A lively debate took place at a June workshop organised by the REC concerning foreign investors who carry out environmentally hazardous activities. The event, entitled “Responsible Foreign Investors: Protecting Future Generations through Governance Principles,” was part of the Healthy Planet Forum, which ran parallel to the Fourth Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health, held June 23-25 in Budapest.

At the workshop — funded by the Ministry of the Flemish Community — Marta Szigeti Bonifert, executive director of the REC, emphasised the increasing need for tough environmental safeguards, ones that go beyond guidelines of corporate social responsibility (CSR). “Mining, single-hull oil tankers, waste treatment and disposal, and other hazardous activities are still on the fringes of corporate social responsibility,” Szigeti Bonifert said. “Traditional CSR instruments will not reach hazardous activity investments, which are often poorly capitalised and labour-intensive — therefore politicised and highly risky.” At the workshop a distinguished panel of experts further elaborated the draft Governance Principles for Foreign Direct Investment in Hazardous Activities, developed by the REC and several stakeholders over the past three years.

The participants also considered whether or not the Governance Principles could be applied to the controversial gold mining proposal by Rosia Montana Gold Corporation (RMGC) in Romania. Representatives of NGOs and the mining company held an intense debate on the application of the Governance Principles in the process of determining whether the investment should go forward.

Balkan states learn to LEAP

REC country offices in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, FYR Macedonia and Serbia and Montenegro received funds from the Swedish government to carry out local environmental action plans (LEAPs).

	Photo: REC COUNTRY OFFICE SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO

LEAPs will be designed and initiated in 21 municipalities, including the town of Backa Topola, Serbia and Montenegro. In the picture, Radoje Lausevic, the REC’s South Eastern Europe regional director (left), and Babi Atila, the town’s mayor, sign an agreement concerning a LEAP to be carried out in Backa Topola.

The projects will be carried out over 30 months and each one will have a strong accent on regional cooperation and gender-related work. The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) granted a total of EUR 2.8 million for the LEAPs, which will complement the 25 to 50 percent in-kind contribution expected from each beneficiary municipality.

In FYR Macedonia, the LEAPs will help implement new EU-harmonised legislation and contribute to the decentralisation process by strengthening municipal governments, said Teodora Grncarovska Obradovic, assistant head for sustainable development at the Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning. The project will involve intensive training, direct investments in the cities, exchanges of experiences and cooperation between the participating countries.

Sava River Commission established

The Sava River Commission was officially established at a ceremony in Belgrade on June 1. The event followed parliamentary ratifications of the Sava agreement by Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro and Slovenia. Speaking on the behalf of the Stability Pact, which brokered the agreement and played a key role in fundraising for the establishment of the commission and secretariat, Special Coordinator Erhard Busek commended the countries for this achievement.

Assistance to the Interim Commission for the Sava River Basin was given by the REC, the European Commission and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, among others. The legal framework on the Sava River Commission includes regulations on the waterway’s navigation, water management, hydroelectric plants and environmental protection. Slovenia serves as depository for the Sava Commission’s legal instruments, while the seat of the Sava River Commission is in Zagreb.