Building Trust: Laying a Foundation for Environmental Regulation in the Former Soviet Bloc

Environmental Protection in the Russian Federation: Lessons and Opportunities

“…Table 2 shows that fewer than one-quarter of NGO respondents put implementability in the top three factors to consider when taking an action to protect the environment, while Table 3 indicates that only about one-third of respondents identi ed enforcement as a top priority for improving environmental policy. Bell (2000), among others, has written of the 'aspirational' nature of much law making in Russia, referring to laws that are written for their 'exhortatory' value with little expectation they will ever be enforced.…”

“…· Formal and informal institutions must be in place to advance environmental interests, most notably a legal framework that provides accountability and direction to environmental actors. This framework, at its core, depends on what has been called a culture of compliance (Bell, 2000), a set of values in which law has a social legitimacy and is respected as a compass to direct desirable social behaviour. Such a culture is not an innate feature of any society, but rather is encouraged through example and by realistic expectations and a real prospect of enforcement.…”

Environmental Issues in Russia

“…The persistent gap between Russia's strong environmental protection laws on paper and their weak enforcement in practice also has been a frequent criticism since the Soviet period. Bell argues that Russian environmental laws have often been "aspirational" and "set idealistic, often highly unrealistic goals" (18).…”

“…Technology transfers and assistance with monitoring have received praise, but many scholars argue that domestic commitment to environmental protection matters more than the amount or form of assistance from the West. There is some agreement that environmental partnerships involving Russia have been most effective when the interests of the donor and recipient countries match (18,122,129) and particularly when Russia's economic and security concerns are addressed as part of the environmental negotiations (127,130). Examples of successful cooperation cited in the literature include funding from the UN Development Programme and the Global Environment Facility to Russia to support the partial implementation of the Convention on Biodiversity (131), Western financing for waste water treatment in the Baltics (132), and model forest demonstration projects for promoting sustainable and internationally certified forestry (118).…”

Prioritizing Environmental Issues around the World: Opinions from an International Central and Eastern European Environmental Health Conference

“…This location was selected because current social, political, and economic transitions in this region have resulted in a dramatic impact on environmental and occupational exposures. During the past two decades, the period of political change, inadequate/aging infrastructure, and a lack of economic resources in Eastern and Central Europe have resulted in increased pollution and public health risk (Bell 2000; Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development 1999). A lack of regulation of environmental pollution and an increase in poor industrial and agricultural practices have resulted in increased air and water pollution as well as soil contamination (Jedrychowski 1995; Woolfson 2006).…”