Participation, environment and sustainable development

1. Participation, environment and sustainable development Ludwig Krämer Montenegro, 15-02-2006 All opinions expressed are entirely my own and do not express the opinion of PLAC or of the European Commission

2. What is participation? • Many decisions in the area of the environment have a strong local importance: the building of a motorway, construction of a power plant, air or water pollution, waste handling. • In a democratic society, decisions should be made with the agreement of those who are affected by the decisions • Everywhere, the protection of the environment has been given to public administration; Parliaments often do not decide on local issues; they do not know local issues. • The administration is not the owner of the environment. The environment belongs to you and me, to everybody (including to our children and grandchildren). • The environment cannot talk. But citizens can. Therefore, administrations must let participate citizens in decisions.

3. What does participation require? 1. The citizens must have the same information on projects as the administration: studies, consequences, alternatives, costs. 2. This means access to information on the environment, transparency of discussions, information on application, on influence by interested groups etc. 3. This means public discussions, where journalists, doctors, teachers, mothers, all obtain objective information, and where also the interests of minorities – children, elderly people, the sick, the future generations, the environment – are brought into the discussion. 4. This means that citizens must also take responsibilities: “if you fight (for a better environment) you may lose; if you do not fight, you already lost”

4. EC developments • Strongly in favour of transparency, participation, information: in favour of open society. • Legislation on participation in decision-making on the environment, because the environment cannot talk: impact assessment for projects, plans and programmes • The practice is still very often different • The more transparent decisions are, the better it is for citizens, for administrations, for the environment • It is not desirable to turn the environment into a museum, but to find the right balance between economic and social development and environmental protection • The EC cannot protect the Montenegro environment without or against the citizens of Montenegro

5. Sustainable development • Sustainable development attempts to make sure that you can have economic (and social) development without destroying the environment. • Practice in the EC tries to promote economic (and social) development while ignoring the environment (the so-called Lisbon process) • The environment cannot talk; therefore, very often it is not present in discussions. For the moment, economic considerations play a predominant role in Bruxelles. • Evidence proves that countries with a strong environmental policy – Sweden, Denmark, Austria, Netherlands – do at least as well in economic terms than other countries. • Thus environmental protection is not a(n economic disadvantage.

6. Montenegro and sustainable development • Montenegro is in a situation, where (a) it tries to develop economically, in particular by attracting investments (b) it tries to create jobs and increase income of the persons (c) it tries to preserve its natural environment • (a) and (b) is shared with all 25 EU Member States, with all Balkan States and with all States that border the Mediterranean • (c): the Montenegro environment is unique in its present form. It is a long-term advantage. When you destroy it now (by actions under (a) or (b)), you have no advantage with regard to other countries

7. Montenegro and sustainable development: consequences 1. Try to attract investment, without impairing the Montenegro environment 2. Avoid infrastructures which destroy nature (Tara dam) 3. Invest in new technologies which are environmentally sound (alternative energies, clean technologies) 4. Think of the young: if Montenegro is not attractive any more, they will go away 5. Do not forget: there is one Montenegro environment. Once it is destroyed, it will not come back. 6. The Via Appia in Italy was built 2.300 years ago. You still see it today: thus, any motorway which you build today, will have consequences for the future.