REGIONAL WORKSHOP ON CAPACITY-BUILDING IN GOVERNANCE AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT Thessaloniki, July 2002

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1 REGIONAL WORKSHOP ON CAPACITY-BUILDING IN GOVERNANCE AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT Thessaloniki, July 2002 COUNTRY REPORT - SLOVAKIA Developments in the Slovak Republic in the transition period paralleled to a large extent to international efforts for environmental protection and sustainable development. Following independence in 1993 the Constitution of the Slovak Republic proclaimed also the right of every citizen to a favourable environment. To create conditions to transform this right to reality is a task facing the state and civil society alike. The country struggles with serious environmental damage inherited from the former communist system with its overriding goal of industrial development. As a result, 55% of the Slovak population lives in areas with a disrupted environment, including 41% in highly to extremely environmentally disrupted areas. The deteriorating condition of the environment manifests itself in lower life expectancy as compared with countries of the EU, increased disease rates and widespread incidence of allergy. Pollution and contaminants also threaten the genetic reserves of important wild plant and animal species, the balance of ecosystems and the preservation of the country s cultural heritage. The social and economic losses caused by the deterioration of the environment and their associated costs to the citizen are critical. The Ministry of the Environment of the Slovak Republic has published the complete Agenda 21 and indicators of sustainable development already in 1996 as the first country among countries in transition. Other activities have been carried out by the two nation-wide umbrella municipal organisations, Union of Cities and Villages and Association of Cities and Villages of Slovakia, that have published Local Agenda 21 for municipalities. Several Slovak cities have taken part in the World Health Organisation s programme titled Association of Healthy Cities. The UNDP Small Grants Programme has boosted Local Agenda 21 development in some of the municipalities throughout the country. As an example of successful LA21 application the village of Dunajska Luzna can be mentioned, city of Kezmarok, Bratislava city district Ruzinov and Parna and Torysa regions. The Government has expressed its commitment to foster sustainable development in the Slovak Republic and has adopted a number of important cross-sectoral documents pertaining to sustainable development. The Strategy of De-centralisation and Modernisation of Public Administration (2000) is the most important one. The government has also adopted several crosssectoral policy documents on regional development, e.g. the Integrated Plan of Regional and Social Development of the Slovak Republic, the National Development Strategy (1999), the Plan of Rural Development of the Slovak Republic for implementation of the SAPARD Programme (1999), the National Plan of Regional Development (2001) and the Strategy of Territorial Development of Slovakia 2001 (2001). Very important document supporting the implementation of principles of sustainable development in the Slovak Republic is also the National Programme for implementation of acquis communautaire which outlines the programme strategy of the Slovak Republic up to 2002 from the viewpoint of the future membership of the Slovak Republic

2 in European Union. Furthermore, a number of sectoral development documents, elaborated mainly during the last two years, include the orientation towards sustainable development as their objectives or even priorities (e.g. Energy Policy of the Slovak Republic, Conception of Development of University Education for the 21st Century). In 1999 the Government established the Council of the Government of the Slovak Republic for Sustainable Development to co-ordinate and enforce sustainable development in the Slovak Republic. It operates as an advisory and co-ordinating body in the area of application of Agenda 21, sustainable development principles and monitoring of the sustainable development indicators at the national level. The Council involves all relevant ministers, representatives of regional authorities, research and educational institutions, trade unions and non-governmental organisations. The Council is chaired by the Vice-Prime Minister for Human Rights, Minorities and Regional Development. The Government of the Slovak Republic has also expressed its intention to implement Agenda 21 as a commitment towards the World Summit on Sustainable Development to be held in August - September 2002 in Johannesburg. Principles of sustainable development have been successfully applied in a number of villages, towns and enterprises. Examples of important municipal level activities organised in collaboration with civil society organisations include the Programme of Village Rehabilitation (which has been implemented since 1997 under the responsibility of the Ministry of the Environment). Other examples are projects supported by the Ekopolis Foundation, Civil Society Development Foundation, the Open Society Foundation and the Small Grant Programme for Sustainable Development carried out within the framework of the UNDP project Building Capacities for Sustainable Development. The Rural Parliament has been established and a number of foundations and community associations actively operate in many Slovak towns and cities. The membership of the Slovak Republic in the UN Commission for Sustainable Development and in the UNEP Governing Council are important achievements at the international level. The Aalborg Charter of Sustainable Development of Cities, which was signed by Banská Bystrica, Košice and Poprad, can also be mentioned. The WHO Healthy City Programme also supports application of sustainable development at the community level and includes 13 member cities of the National Network of Healthy Cities. The city Rajec successfully participates in the framework of the programme Brundtland City and Spišská Nová Ves and Púchov participate in the Sustainable Cities programme. A number of Slovak non-governmental organisations take part in international structures. The national branch of Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth are active in Slovakia, Slovak non-governmental organisations are represented in umbrella organisations, e.g. European EcoForum, ANPED Alliance of Northern People for Sustainability, INforSE International Network for Sustainable Energy or ISDRN International Sustainable Development Research Network. UNDP has played a crucial role in promoting sustainable development in Slovakia providing methodological and financial assistance. Ministry of the Environment is a key player in

3 sustainable development in Slovakia. Also various on-governmental organisations and professional associations were the main driving force in implementing sustainable development activities on local level and building capacities of municipalities. National Sustainable Development Strategy Initial work on the Slovak Republic s National Strategy of Sustainable Development began in March 1999 with the successfully completion of the document Vision of Sustainable Development of the Slovak Republic. A 29 member Steering Commission coordinated the preparation of the National Strategy of Sustainable Development. This structure reflected the application of a bottom-up approach and principles of participation and transparency. Activities of the Steering Commission resulted in the involvement of representatives from all major groups of society during the preparation of the National Strategy of Sustainable Development. The preparation process involved numerous expert organizations from various sectors, such as government institutions (e.g. Research Institute of Water Management, Slovak Agency of the Environment, Forestry Research Institute, Slovak Hydro-meteorological Institute, Geological Service), academic institutions (e.g. Slovak Academy of Science, Comenius University, Technical University, Slovak Agricultural University), trade unions (Confederation of Trade Unions), business and industry (Association of Employer Unions of Slovakia, Slovak Chamber of Commerce and Industry), municipal associations (Association of Municipalities of Slovakia, Union of Municipalities of Slovakia), and non-governmental organizations/civic associations (Society of Sustainable Life, National Trust of Slovakia, Ekopolis, People and Water, ETP, M.E.S.A. 10, etc.). A database of more than 200 experts from various areas was created. Utilizing this resource, 6 chief managers and 45-member group of experts were selected and tasked with the preparation of the National Strategy of Sustainable Development. The full text of the National Strategy of Sustainable Development was posted on the Internet, and it was also distributed to regional and district authorities, which enabled the citizens to deliver their comments directly to these bodies. Public hearings that focused on the presentation of and discussion about the National Strategy of Sustainable Development were organized in three cities Bratislava, Banská Bystrica, and Košice. More than 90 citizens attended these hearings, and they submitted several dozen comments. An international conference Sustainable Development Challenge of a New Millennium was held on November 2000 and the National Strategy of Sustainable Development was presented at this time. On June 2001, the National Strategy of Sustainable Development was submitted to the Council of Government for Sustainable Development and to the Slovak Republic s Government. Government of the Slovak Republic accepted the strategy on 10 October 2001 and on 3 April 2002, it was accepted by the Parliament of the Slovak Republic. National Strategy of Sustainable Development was prepared in the frame of Capacity Building for Sustainable Development in the Slovak Republic project supported by UNDP Regional Support Centre in Bratislava, guaranteed by Ministry of the Environment and implemented by REC Slovakia.

4 Until recently, there had been no institutionalised co-ordination and consultation mechanism, that would reach horizontally and vertically across the various sectors and levels of administration and the society. A Report on the application of Agenda 21 in Slovakia (Slovakia Country Profile: Implementation of Agenda 21) is submitted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the United Nations each year. The preparation of this report is co-ordinated by the Ministry of the Environment and involves all other relevant Ministries and central administration bodies. Main problems according to Slovak National Strategy for Sustainable Development include: unfavourable situation within the society low level of moral and legal awareness (persisting deformations from the totalitarian era), wrong hierarchy of values and priorities expansion of consumer way of life and preferring material values over spiritual ones, unpreparedness and in particular lack of citizens willingness to carry out fundamental change increased uncertainty accompanied by increased requirements to share responsibility for personal life and fate and for the fate of the whole society is perceived negatively by large part of the Slovak inhabitants, insufficient transparency of decision-making in public administration, persisting corruption and clientism, persisting perception of public administration as a tool of power and not as a tool serving the citizens, persisting sectoral approach and short-term planning of development without respecting the long-term, permanent priorities of the society, overall slowness and low efficiency of reforms which are not perceived positively by citizens and society (sceptical and negative attitudes to development and results achieved during last decade are persisting), deterioration of quality of life of several citizen groups in particular families with small children, long-term unemployed, incomplete families, pensioners, overall low efficiency and inappropriate structure of economy typical for industrial society, major emphasis focused on development and modernisation of industry (while prioritising traditional industries: metallurgy, nuclear energy, machinery, chemical industry, etc.), attempts to save ineffective large enterprises, conservation of traditional agriculture, prioritising banking and financial sectors, insufficient resources for funding and development of other non-productive sectors (social sector, culture, education and science, health service, environment), insufficient representation of perspective sectors based on up-to-date technologies and effective use of labour and resources, insufficient support to development of information society structures, high energy consumption of the economy and low utilisation of renewable energy resources, persisting groundwater pollution, soil and substratum contamination, adverse health state of forests. Pursuant to National Sustainable Development Strategy the basic orientation of the Slovak Republic should be a long-term, intentional and comprehensive direction to creation of a society

5 based on principles of sustainable development and their practical application. To achieve this orientation it is necessary in all areas to respect principles of sustainable development and to meet the following priorities (integrated objectives) of sustainable development of the Slovak Republic: supporting and conserving the cultural and historical continuity and values of a country and society rehabilitation and maintenance of historical structures, settlement identity and forms of settlement in accordance with the natural environment, achieving and conserving the high quality of working conditions, conditions for living and recreation, supporting and developing culture and education, achieving higher quality of human and social resources building a healthy and meaningful society (state, region, municipality, community, family, citizen), meeting the social, cultural and spiritual needs, ensuring the growing quality of life for both the current and future generations (high living standard achieved in accordance with cultural, historical and natural environment), building a new model of economy (long-term operating, open, effective and fair) based on integrated utilisation of potential of the society and country and principles of an information society which creates a sufficient employment, develops human potential, saves the nature and natural resources, achieving a long-term high quality of the nature and landscape, protection of vitality, diversity and autoregulatory capacities of the landscape and all its components, effective use of natural resources, conservation of healthy and beautiful environment, while meeting the social and economic needs of a man and the whole society, creation of proper institutional conditions (planning, legal instruments and standards, economic and other tools), ensuring and controlling their application in order to increase quality of life of a man, development of the society, economy and maintenance of quality of the environment, forming the Slovak Republic as a country positively affecting the international direction towards sustainability that will be prepared to adequately share global responsibility for development of the world community, achievement of a balanced regional development of the Slovak Republic based on application of decentralisation of public administration and institute of interregional solidarity (preferred development of backward regions). The lessons learned from the pilot sustainable development activities emphasise the importance of partnership, local ownership and good professional relations as well as interpersonal ones. Furthermore it is also important to base the sustainable development activities on existing structures of regional and sectoral planning, regional and sectoral operational plans and to involve key local stakeholders in the process. The sustainable development activities on regional level (Regional Agenda 21 - RA 21) are crucial for future regional strategic development and planning activities. It is important to ensure the acceptance of RA 21 by the regional parliament as a binding document and also by the Governmental Council for Sustainable Development. The experience from Torysa region, where a RA21 was prepared with the support of the UNDP Small Grants Programme, has shown the importance of local ownership and participation. In Stredne Pohronie region the RA21 was prepared by external experts accompanied by limited participation

6 of local people, which made the process less sustainable. However, at the same time the RA21 in Torysa region does not identify the advanced features of the region, e.g. the landscape potential, as is the case for the Stredne Pohronie region. A certain combination of both these approaches seems to be the most suitable solution for such complex Agenda 21 projects at the regional level in Slovakia.