Bridging Partners Regions and Concepts ECENA September 2007

Bridging Partners, Regions, and Concepts… ECENA September 2007 Marta Szigeti Bonifert Executive Director

Bridging Stakeholders • The REC is an international organisation with a mission to assist in solving environmental problems…… • The REC is legally based on a charter signed by the governments of 29 countries and the European Commission • Multi-stakeholder International Board • 190 staff (some 30 nationalities) • 100% project based organization (over 300 running projects) • 10 million Euro annual turnover • Offices in 17 countries • Population served ~ 200 million • Operations beyond Central and Eastern Europe www. rec. org

Board of Directors Corrado Clini - Chairman of the Board Director General Ministry for the Environment Land Sea, Italy Nadya Boneva Director Prome Consulting, Bulgaria Ferruh Ertürk Professor, Yildiz University, Turkey Tom Harvey Global Environment & Technology Foundation, Founder and Chairman of the Board, USA Jon Opem Senior Advisor Ministry of the Environment, Norway Adriaan Oudeman Coordinator Ministry of Housing Spatial Planning and Environment, Netherlands Istvan Pomazi Chief Advisor Ministry of Environment and Water, Hungary Claude Rouam Head of Unit European Commission Yukio Yanagisawa Professor of Environment Systems University of Tokyo, Japan www. rec. org

REC: expansion of the beneficiary region • 1990 – Hungary • 1991 – Bulgaria, • • • Czechoslovakia, Poland, Romania, Yugoslavia 1992 – Albania 1995 – Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania 2003 – Turkey www. rec. org

REC: access to different frames • New EU Members • Accession • Countries Pre-Accession Countries/ Stabilization and Association Programs www. rec. org

Implementation – “ REC a think- and do-tank” • REC carried out more than 3500 projects since 1990… – with the support of the country and field office network – with programmes, topic areas and funds • TAs were introduced in 2004 as a tool to better organise and manage the existing expertise and knowledge within the network • The topic areas are managed by REC experts based in different countries • This development is a direct result of the continuous efforts over the last years to strengthen the synergies within the organisation, to build on the accumulated experience and knowledge and fully use the available in-house expertise www. rec. org

Bridging – Across Borders Sustainability, Climate Change SEA Government Grants, training programmes NGOs Improvement of energy efficiency The REC Local Governments Environmental Financing, LEAPs Business Citizens Awareness Raising, Green Pack www. rec. org

Partnerships • EEA – Several topic centers of the European Environment Agency • EC - Environmental Experts Group on Structural Funds (DG Env. ) • OECD - EAP Task Force, Development Assistance Committee Working • • • G. on SEA UNDP - Danube and Black Sea Task Force UNEP - Finance Initiative Task Force, Joint work on the Carpathians Convention, Partnership for Clean Fuels and Vehicles CSD – Commission on Sustainable Development UNECE - Cooperation with UNECE on the implementation of the Aarhus Convention, the Espoo Convention, the International Water Convention, the International Accidents Convention and related protocols ICPDR - International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River MEDREP – Mediterranean Renewable Energy Programme Initiative E 3 G, HBLF, VIU, CEU, Agroinnova, ICLEI, IUCN, EPE, AMCHAM TOYOTA, JIBIC, Philips, GE, ITDH, USAID EECCA RECs www. rec. org

Donor Contributions 1990 -2005 www. rec. org

Donors • RECENT DONORS: • European Commission • The governments of Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States • Other inter-governmental and private institutions THE TOTAL CONTRIBUTION OF DONORS GIVEN TO CEE THROUGH THE REC EXCEEDED 100 MILLION EUROS! www. rec. org

REC – Transfer of Lessons Learned www. rec. org

The REC bridges – donors and beneficiaries • The REC serves as a unique mechanism for implementing political decisions • • • NGO Support Strategic Environmental Assessments Implementation of the Aarhus Convention Public Transport Biodiversity Projects Education for Sustainable Development Renewable/Sustainable Energy Climate Change Legal support – EU harmonisation … www. rec. org

Main directions of work following the strategy 2006 -2010 • Strengthening institutions • • • Sustainable development strategies and plans LEAP Development and implementation Environmental law, national, EU and international Environmental financing Environmental enforcement and compliance • Capacity building of stakeholders and assisting partnerships • • • Education for sustainable development Capacity building NGO financing Providing environmental information Assisting the practical implementation of the Aarhus Convention www. rec. org

Main directions of work following the strategy 2006 -2010 • Sustainable management and use of natural resources • • • Biodiversity, agriculture and rural development Water management Resource and waste management Environment and security Sustainable enterprise • Sectoral integration • • Environmental assessment Climate change and sustainable energy Sustainable transport Health and environment www. rec. org

Major environmental Initiative under the Stability Pact for SEE – “RERe. P” • Regional Environmental Reconstruction Programme for South Eastern Europe • Launched in 2000 in the frame of Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe • Task Force comprising of ministers of Environment, EC, donors and NGOs guides its implementation • Since the very beginning the REC plays a role of Secretariat of RERe. P www. rec. org

Major environmental Initiative under the Stability Pact for SEE – “RERe. P” • Since launch of RERe. P growing efforts for • strengthening environmental institutions, policy reform and civil society building • transfer of best practices, exchange of experience, established networks • Increasing • number of cross-border agreements and initiatives • mutual trust and long-term horizon for European integration • political support from the countries • A great need for further environmental assistance www. rec. org

Donor contribution to RERe. P projects www. rec. org

ECENA • ECENA (former BERCEN) is one of success stories of SEE • Became a successful mechanism for regional cooperation in improving implementation and enforcement of EU legislation • Supports environmental agencies and inspectorates to address current challenges in improving their capacities and the exchange of experience and best practices www. rec. org

ECENA MAP • ECENA Multi-Annual work Programme 20072010 • Summarizes the ECENA priorities and activities for the given period • Developed taking into consideration the EU accession priorities of the potential candidate and pre-candidate countries • Builds upon the achievements of the previous BERCEN/ECENA MAP 2003 -2006, as well www. rec. org

ECENA MAP • We hope that • the ECENA MAP will be regarded as an evolving document, subject to change as new priorities arise for which additional funding is obtained • different financial arrangements ( CARDS and PHARE) will not slow down the implementation of the programme • We are convinced that • Commitment of the beneficiaries to work together on the MAP implementation is strong The REC is proud to work as secretariat and implementing agency with high commitment to achieve concrete and measurable results with visible impact in the region www. rec. org

Sustainable Development: An Issue of Carrying Capacity If we go on with current production and consumption patterns, Two planets needed by 2050 ~ 2 b i ill on 1900 on i ill 2002 ~ b 9 2050 2100 Based on "Beyond the Limits", D. H. Meadows, D. L. Meadows, and J. Randers 1992; Chelsea Green Publishing, White River Junction VT. www. rec. org

www. rec. org

Thank you for your attention!