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Central and Eastern Europe offers practical solutions for sustainable development to world’s regions in transition |
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(Johannesburg, South Africa, August 26, 2002)
At the first side event of the World Summit on Sustainable
Development (WSSD) the Regional Environmental
Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC) shared successful experiences in
using participatory democracy and good governance to implement sustainable
development, and suggested measures to achieve them. Creating Institutions
of a new type, using internationally binding agreements to improve good
governance, and accepting good governance as an essential human right were
among REC’s tips.
Good governance and public participation are essential preconditions to achieve sustainable development. This is a main lesson from REC’s 10 years of operation in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) – a region that underwent a difficult social, political and economic transition from totalitarian dictatorship to democracy. The many challenges that were successfully faced during the decade of transition were a rich source of lessons that the REC can contribute to the development of other countries and regions in transition, or in the process of democratisation. “We are convinced that the way in which we made our contribution in the CEE region could also work elsewhere in the world,” said Alexander Juras , the Deputy Executive Director of the REC. The REC will support any similar initiative, Juras added. Juras spoke at a side event entitled “Participatory democracy and good governance as fundamental tools for a human rights approach to sustainable development”. The event took place on August 26, 2002 – the first day of the official programme of the WSSD. The Council of Europe (North-South Center), the REC, and the United Nations Economic Commission For Europe (UNECE) were the organisers of the event. “Here in Johannesburg the question how to make sustainable development possible is intensely debated. However, if those who were responsible for the unsustainable development of the past will be in charge of sustainable development for the future, it is doubtful whether much will be achieved. We believe that the REC could serve as a model on how to accelerate the process of introducing more sustainable development patterns in other regions of the world”, Alexander Juras said. According to the REC there must be a binding commitment to introduce good governance for sustainable development, including:
New and independent institutions are needed to assist in developing and implementing the new tools of good governance and public participation, REC’s experience shows. Governments and related agencies often have difficulty in introducing or implementing these principles. According to Juras, such new institutions should
That multilateral environmental agreements can be catalysts in introducing good governance is another major conclusion of the REC, illustrated by the example of the Aarhus convention adopted in 1998. The signatory countries and parties have agreed in a binding legal instrument to support public participation, access to information and access to justice in environmental matters. This has had a tremendous impact in Central and Eastern Europe because the convention obliges officials and/or government institutions to develop specific legal and institutional frameworks and to adhere to particular principles. More importantly, the rights of the public, including NGOs, are protected through legal guarantees and procedures, ensuring that the public is involved in and can have a substantial impact on significant decision-making processes. Similar mechanisms are under discussion in other parts of the world. If these take local conditions into account, they could have a similar positive effect as in Europe and in CEE, Juras said. REC’s experience proves that good governance to achieve sustainable development has to be regarded as a fundamental right of all people. Only if it is possible for people to influence decisions about their future will sustainable development be possible. Failure of governments to apply principles of good governance will perpetuate the current unsustainable approach. This is a hard lesson for governments to learn, but the new era and challenges facing our world need innovative approaches, Juras emphasised. The Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe was founded by governments as an independent international organisation in 1990 in response to the disastrous environmental situation in the region, with the understanding that solutions to environmental problems and democratisation have to go hand in hand. So far, 27 governments have signed the REC charter. What started as an experiment has developed into a new type of organisation, able to support sustainable development where governments and other traditional institutions often have difficulties. Other regions of the world have expressed an interest in the REC model. For further information contact: Pavel Antonov |
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Johannesburg issue of the Bulletin
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