Lack of Public Involvement Endangers Environmental Reform

by Victoria Ter-Nikogossian & photo by Lorelei Kelly

Since gaining its independence, Armenia has been trying to overcome the legacy of the Soviet era and implement environmental reforms that will orient the country toward sustainable development. Some of the first legislative steps have already been taken, but much more has to be done to increase public awareness, participation and involvement in decision making, as well as to strengthen knowledge and capacity within the NGO and academic communities. This lack of public involvement endangers reform and makes it potentially unsustainable.

Due to lack of public awareness, experience and mechanisms for including environmental concerns into overall socio-economic development, the current period of intensive social, economic and political change has unfavorably impacted all aspects of Armenia's environment.

The many environmental problems Armenia faces include: wasteful exploitation of natural resources; intensive air, water, and soil pollution; industrial and agricultural contamination; and outdated technology and infrastructure. These conditions have negatively affected life expectancy and public health, as well as economically important wild plant and animal species, ecosystems, and the economy in general.

Current prospects for improving environmental conditions are slim. There is a great disparity between the funds available and the numbers of polluted areas needing rehabilitation, and it is unrealistic to expect an increase in expenditures in the near future. Even economic recovery and increased funding for environmental protection will not greatly help given the current reactive management system and the lack of public awareness and involvement in decision making.

Economic issues are an important aspect of the struggle for sustainable development. The main economic constraints Armenia is operating under include: inadequate and inaccurate prices for use of natural resources (e.g., no charge for drinking water), lack of appropriate taxation and sanctions policies, an inefficient financial and banking system, a lack of foreign capital allocated to the environment, centralized distribution of financial resources, and the lack of entrepreneurial interest and incentives for environmental protection and environmentally friendly products and services.

Along with financial shortcomings there are capacity development problems that have to be addressed. Armenia's legacy includes a neglect of environmental issues during the process of developing and implementing economic policy, an inefficient environmental management system, a poor communications infrastructure, regional isolation, and the dislocation caused by the transition to a market economy.

However, analysis shows that the most acute problem is the lack of public involvement in decision making. This is a recent problem. Before independence, Armenia had a strong but extremist environmental movement fighting for the closure of all hazardous industrial enterprises in the country. The impact of the movement was so strong that it shut down many enterprises that were crucial for Armenia's economy. This extremism helped lead to the collapse of the economy as well as to environmental disasters. Effects included widespread poverty (up to 80 percent of the population), the overuse of Lake Sevan water for energy generation, and the cutting of over one-quarter of Armenia's total forested land for cooking and heating. Since independence, due to energy and economic crises, the new leadership has had difficulty reopening the industries that were shut down. As a consequence of this history, the Armenian environmental movement has lost credibility with both the general public and the leadership in Armenia.

Over the last two years, along with an increase in the energy supply and an economic revival, a new environmental movement has emerged. This movement has had to cope with a lack of access to environmental information, a lack of support and funding and, most challenging, the need to regain credibility and public trust. The hardships of transition, lack of experience and lack of public support create an unfavorable climate for the environmental movement's efforts to promote public awareness of the need for environmental reforms. Despite these problems, environmental NGOs work to influence environmental reform and public attitude. The current stage of reform development urges "bottom up" public involvement in decision making.

Recent breakthrough on the legislative level has laid the foundation for the further evolution of environmental reform. However, this reform reflects a "top down" approach, mostly based on analyses and intellectual exercises. It will be difficult to advance reform past the legislative stage to the working out of specific regulations without public interest. The role of regulatory framework in the current structure of the Armenian legal system is essential, since regulations are what make law enforceable.

The lack of access to both domestic and international environmental information is a discouraging reality. The dearth of domestic information would not be difficult to overcome if better access to international information existed. However, the flow of international information is hampered by a poor communications infrastructure.

In the current stage of political, economic and social development in Armenia, the government has not recognized the vital power of public involvement in constructing a sustainable state. The role of international organizations is crucial in supporting the strengthening of environmental NGOs. Unfortunately, the share of international support that currently goes to the government is overwhelming. There needs to be a balance between government and civil society for reforms to go forward and become sustainable.

Victoria Ter-Nikogossian is president of the NGO "Sustainable Development."