and
there has not been a special funding for it. Responding to such
a situation TACIS officials have argued that NIS governments have
not assigned a priority to environmental issues in their requests
for assistance. Indeed, the NIS governments are preoccupied with
problems of economic and social sectors, and often place environmental
issues low on their agenda. Nevertheless, Task Force members who
represent environmental authorities, on several occasions strongly
voiced the importance of environment protection measures for the
success of sustainable economic reforms in their countries. Recently
TACIS established the Interstate Environmental Programme for all
the NIS, together with provisions for environmental components
in country programmes for Belarus, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine.
3. Relationship of TACIS and other ODA
The EAP Task Force and the PPC have provided
fora for donors and the IFIs to co-ordinate their environmental
assistance. NIS representatives argued on several occasions that
TACIS has not always used those opportunities effectively. Recently,
TACIS has made special efforts to improve its co-operation with
other assistance programmes, particularly in supporting environmental
investments being prepared by the PPC. Examples include TACIS
grant funding for the preparation of the World Bank lending. Further
improvements are possible in terms of co-ordination of TACIS activities
with other donors. In this regard, it is important to recognise
the comparative advantages of TACIS assistance, its size (it appears
to be the largest donor programme); the opportunity to provide
grant support to countries with severe financial constraints;
the relative lack of conditionality. Technical assistance would
become even more effective when it is followed by specific and
well-focused investments supported by TACIS and other donors.
6. TACIS as a "people to people" programme
One of the main advantages of the TACIS programme
is the diverse forms of assistance it can provide to recipient
countries. This includes policy and expert advice, training seminars
and study tours, creation of documentation libraries, translation
of best practices and manuals into national languages, provisions
for equipment and others. Recipients of TACIS assistance are diverse
as well, ranging from governmental officials and Members of Parliaments
to NGOs and professional groups.
The main obstacles to effective co-operation
between TACIS and the NIS identified in the context of the Task
Force include the following:
— lack of transparency of TACIS
decision-making and management structures; lack of information
about procedures, timetables, available sources of funding
to the NIS;
— long and bureaucratic procedures
for project applications and reporting;
— poor consultation procedures
with recipient countries at an early stage of planning of priority
areas and the design of programmes;
— serious delays with project
approval and implementation to the point where projects become
outdated;
— lack of flexibility in adjusting
project implementation in light of changing circumstances;
— overemphasis on the Interstate
Environmental Programme allocations which is politically not
acceptable by all NIS; even though the size of the Programme is
significant. Some NIS would prefer to shift towards more country
or sub-regional approaches;
— "unfair" distribution
of funds between Western and local consultants.
7. Commission's organisation and resources needed
for efficient management
TACIS has been working to satisfy operational
requirements of the EC on the one hand, and to cope with unstable
and sometimes obscure institutional arrangements in the NIS on
the other hand. Lack of staff and unclear division of tasks in
some TACIS environmental projects have hindered project management.
NIS participants to the EAP Task Force have often provided the
following comments on the subject of efficient resource management
in TACIS:
— confusion within most NIS about who
is doing what in TACIS, and lack of co-ordination between
programmes, e.g., interstate v country environmental budgets;
— overlap of management and
planning of projects;
— unclear role of TACIS in-country
offices; there are no, or very few staff in the country offices
with the mandate or expertise to deal with the environment.
9. How to obtain best value from consultants and
to ensure "ownership"
Transfer of knowledge from the West to the East,
supported by TACIS projects, is an important element in effective
development assistance. Economic, social and cultural differences
between these two regions often make the application of Western
experience difficult. The NIS representatives mentioned the following
most common difficulties, and suggested several possible solutions:
— there is a perception that TACIS
tend to hire the same, usually large, consultants to implement
their projects in the NIS, so there might be a need for more
diversification depending upon the project needs;
— NIS expect more frequent contacts
with TACIS about consultants to ensure their acceptability (e.g.,
the NEAP project managed by ERM was a good example of a consultation
process where the needs of each country were assessed individually
with national experts prior to the selection of consultants);
— the largest portion of project funds
is often consumed by Western consultants, who sometimes are not
sufficiently familiar with local conditions; a better balance
could be achieved between the share of consultants' fees in
the total budgets and the funding provided for other needs,
including fees for local experts and equipment;
— TACIS has often funded short-term
consultants in the NIS; long-term in-country advisors have
been used less although evidence suggests that they may be more
effective in covering gaps in specific skills and supporting
in-country processes;
— CEE experts have a great deal
to offer NIS countries and could be included more frequently in
TACIS projects, they may often provide greater value than consultants
from EU countries.
10. Environmental NGOs in the NIS and how TACIS
helps to strengthen them
Low public and political demand for better environmental
quality is one of the main obstacles to progress in environmental
improvement in the NIS. Efforts aimed at increasing environmental
awareness and building civic societies in the NIS are urgently
needed. Assistance provided by TACIS to NGOs, Parliaments, media
groups and government officials has often been unique and appreciated
by the recipients.
— the TACIS Environmental Awareness
Raising Project is judged to have been rather successful in developing
environmental awareness: the target group has been clearly
identified (media, parliaments), some innovative methods
introduced (radio soap opera, provision of equipment for journalists);
though a final judgment would require an assessment of the cost-effectiveness
of the project;
— another example in which TACIS supported
the establishment of new regional environmental centres presents
an attempt to apply in the NIS a model from Central Europe. However,
it was difficult to secure support for a centralized, region-wide
organisation, and alternative solutions were not obvious. As a
result the process of establishment of new RECs has been slow,
accompanied by changes of consultants and considerable frustration
of participants in the process;
— under the project on Common Environmental
Policies, seminars on public participation were organized
for environmental ministries. It is too early, however, to assess
the effectiveness of these activities.
11. Lessons from PHARE which could be useful for
TACIS
At the beginning of its operations in CEE, PHARE
programme received a lot of criticism. Over time, however, the
effectiveness of the programme has improved significantly. The
strongest points of PHARE, which could become useful for TACIS,
include the following:
— clear procedures for projects
management and evaluation;
— technical assistance was closely
linked to, or followed by, investments;
— long-term capacity building by
using in-country advisors;
— institutional strengthening
(e.g., creation of Project Implementation Units in Ministries
of Environment);
The most extensive and positive example of co-operation
involving the EAP Task Force and PHARE was in the management of
the Project Preparation Facility which provides institutional
strengthening assistance to environmental funds in CEE. The EAP
Task Force had established a network of Environmental Funds managers.
Subsequent co-operation between PHARE and the Task Force Secretariat
at the priority identification, design and implementation stages
has resulted in a project which responded to CEE needs while helping
to achieve PHARE objectives.
12. The role of the European Environmental Agency
in relation to TACIS
TACIS has provided financial support to the
EEA during their work on Europe's Environment Assessment report,
particularly the work with NIS data. Nevertheless, the NIS representatives
have criticized TACIS for not providing funds for the translation
of this assessment report into the Russian language.
THE FUTURE
OUTLOOK
It is expected that over the next few years,
the EAP Task Force will re-focus its work to provide more specific
assistance to the NIS. As it is mentioned in the reports prepared
for the Ministerial Conference in Aarhus, Denmark, the NIS has
not received support from donors and the IFIs comparable with
that provided to CEE countries. There is a need for increased
resources to assist NIS in coping with their immense environmental
problems and keeping with the growing capacity of the NIS to use
such assistance effectively. However, many donors have less immediate
interest and frequently limited or no mandate to work in these
countries. Since TACIS resources are probably the single largest
source of donor support to the NIS it is essential they are used
efficiently and effectively and are well co-ordinated with the
activities of IFIs and other donors.
Krzysztof Micholak
Paris
18 June 1998
3 Belarus, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine joined the EAP
Task Force in 1993, the other NIS in 1995. Tadjikistan and Turkmenistan
have not participated in the Task Force work so far. Back
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