Let's say you are a concerned citizen living on the beautiful Baltic coastline. You notice that the waves crashing on the beach look rather toxic, and the fish you used to catch in abundance right from your front door have all but disappeared. You decide you want to poke around, figure out what's gone wrong and who's responsible. A friend in Poland recommends the REC's Manual on Public Participation in Environmental Decisionmaking as a good starting point, but when you finally get your hands on it, you find (GASP!) that there is nothing, not one word, on the Baltic states!
Fear not, brave soldier. The Regional Environmental Center has just published a supplement to the original manual covering the three Baltic states, giving every potential decisionmaker in these former Soviet republics the tools to participate in the environmental process.
So what, exactly, does all this mean? It means environmentally-conscious Latvians, Lithuanians and Estonians now have a reference guide that provides the same information their counterparts in the rest of Central and Eastern Europe have had since 1994. For instance, what are the rights and duties of citizens as set out by their respective constitutions? What rights do citizens have with respect to freedom of information? In what specific ways can the public participate in environmental decisionmaking? Does any of this stuff really work anyway? You will find the answers to all of these questions and more bound between the covers of this slim volume.
As any good publisher does, the REC has updated the format used in the first edition. So, in the Baltic supplement, you will find an expanded discussion of the legal process in each country, especially under the heading "Administrative Law and Procedure." These sections are more comprehensive than those in the original manual, offering concise analyses regarding standing and legal interest in administrative procedures, legal tools for challenging incompetent or inactive officials (if these tools exist), and methods for recourse and appeal once administrative decisions have already been made.
Though the authors have obviously tried their best to translate the unavoidable "legalese" into vernacular, much of what the supplement presents is dry and technical, leaving your average non-attorney perusing the more interesting "context" sections. Here we find out, for instance, that Latvia has revived its 1922 Constitution as a matter of national pride, that Lithuanian green organizations gathered 1.5 million signatures to stifle the expansion of the Ingalina nuclear power plant, and that Estonia has entered 15 international conventions, more than any other Baltic country.
But don't let yourself be fooled by the fancy title. This tiny tome is no more a "manual" than Lithuania's three year-old constitution, but that doesn't make it any less useful. It describes in painstaking detail all the legal tools that should provide the masses with the means to take part in environmental decisionmaking, an important factor in a Region where most people have little or no experience with public participation. Think of it as a list of ingredients rather than a cookbook. Now it's up to the readers to concoct a feast fit for a democratically-elected king.