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.