Global IssuesBULGARIA: Blue Danube Meanders Into Road Building
The European Union Danube Strategy (DS), unfolding this year, is proving to be a litmus test for the viability of the concept of ‘green growth’ in Eastern Europe.
Hosting a conference on the Strategy, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov made it clear he understands the DS to mean road building.
Aimed at promoting sustainable development in the Danube basin, the Strategy is being elaborated this year by the European Commission (EC) and governments of countries in which the livelihood of people is affected by the river.
Danube is Europe’s second longest river, having its origins in Germany and flowing into the Black Sea through a delta shared by Romania and the Ukraine.
The countries involved in the EU Danube Strategy are Germany, Austria, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova and the Ukraine.
The DS promotes three equally important and interlinked goals: socio-economic development, improved transportation and energy options, and environmental protection. It is thought to be one of the first real testing grounds for the concept of ‘green growth’, promoted heavily by the EU as a core element of its overall development strategy (‘Europe 2020’).
The DS will not provide countries in the Danube region with new financial instruments, but it will assist the newest EU member states to make use of available regional development funds.
The money should go to improving navigation on the Danube, coordinating regional electricity networks, flood prevention, and establishing protected natural areas among others. It should help create new jobs but also preserve jobs in sectors such as fishing and small-scale agriculture, which are under threat because of pressures from pollution on the Danube and in riparian regions.
Speaking in Ruse, Bulgaria, on May 10, European Commissioner for Regional Policy Johannes Hahn said: 'Hundred billion euro (122 billion US dollars) are available at the moment for development in the Danube basin and this money has to be made to work'.
Hahn pointed out that merely six percent of available EU funds for technical assistance for the newest member states have been handed out to beneficiaries.
The DS could provide a welcome impetus for local communities and environmental NGOs interested in biosphere preservation, organic and small-scale agriculture, or ecological and cultural tourism.
However, with half a year left before the EC finalises the strategy, some governments in Eastern Europe seem to pay only lip service to environmental goals and NGO participation.
Prime Minister Borisov, the host of the Ruse conference told participants: 'Bulgaria has only eight to nine million people and we are losing a significant number of them to road accidents because the material on the roads is older than 10-15 years.'
'We have to use European solidarity for something we were not able to do on our own,' Borisov continued. 'Greece was given 110 billion euro (135 billion dollars), we are only asking for one billion euro (1.2 billion dollars) to save lives. Bulgaria has suffered enough. I think we deserve to utilise these funds in the proper way.'
Borisov’s blunt comments matched the national priorities presented by Bulgaria to the EC. Bulgaria’s country proposal contains three times as many transport infrastructure projects as environmental ones.
Among the transport infrastructure projects prioritised by Bulgaria are the reconstruction of a Ring Road around capital Sofia and the building of five highways in the country.
Compared to the transportation priorities, the environmental ones remain vague, including 'partnership project for joint actions (with Romania) against climate change' or 'implementing steps about endangered animal and plant species'.
Irene Lucius, senior policy officer at the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Danube-Carpathian Programme and a participant in the elaboration of the DS, thinks the focus on transport infrastructure development is not unique to Bulgaria, but typical of the newest members of the EU.
'The three objectives of the Strategy are not treated in an integrated fashion,' Lucius said. 'Navigation on the Danube and transport are the main issues. Interests in the business sector and administration are pushing for these, which risks missing the opportunity for sustainable development provided by the Strategy.'
'It is important to have navigation on the Danube as a focus,' Lucius said, 'but we have to be careful on how it is promoted and the role it can play as opposed to rail.'
A coalition of prominent NGOs working on Danube-related issues (including WWF and the International Association for Danube Research) warned at the end of last year that 'inland navigation (on the Danube) can be considered as a viable alternative to road freight only if both global CO2 emissions and local impacts on river ecosystems are considered.'
'Navigation projects that require regulation of the river bed and bank impede the multitude of services free flowing rivers provide to society, such as drinking water, flood control, acting as a natural filter for pollutants or support of healthy fisheries,' the coalition wrote in their letter.
The Danube provides drinking water for 10 million people.
It has been estimated that 80 percent of wetlands and floodplains in the Danube region have been destroyed in the last century because of pollution and artificial river management, with severe negative impacts on fish catch, flood management and natural water purification.
The EC recognises the importance of protecting wetlands and limiting pollution while developing the region. But, in some East European countries, NGOs which could do important work on environmental protection remain marginal in negotiations over the DS.
One reason is the weaker NGO sector in countries like Romania and Bulgaria as compared to Western Europe and even the Baltic states, Lucius told IPS.
‘’Even though environmental NGOs in Bulgaria worked together on comments and recommendations to the strategy and submitted them on time, we have seen little impact of our work,' the WWF officer said. 'This is because of a combination of lack of political will and lack of capacity to integrate NGO voices.'
Lucius, who remains optimistic about the future of the DS, stresses NGOs should have a stronger say as they are key to implementation of any project likely to emerge from the Strategy.
© Inter Press Service (2010) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service