Balkan Vital Graphics

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BALKAN VITAL GRAPHICS

BACKGROUND

MINING

WATER

NATURE

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Adapting to international rules All the Balkan countries are now committed to the Eu- ropean integration progress, with the goal of joining the European Union. They must consequently accept the acquis communautaire and transpose it into their national legislation. One major challenge – and not just for new member states – is the Water Framework Di- rective, which introduces new rules for water manage- ment hinging on river basins. On joining Europe, a country automatically accepts the terms of all international treaties to which the EU is part. In the case of the UNECE conventions, this means that Balkan countries must comply with them even if they have not actually ratified them. Serbia, for example, complies with the Espoo Convention and the Strategic Environmental Assessment Protocol without being part to either. The same is true of the Aarhus convention. But Balkan countries would benefit by signing up to international treaties already ratified by the EU, particu- larly as doing so would strengthen their environmental policies and commitments at a national level and serve as a framework for transboundary cooperation on en- vironmental damage and hazards. The UN Convention on the Law of Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses is yet another case in point. To accept the principles underpinning international instruments protecting the environment and water resources, and to work within their framework would surely bring ben- efits, stability and security to the Balkans.

How Balkan countries go about complying with EU re- quirements in this respect depends on how successful they are in changing the national water management systems they inherited from the socialist era. This means accepting new, and in the most part very ad- vanced, approaches to water management, which in- volve active co-operation with neighbouring countries sharing a river basin. Over the last 12 years, all Balkan countries, except Serbia, have passed new water legis- lation, replacing outdated water management methods and facing up to future challenges. Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Trans- boundary Context (EIA, Espoo Convention, Espoo 1991) Convention on the Transboundary Effects of Industrial Ac- cidents (Helsinki 1992) Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (Water Convention, Helsinki 1992) Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmen- tal Matters (Aarhus Convention, Aarhus 1998) Protocol on Water and Health (London 1999) Protocol on Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA Protocol, Kiev 2003) Protocol on Civil Liability and Compensation for Damage Caused by Transboundary Effects of Industrial Accidents on Transboundary Waters (Kiev 2003) Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers (PRTR Protocol, Kiev 2003) Water-related multilateral agreements facilitated by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe

Sava Slovenia Croatia Bosnia-Herzegovina Serbia

Drina Montenegro Bosnia-Herzegovina Serbia

Maritsa Bulgaria GreeceTurkey

Kolpa Kupa Slovenia Croatia

Una Croatia Bosnia-Herzegovina

Vardar Axios Macedonia Greece

Tundzha BulgariaTurkey

Vardar Axios Macedonia Greece

Neretva Bosnia-Herzegovina Croatia

Struma Strimonas Bulgaria Greece Serbia Macedonia

Mesta Nestos Bulgaria Greece

The body of EU legislation which candidate countries must adopt to become EU members.

Vardar Axios Macedonia Greece

Drin Albania Macedonia Serbia

Arda Bulgaria Greece

Ergene Evros Turkey Greece