14 An Integrated Approach to Sustainable Coastal Management
153
"all-win" situation seems to be pursued. Often a difficult and delicate balance between
costs and benefits and their societal distribution is achieved. In none of the countries
do environmental concerns seem to have an absolute say in development issues. However, differences in compliance with environmental goals are also attributed to the notable variations in the organizational and administrative framework of policy implementation. The implementation of environmental policies and regulations involves
different ministries and public agencies. Although national policies increasingly seem
to address global and local environmental concerns, these policies are still too general,
reflecting political ambitions and rhetoric rather than commitment and action.
The need to integrate environmental and developmental decision-making processes
is a basic and recurrent principle stressed in several documents. In particular, The Rio
Follow-Up at Regional Level (UN ECE 1993) recommends that the sustainable development process should be systematically monitored and evaluated, and the state of the
environment regularly reviewed, with the aim of ensuring the transparency of and
accountability for the environmental implications of economic and sectoral policies,
including for the coastal areas.
The implementation of the methodology used in the 1991 Espoo Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in a Transboundary Context lays an important
foundation in that respect. EIA has become a major tool for an integrated approach to
the protection of the environment, since it requires a comprehensive assessment of the
impact of an activity on the environment. Moreover, it looks into alternatives to the
proposed activity and brings facts and information on environmental impacts to the
attention of the decision makers and the public. It is important to ensure that EIA is
applied to policies, plans and programmes at an early stage. The Convention is the first
multilateral treaty to specify the procedural rights and duties of Parties with regard to
the transboundary impacts of proposed activities. Appendix I to the Convention covers
17 groups of activities to which the Convention applies, such as nuclear and thermal
power stations, road and railway construction, chemical installations, waste-disposal
facilities, oil refineries, oil and gas pipelines, mining, steel production, pulp and paper
manufacturing, construction of dams and reservoirs, trading ports, and offshore hydrocarbon production. All these activities are of high relevance for coastal areas. EIA is
already used as an effective instrument at the national level and it is understood that
the ECE Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context (E/ECEh250) will lead to environmentally sound and sustainable development by
providing information on the interrelationship between economic activities and their
environmental consequences in a particular transboundary context.
During the last 15 years, four conventions and five protocols have been developed
in the ECE on air pollution, environmental impact assessment, industrial accidents
and transboundary waters. The importance of these legal instruments as effective tools
to promote active, direct and action -oriented international cooperation at the regional
and sub-regional level is growing in view of the Commission's increasing membership, the many new borderlines cutting through Europe and, hence, the growing potential for transboundary environmental problems. These treaties, which are important elements of a common European legal framework, are concrete and effective
instruments to eliminate the former dividing line between east and west and to integrate countries with economies in transition into a pan-European legal and economic
space.
153
"all-win" situation seems to be pursued. Often a difficult and delicate balance between
costs and benefits and their societal distribution is achieved. In none of the countries
do environmental concerns seem to have an absolute say in development issues. However, differences in compliance with environmental goals are also attributed to the notable variations in the organizational and administrative framework of policy implementation. The implementation of environmental policies and regulations involves
different ministries and public agencies. Although national policies increasingly seem
to address global and local environmental concerns, these policies are still too general,
reflecting political ambitions and rhetoric rather than commitment and action.
The need to integrate environmental and developmental decision-making processes
is a basic and recurrent principle stressed in several documents. In particular, The Rio
Follow-Up at Regional Level (UN ECE 1993) recommends that the sustainable development process should be systematically monitored and evaluated, and the state of the
environment regularly reviewed, with the aim of ensuring the transparency of and
accountability for the environmental implications of economic and sectoral policies,
including for the coastal areas.
The implementation of the methodology used in the 1991 Espoo Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in a Transboundary Context lays an important
foundation in that respect. EIA has become a major tool for an integrated approach to
the protection of the environment, since it requires a comprehensive assessment of the
impact of an activity on the environment. Moreover, it looks into alternatives to the
proposed activity and brings facts and information on environmental impacts to the
attention of the decision makers and the public. It is important to ensure that EIA is
applied to policies, plans and programmes at an early stage. The Convention is the first
multilateral treaty to specify the procedural rights and duties of Parties with regard to
the transboundary impacts of proposed activities. Appendix I to the Convention covers
17 groups of activities to which the Convention applies, such as nuclear and thermal
power stations, road and railway construction, chemical installations, waste-disposal
facilities, oil refineries, oil and gas pipelines, mining, steel production, pulp and paper
manufacturing, construction of dams and reservoirs, trading ports, and offshore hydrocarbon production. All these activities are of high relevance for coastal areas. EIA is
already used as an effective instrument at the national level and it is understood that
the ECE Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context (E/ECEh250) will lead to environmentally sound and sustainable development by
providing information on the interrelationship between economic activities and their
environmental consequences in a particular transboundary context.
During the last 15 years, four conventions and five protocols have been developed
in the ECE on air pollution, environmental impact assessment, industrial accidents
and transboundary waters. The importance of these legal instruments as effective tools
to promote active, direct and action -oriented international cooperation at the regional
and sub-regional level is growing in view of the Commission's increasing membership, the many new borderlines cutting through Europe and, hence, the growing potential for transboundary environmental problems. These treaties, which are important elements of a common European legal framework, are concrete and effective
instruments to eliminate the former dividing line between east and west and to integrate countries with economies in transition into a pan-European legal and economic
space.