T R A N S I T I O N A N D E N V I R O N M E N T
Challenges of local environmental management in the Czech Republic
The collapse of the state socialist one-party political system and the emergence of multiparty parliamentary democracy have opened up possibilities for decentralization of powers and decisionmaking in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). A democratic civil society is an important precondition for efficient Western-style local environmental management. What are the implications of democratization for local environmental management in the former state socialist countries of CEE? This contribution looks at some of the problems local environmental management faces in the Czech Republic. It is based on research conducted in the Most District of northern Bohemia, one of the most environmentally devastated regions of CEE.
The Most District
The Most District is a relatively small area (467 km2) located in northern Bohemia on the Czech-German border. The central part of the district, the Most basin, has large brown coal deposits which attracted mining and other industrial activities as well as people to the Most basin. Much of the coal is mined in opencast pits resulting in large scale landscape devastation. In 1991, 117 km2 were destroyed by coal mining which represents 25% of the area of the district. In order to make this mining possible, 33 villages in the district, including the old city of Most have been torn down since 1956 Ð forcing more than sixty thousand residents from their homes. And this is not the only environmental problem the Most District has to deal with. The district also has consistently recorded extremely high levels of air pollution containing sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, particulate matter and other pollutants from the local power plants burning low grade brown coal and also from Chemopetrol, the largest chemical complex of the Czech Republic, which is located on its territory.
DEMOLITION OF KOMORANY began in 1985. The heating plant is almost all that remains.
Environmental authority at the local level
In the Czech Republic, the ability of local self-governments to influence the quality of the environment on their territory is limited to the area of communal ecology and local sources of pollution. Municipalities still have almost no power over large polluters even if they are located on their territory. The Clean Air Act No. 309/1991 lists large polluters over which municipalities have no jurisdiction and which can be fined only by Regional Environmental Inspections. Furthermore, the fees collected from environmental fines from large polluters goes to the State Environmental Fund which does not necessarily redistribute it to the area where it was collected.
In terms of air pollution, municipalities can only enforce environmental regulations for small pollution sources (thermal output less than 0.2 MW) and monitor discharge of Ôdark' smoke (which indicates the amount of soot in the smoke). Municipalities can order inspection of emitted pollutants from mobile sources and impose penalties on large and medium polluters for exceeding the emission limit for the dark color of smoke. However, the small villages would have to ask a municipal government with the delegated powers or the District Office to fine large polluters, which rarely happens.
Competency of local self-governments
Democratization and decentralization of powers to the local level raise the question of competency of local self-governments and whether and to what extent they can carry out specific functions to deal with the problems they face. This issue is particularly important for small municipalities. The situation in the Most District reveals that in the area of environmental management municipalities often lack expertise, personnel, financial resources and authority to deal efficiently with the environmental problems within the decentralized system and emerging market economy. They often do not know how to secure resources or how to operate efficiently within the scope of powers they possess. Most lack the commitment and competency to deal with the challenges of environmental degradation and management. These problems are closely related to the surviving state socialist practices, approaches and stereotypes in local government. Local governments, especially in larger municipalities, can radically alter their approach toward local environmental management even within the existing limited scope of legal powers and competencies and influence the behavior of polluters on their territory. Such radical change is rare, however.
Local democratization and the struggle for power
The ability of local self-governments to conduct meaningful environmental management depends on the process of democratization at the local and regional scale. This process is far from complete and is at the center of the political struggle in the Czech Republic. Political and fiscal decentralization are important components of democratization. Political decentralization involves the transfer of powers from the national government to regional and local levels, and from the state administration to local and regional self-governments. Fiscal decentralization occurs as the central state administration transfers financial resources down to the local level and requires less of the funds generated at the local level.
These two processes are not parallel but rather proceed unevenly with political restructuring taking place much faster than fiscal decentralization. More important, both processes result in the struggle between the central state, with its tendencies of centralization in order to retain its powers and control over the transition in the Czech Republic, and the local state pushing Ð sometimes effectively, sometimes not Ð for further political and fiscal decentralization in order to achieve greater autonomy. In 1994, the central state limited growing fiscal municipal autonomy and took away some of the municipal powers granted after 1989. One of the reasons for these tendencies towards centralization is the fear on the part of the central state that local communities will put pressure on industries to radically reduce their pollution at the expense of their economic performance.
There is also insufficient cooperation between local self-government and regional and national state administration in dealing with the problems of severe environmental degradation which require a combined effort at local, regional and national levels. The absence of regional self-government in the Czech Republic does not help because enormous scale differences between elected municipalities at the local level and the national parliament make any communication between these two levels extremely difficult.
Civil society: the crucial first steps
Democratization is also linked to the emergence of civil society at the local level and its role in the transition from the one-party and central state hegemony over local affairs to a situation in which citizens and their organizations, independent of state power, are able to question and resist central state policies. In the Czech Republic, however, civil society is only slowly developing at the local level. The emergence of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) is one of the crucial steps. In the area of environmental management, the role of environmental NGOs in local mobilization, environmental education and independent information is one of the basic conditions for the improvement of the environment in local communities. This development seems to be very limited in the Most District. The links between civil society mainly represented by NGOs and local self-governments are still quite weak.
Industrial paternalism and changing power relations
The power relations between large industrial enterprises and neighboring communities are another obstacle to more efficient local environmental management. Democratization and economic restructuring are changing these power relations. The old state socialist industrial paternalism based on the Communist Party hegemony is now being replaced by new relations which are more balanced and based on economic principles and democratic forms of government. Large industrial enterprises and surrounding communities are looking for new ways of mutually beneficial coexistence. However, there are sharp differences in the character of these relations between larger cities and smaller municipalities. Generally, the cities have been able to gradually improve their relations with larger industrial enterprises more successfully than small municipalities in terms of compensation for environmental pollution and contributions to local budgets. Small municipalities are generally ignored by large industrial enterprises.
NGOs COULD NOT GATHER ENOUGH support to save Libkovice.
The tragedy of Libkovice
Although political and economic transition has dramatically changed the future outlook for many of the remaining villages in the Most Basin, it has not automatically translated into the end of state socialist practices in the Most District. The fate of the village of Libkovice, demonstrates the struggles of local communities and emerging NGOs despite the post-1989 changes. The decision to raze the village of Libkovice was made in 1987 in order to let the Hlubina Mines extract coal located under the village. The Hlubina Mines bought most of the houses in Libkovice and began their liquidation in 1990. At the suggestion of the Green House Litvinov NGO, ten mayors of the Most Basin issued an appeal to stop the demolition of Libkovice. Unfortunately, this appeal did not find any further support among environmental NGOs and the leveling of Libkovice continued. One year later, in December 1992, Greenpeace and the Rainbow Movement initiated a campaign to save the village and managed to protect the church in Libkovice but most the village was already destroyed and the chances of the Rainbow Movement to gather enough support for the restoration of the village seem very slim at this point.
While many positive changes have taken place on the local scale since 1989, especially with regard to bringing self-government closer to the citizens, it's clear from the experiences of the communities in the Most District that there are still many obstacles to the development of efficient local environmental management in the Czech Republic and that the threat of re-centralization looms large.
Petr Pavlinek is an assistant professor in the Department of Geography and Geology at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, working on issues of transition and the environment in Central and Eastern Europe with a focus on the Czech Republic.
Tel: (402) 554-2467, Fax: (402) 554-3518,
E-mail: pavlinek@cwis.unomaha.edu
REC * PUBLICATIONS * THE BULLETIN * SUMMER 1996
