Danube - River of Cooperation

 

Legal Frameworks for the Revitalization of  Environment and Economy of the Danube Basin

by Slavko Bogdanović, Ph.D. [1]

paper presented at the eleventh International Conference "Danube - River of Cooperation", November, 17-19 2000

 

Introductory notes

Former Yugoslavia, i.e. Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) had been an active participant in creation and development of International Law and signatory of a great number of international treaties that have been dealing with transboundary water resources management and environmental issues. After dissolution of the SFRY, new countries, arisen on its territory, have continued to implement these treaties and conclude new ones, including themselves in that way in the processes of the modern International Water Law and Environmental Law development.

Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) has stood far aside from these processes. This article contains a short review of important elements, characteristic for the current state of things, seen from the standpoint of the FRY and a review of treaties and activities significant for including the FRY in development of these specific branches of International Law, and participation in the efforts for achieving sustainable uses of the Danube Basin water resources.

International agreements signed by the SFRY

Until its dissolution (1991-92), the SFRY was an active participant in international co-operation and an active member of the world most important organizations in the field of transboundary water management and environment. As a small illustrative example only, it would be enough to mention here that the SFRY was the member of the famous WORLD COMMISSION FOR ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT (Bruntland Commission) established by the UN General Assembly, which in late 80's, introduced on the world scene, today very well known, notion of the sustainable development.

The SFRY was a member of a great number of international treaties in this field. It could be said that the SFRY was, with some exceptions, the signatory of all the most important multilateral agreements in the field of environment. Without any intention to give an exhaustive list of those treaties (more than fifty of them were signed and ratified), it is necessary to mention here that the most important for Danube Basin were the treaties concerning navigation, water management issues, fishery and hydroelectric power production. Only one attempt was made in the middle and lower Danube for regulating exclusively the protection against pollution in a sub-basin, but not successful.

Despite the fact that the SFRY played so active role in international relations concerning International Water Law and Environmental Law, it was not a signatory of some important multilateral conventions, not so important for these considerations. But it should be said here that the representatives of the SFRY in Danube Commission (established by the Convention on the Danube Navigation Regime, 1948), did not accept the recommendations of the Danube Commission concerning prevention of the Danube waters pollution caused by navigation enacted by the decision adopted on 44 session of Danube Commission April 21, 1986.

International status of the FRY and its international co-operation in the fields of water management and environment

After dissolution of the SFRY, the possibility for international co-operation of the FRY in the field of environment since the promulgation of the Constitution of FRY has by now been mainly conditioned among other things, by the fact that the status of the FRY in Organization of the United Nations (OUN) had not been regulated, as well as by the sanctions imposed against the FRY by the international community. Unregulated status of the FRY in the OUN was the obstacle for including of the FRY in the activities in the frameworks of OUN and the agencies in the system of the OUN as well.

Due to unregulated status in the United Nations, the FRY had no possibility to vote on the Convention on the Law of Non-navigational Uses of International Watercourses at the Fifty-first Session of General Assembly. Probably the same fact, and strong intentional isolationistic politics of the former-Milosevic's, regime against the international community as well, were the causes that Yugoslavia stood aside of the tremendous development of International Law of Water Resources and International Environmental Law during the nineties. The FRY has been prevented from the preparation and implementation of new multilateral conventions under the aegis of the UN Economic Commission for Europe, from the Convention on Co-operation for the Protection and Sustainable Use of the Danube River, and from taking part in the process of transition, meaning in this context approximation to the European law.

Instead of severe isolation of the FRY from the main world streams of international co-operation and developments in the field of water management and environment, the FRY has had some kind of bilateral and regional co-operation. Certain examples could be pointed out:

  • Activities concerning transboundary water resources (based on the old agreements, signed by the SFRY);
  • Signing by the FRY of the Charter of REC-Regional Center for Environment for Central and Eastern Europe and opening of the REC bureau in Belgrade shortly after that;
  • Intention to include the Danube Basin area in the territory of the FRY, into the current regional activities aimed to the water pollution reduction in the Danube Basin, has been evident in the engagement (1998 and 99) of the Yugoslav experts in preparation of the National Reviews for the FRY on Danube Waters Pollution;
  • During 1998 and 1999 the representatives of the Yugoslav institutions (administrative, scientific and business) were included in the realization of the international research project MANAGEMENT OF THE STURGEON STOCKS OF THE LOWER DANUBE RIVER SYSTEM. The project had been realized for three years by Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve, Tulcea, Romania with funding by the World Bank. The main goal of the project was conservation and sustainable management of the five species stocks of anadromous fish, found in Danube River system, now endangered (Huso huso, Acipenser güldenstädti, Acipenser stelatus, Acipenser rhutenus and Acipenser nudiventris). The project was finished recently this year with the proposal of the Management Strategy of the Sturgeon Stocks of the Lower Danube River System. The document has been delivered to the governments of all countries riparian to the lower stream of Danube;
  • Co-operation concerning this project resulted in the initiative for preparation of XXXI session of the Mixed Commission established by the Agreement on Fishery (Bucharest, 1958). The previous, XXX session was held 1991 at Odessa. The XXXI was held at Belgrade in the spring 2000. The nine years break in the co-operation between Parties to the Agreement has been stopped now. According to the Belgrade decisions, at the next session at Sofia 2002, the preparation of a new agreement on fishery in Danube River should start.

This short (and certainly not exhaustive) review shows that an adequate development in the field of water management and environment protection issues between FRY and neighbouring countries has not started yet. Saying that, I have in view the relationships with the Republic of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina and the need for reviewing of the existing bilateral water treaties. Now, when the FRY is a member of the United Nations, it is reasonable to expect a new approach, i.e. an intensive process of the opening of the country to its neighbours and the rest of the world.

Prospective activities

The developments concerning water management and environmental protection in Yugoslavia could in near future be designed as two different but connected processes intended toward designation of the new, modern and transparent frameworks for expected economic activities in the Danube Basin and the revitalization of the environment in this area.

The first set of the activities comprises all bilateral and multilateral activities in the framework of international co-operation in these fields. E.g., mentioned should be:

  • Accession to the mentioned UN/ECE conventions;
  • Accession to the Convention on co-operation for the protection and sustainable use of the Danube River;
  • Estimation whether the FRY has the interest to access to the UN Convention on the law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses;
  • Active participation in the work of institutional mechanisms established by these conventions;
  • Active participation in and support of the work of international/ transnational organizations, dealing with water management and environment protection;
  • Review of the old (existing) bilateral treaties;
  • Concluding new bilateral treaties, especially with the neighbouring countries arisen after dissolution of the SFRY;
  • Education and training of young professionals for realization and of this tasks and implementation of different kind of international legal regimes into the national legal system.

The second set of activities pertains to the national system of water management, i.e. the water management system in Serbia. Having one no longer sustainable, outdated and anachronous system of water management, more similar to the water management systems known in the countries with the central-state planning, Serbia now needs a new approach with the prospect to develop a modern system of water management similar to and comparable with contemporary water management systems in European countries and countries in transition.

The main characteristics of the actual system of water management in Serbia, according to the Yugoslav Association for Water Law, are:

  • Heavy centralization, i.e. exclusive responsibility for all aspects of water management (water utilization, development of water resources, protection of flooding and other detrimental effects of water and water protection against pollution) are the responsibility of the Government of Serbia and its agencies;
  • Lack of the water users influence on the planning and decision making processes;
  • Lack of the influence of general public on those processes, i.e. on the national water policy;
  • All aspects of the system are under the control of two people-director of the State Water Economy Company "Srbija vode" and assistant Minister of the Agriculture, Forestry and Water Economy; they are the commissioners of the Government of Serbia;
  • There is no financial transparency of the system;
  • There is no public information concerning revenues of the (parafiscal) water charges and their spending etc.

According to the same document, there is an urgent need for a multifold action comprising:

  • Fact finding in the water sector (state of all hydro technical infrastructure; existing legal and institutional framework; financing; state of the water resources), resulting in something that could be called WHITE BOOK ON WATER RESOURCES AND WATER MANAGEMENT IN SERBIA;
  • Revision of spending money in the last eight years in Water Sector;
  • Enacting a middle-term water policy, harmonized with the European Water Framework Directive;
  • Starting the comprehensive multidisciplinary research activities, intended to overcome the huge gap existing now between actual developments in this field in neighbouring countries of Serbia and Europe and the state of things in Serbia;
  • Including domestic and foreign institutions in the research process, on the equal, market base;
  • Initiating of the process for enacting new, modern and appropriate legislative documents concerning water management;
  • Intensifying co-operation between the relevant domestic bodies and international organizations and other arrangements;
  • Providing for the education and training of young professionals for the activities in the frameworks of water management system and environment protection system etc.

This initial document (initial on Yugoslav public and professional stage) should be developed in the form of a framework program of activities in the following days and months, and given to all new DOS (Democratic Opposition of Serbia) bodies, responsible for water management. At the moment, an appropriate version of the document has been presented to the highest state authorities in Vojvodina, and they supported the approach.

In parallel with development of this framework program of activities, there is an urgent need for sponsors support. In all countries in transition this kind of activities had been supported by foreign donors and specialized financial institutions of the international community. If DOS is successful in this aspect as it was in detecting the problems in the Molosevic's regime governing system, the positive results could be expected in future.

When Saying "positive results", I have in mind the development and building of new legal and institutional frameworks in Serbia for water management and environment protection and international co-operation in these fields, that would be appropriate and supportive for revitalization of environment and economy in the Danube basin.

Concluding remarks

Having in view what was said above, it is possible to draw several short conclusions:

  • Revitalization of the environment and economy in the Yugoslav part of the Danube Basin depends on development of new patterns in international co-operation (i.e. stopping isolation of the FRY and including in all developments in the region);
  • Implementation of internal measures in Serbia should start with a fact finding document on the state of water management system (a kind of "White Book") and revision of the spending money in this sector in recent years;
  • A framework programm of activities should be developed, using primarily domestic resources of the NGOs;
  • Financial support for implementation of the framework program (i.e. for particular activities, such as research, education and training of young professionals, etc) should be obtained from the sources of donor countries and international community etc.

As a general conclusion it could be said that new, advanced legal and institutional frameworks for revitalization of environment and economy of Danube Basin in Yugoslavia (i.e. frameworks for sustainable development) depend, as many other things in this country, on the political success of DOS.

[1] Expert in International Environmental Law, Independent Counsellor, Novi Sad, SCG

This article was downloaded / printed from www.danube-cooperation.com