“Everything is connected. Whatever impacts the Earth, it also impacts the sons of the Earth.”

The Institute for Environmental Policy (IEP) was established in 1992 in Prague by Doc. JUDr. Eva Kružíková, CSc., lawyer, Dr. Zbigniew Bochniarz, economist, visiting professor at the University in Minnesota, and Doc. JUDr. Václav Mezřický, Head of the Environmental Law Department at the Charles University Law School and former Deputy Minister of Environment of the Czech Republic.

The target of the IEP is to apply the principles of sustainable development in all spheres of the public life.

The institute is involved in ecological, legal, economical and social problems of environmental policy at the levels of state, regions and municipalities. The IEP researches into international aspects of environmental protection and engagements that follow, for the Czech Republic, from multilateral international agreements as well as from bilateral agreements. The institute also focuses its efforts on environmental aspects of accession of the Czech Republic to EU.

The IEP was established in 1992 as a foundation. In 1998 it was transformed into a public benefit company. It is an independent and nonprofit institution. Thanks to its independence, it can fulfil its tasks uninfluenced either politically or economically.

• Expert projects and publication of reports including project results
• Seminars and expert discussions with public participation
• Publication of documents with environmental themes
• Popularization of environmental themes in mass media
• Advisory and consulting activities for both the governmental and municipal officials and the public.

Let us present the most significant projects which the IEP implements or has implemented recently.

The term Local Agenda 21 first occurred in 1992 at a United Nations’ conference on environment and development. It is a strategy of sustainability, concerning all fields of life at local level. One of a few Czech towns that aspire to creation of Local Agenda 21 is Kladno (72,000 inhabitants). The project was launched in May 1998, when the town signed a corresponding agreement. One of the first phases of the project was socio-ecological research on a representative sample of 838 Kladno citizens. It was a public opinion research on questions concerning environment, communal policy and social problems. Another important step was involvement of the public in both the project and decision-making process in the town. To that end, in June 1999 the IEPinitiated the creation of a volunteer group affiliated to Town Council of Kladno. The members of the group will get the main information on problems discussed in the Town Council, they will comment on the information and mediate criticism and comments of citizens. In addition, they submit their own suggestions for the discussions.

During 1999, there will be elaborated an analysis of state of the environment in Kladno and Kladno district as well as indicators of sustainable development, including the ecological footprint. Based on the above analyses, the environmental policy of the town will be elaborated. There will be also created a set of detailed development strategies for individual fields of activities of the town (transportation, housing construction, industry, education etc.). All such strategies should be in harmony with the principles of sustainable development included in the environmental policy. All the above mentioned steps will result in the development strategy of the town. It will include a list of all specific measures that are useful and vital for the town. The draft should be available by the end of 2000. After approval of all the results by the Town Council, the Local Agenda 21 will be binding for the town.

The main target of the project launched in the end of 1997 is to create a publicly accessible, quality information base in the field of environment protection in the Czech Republic. The Centre’s activities include its own partial projects, including creation of the Information Center for the Public, as well as a support for other organizations’ activities in the field. The Center's activities include the IEP projects and their presentation via Internet.

The project is implemented with support of foreign sponsors and by means of partial projects for various organizations and institutions in the Czech Republic (e.g. the Ministry of Environment, the Environmental Partnership).

Basic realized outputs include the Overview of Selected Data and Environment-related Information Sources, there is being prepared an informative CD-ROM, Guide to Environmental Information Sources and Services.

The Information Center for the Public has been operated in the IEP since 15 April and it provides free-of-charge consultations for both the public and public administration and other interested subjects.

3. “Environmental Code”

The project was launched by the IEP and the Netherlands’ One Europe Foundation in September 1999. Its goal is the preparation of the draft concept of one of the most important legal regulations of the legal system of the Czech Republic. It will unify the entire legislation of environmental protection in compliance with requirements of the law of the European Community. The Act will, among other things, include the legal regulation strengthening public participation in decision-making and in access to justice in environmental cases. The project is financially supported by the Netherlands Government. It will be elaborated in co-operation with the Ministry of Environment.

• Local Environmental Policy
• Sustainable Development for Central Europe
• Environmental Performance of Foreign Investors in the Czech Republic
• Strengthening of the Impact of Business Activities on Sustainable Development in Central and Eastern Europe
• The System of Environmental Enforcement in the Capital of Prague

Eva Kružíková, lawyer, Director of the IEP,

Václav Mezřický, lawyer,

Eva Adamová, lawyer,

Tomáš Gremlica, biologist, ecologist,

Jiří Stach, technician,

Viktor Třebický, ecologist,

Eva Rábelová, ecologist,

Eva Rázgová, journalist, Public Relations,

Renáta Štípková, assistant.

The list of IEP publications:

1. Privatization and Liability for the Past Environmental Damage.

Results of the first phase of the project Privatization and Environmental Protection in the Czech Republic, Institute for Environmental Policy, November 1993, 22 pages.

First Annual Report (1992 - 1993), Institute for Environmental Policy, Prague, December 1993.

Proceedings of the seminar held from 5. - 8.11.1993 at Ecological Center Rýchory, KRNAP, The Institute for Environmental Policy, Prague 1994, 48 pages, in Czech language only.

Draft Concept of the general part of the Law on Environment, Institute for Environmental Policy, Prague, December 1994, 94 pages.

Final report of the second phase of the project Privatization and Environmental Protection in the Czech Republic, Institute for Environmental Policy, Prague, April 1995, 69 pages.

Final Report of the first phase of the project, Institute for Environmental Policy, Prague, April 1997, 151 pages

Environmental Action Programme for the town Kolín, Institute for Environmental Policy, Prague, May 1998, 333 pages, in Czech language only.

Institute for Environmental Policy
Hradební 3
110 00 Prague 1
Phone: +420 2 2482 8557
Phone/Fax: +420 2 2482 6593
E-mail: iep@ecn.cz
WWW: http://www.ecn.cz/iep

Bled, Hotel Park 19 - 22 October 2000, Slovenia