G R A N T S A N N O U N C E M E N T
The brown coal belt which forms the heart of the Black Triangle stretches from Lower Silesia in Poland, to Southern Saxony in Germany, and Northern Bohemia in the Czech Republic. The area has long been a tinderbox of industry and people. The unprecedented expansion of mining operations and heavy industry after the Second World War brought people to the area in droves. This relentless industrialization has resulted in serious ill-effects to human health and the environment.Since June of 1991, the Ministers for the Environment of the three countries of the region have been working together under a joint declaration to protect the environment in the Central European lignite-mining area. The primary task of their work has been to prepare a trans-boundary action plan for environmental protection and to develop proposals for specific measures in priority areas. When the European Commission joined the working group as the fourth partner, providing financial support through its Phare Regional Environmental Programme, the Black Triangle Project was born.
In 1996, the management committee of the Black Triangle determined the necessity to promote the activities of environmental NGOs in the region, particularly in promoting public awareness of the Black Triangle region's problems. The Black Triangle Grants Programme will make up to 50,000 ECU available from the European Union's Phare Multi-Country Programme for the Environment to nongovernmental organizations in Poland and the Czech Republic for environmental projects in what is now Europe's most polluted region. The REC has been selected to manage these activities in the framework of its Local Grants Program. "The REC has been helping local NGOs to take responsibility for specific local problems throughout Central and Eastern Europe," says Alexander Juras, REC's Deputy Director of Grants and Outreach. "This program will build on that experience and also contribute to improving the environment of the Black Triangle as a whole."
Priority issues for the Black Triangle Region are air pollution, clean energy and production patterns and health issues connected to the current pollution in this region, with a special focus on raising public awareness of Black Triangle-related environmental issues and remedies.
Up to 25,000 ECU will be made available in each country. Applications are available through the REC Local Offices and must comply with the REC Local Grants Program proposal guidelines. Guidelines and information about the program are available in the local languages and in English. The deadline for submitting proposals to the Local Offices is 10 June 1997 in Poland and 23 June 1997 in the Czech Republic.
The Black Triangle Project aims to provide practical support for international and national efforts to improve the environmental state of the region and in particular to reduce the scale of trans-boundary pollution. The initial achievement of the project has been the establishment of an integrated network of 42 automatic air monitoring stations in the three participating countries, which provide consistent and unambiguous information necessary for decision-making. Now the attention has been turned to individual projects addressing specific air and water pollution issues.
