Chapter 4: Lithuania
(continued)
4.2 Methodology
Sources of Information Used in the Survey
The information contained within this country report is based on formal interviews with 40 industrial companies, 12 municipal and state institutions and 39 environmental technology providers. Interviews were based on the standard questionnaire (see Appendixes) adopted for the entire survey. The list of environmental technology providers was compiled using the Lithuanian Ministry of Industry and Trade 1996 catalog, /113/ Environmental Services of Lithuanian Enterprises and Organizations. Additional information sources included a desk study of the available literature and publications on the environmental market in Lithuania and informal interviews.
A few sources of information are referenced throughout the text, with numbers (e.g./15/) referring to the list included at the end of this country chapter (Sections 4.9, 4.10, 4.11).
Profile of Respondents
Senior representatives of 91 organizations were interviewed for the survey. The following criteria were used in selecting parties for interviews:
- coverage of all environmental fields of activity (air, waste, water, etc.);
- representative sample in terms of geographic distribution;
- balance between technology producers, suppliers and environmental service providers;
- major environmental technology R&D centers and universities;
- coverage of all industrial areas in the main cities;
- coverage of all related municipal and state institutions in the main cities.
A complete list of interviewed experts and a list of other information sources used is included in sections 4.9, 4.10, 4.11.
Problems Encountered
In general, there were no serious problems encountered in collecting information for the questionnaire survey. In the majority of cases, companies preferred direct contact instead of telephone conversations and detailed interviews were carried out in person. The most effective means of cooperation was to fax the questionnaire prior to visiting, then a discussion of all questions and problems during the meeting.
State institutions willingly disclosed information, although industrial respondents were hesitant to discuss environmental problems for fear of being "punished." The reaction was minimized by follow-up visits and explanations.
It is important to mention that several companies refused to disclose commercial information about current projects, preferring to supply information only on those projects that had been completed.
Responses were muted when interviewers asked about turnover. Respondents were reluctant to disclose information, even describing such questions as "indecent."
Among the significant obstacles to collecting additional information for the survey, the great number of institutions and even departments within the same institution collecting the relevant data proved time consuming to identify. With regard to environmental reporting and statistics, the following problems were identified:
- Information on environmental expenditure is collected by the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of the Economy, and the Department of Statistics to the Government of the Republic of Lithuania (hereafter the Department of Statistics). All these bodies share different goals and needs, and such information is not collected systematically. Data from different sources is difficult to analyze and compare and is often inconsistent. Even information on environmental expenditure within the same institution is not collected in a systematic way.
- The information available on different sectors varies. Sectors that traditionally give more attention to environmental policies are better represented than others. More appropriate information, for example, is available on the water protection sector.
- Sometimes it is difficult to avoid duplication when relying upon different sources detailing environmental expenditures, for example distinguishing between state budget and municipal budgets. This problem is related to the way in which the state budget allocations are disbursed.
- Older methods of environmental data collection are used.
REC * PUBLICATIONS * ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY MARKET - BALTICS * LITHUANIA
