Environmental Issues in Central and Eastern Europe

Severe environmental degradation afflicts much of Central and Eastern Europe. The region's problems result mainly from former communist government policies that promoted heavy industry and discouraged conservation by setting the prices of natural resources below market levels. The total cost for cleaning up the entire region has been difficult to estimate, but the World Bank project that provides wastewater treatment to the major facilities in Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Bulgaria alone would total about $50 billion. This report (1) describes the region's institutional capacity for addressing environmental problems, (2) describes the uses of U.S. assistance, and (3) identifies problems in developing and implementing the program. GAO focuses on three countries that receive the largest share of U.S. environmental aid: Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic.

GAO found that: (1) central and eastern European democratic governments have developed and strengthened their key environmental protection institutions; (2) environmental institutions in these countries are not well supported because public interest in environmental issues has declined in light of economic crises, revisions of environmental statutes and regulations are not complete, compliance monitoring and enforcement capabilities are weak, and there is inadequate financing for environmental protection efforts; (3) U.S. environmental assistance programs in central and east European countries are continually reassessing how best to meet each region's environmental needs; (4) as U.S. environmental assistance efforts have expanded, other central and east European countries have been included in U.S. environmental aid programs and program goals have shifted to strengthening each region's institutional capabilities; (5) the United States is continuing to help build international environmental institutions and help regions obtain financing for capital environmental improvements from international financial institutions; and (6) although early Agency for International Development (AID) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) efforts were often not well coordinated with U.S. staff or target country officials, both agencies have made substantial progress in addressing coordination problems by assigning EPA regional liaison responsibilities, jointly developing country-specific environmental strategies, and improving AID activities and field staff training.