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Χαράλαμπος Θεοπέμπτου |
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Tuesday, 02 December 2003 Can a government service put up a fight for the Environment? Inside knowledge of how government works and a number of recent events have in my belief, reinforced the view that an independent Environment Agency is the only way forward for Cyprus. Just look at the example of the road through the Athalassa National Park in Nicosia. Would an Independent Agency approve a four-lane street to run through the forest? Or even worse, would an Independent Agency allow the domestic waste, carefully separated by citizens into appropriate waste bins, be burned or even worse, be thrown to landfill sites? Would it allow dead animals to be just thrown on the floor of a metal structure and in the middle of the summer? The answer to all of the questions above is a definite NO! An answer, which is very difficult to give, if the body responsible for these actions is your own boss! An answer however, which is much easier to give if the agency responsible for the protection of the environment, is an independent agency. Just in case that the arguments above have not yet convinced you, lets have a look at who handles Air Pollution under the current situation. The Ministries involved are the Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance, of Agriculture and Natural resources, of Health and of Communication and Works, four in total. And if you need more convincing, look at Waste handling. This is handled by the Ministries of Agriculture, Health, Internal Affairs and by each Municipality. It is therefore necessary to set up an Independent Environment Agency that has the executive powers to promote and implement the environment legislation, advice government and educate the public. There are many such independent authorities in the world, with the best known being the “Environment Protection Agency” (EPA) in the states. The UK government set up in 1995 the “Environment Agency” which has an annual budget of £650m, of which only 28% come from government funding. With 10500 employees, the agency gets its funds from the various licenses, penalties and a wide spectrum of other activities. The type of activities, structures and processes that one would expect from such an Environment Agency need to be carefully tailored to the national structures of each country, without of course minimising its effectiveness. It is for this reason that the Cyprus Green Party has proposed to the president for a consultant to be hired in order to study the current situation in Cyprus, contrast this to what applies in other European countries and prepare a set of recommendations.
Charalampos Theopemptou |
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