Strengthening Environmental Governance in Bucharest
„Strengthening the environmental governance in Bucharest” is a project developed by APSD-Agenda 21, the City Hall of Askim from Norway, Bucharest City Hall and the School Inspectorate of Bucharest, financed through funds given by the Norwegian Government within the Norwegian Programme of Cooperation for economic growth and sustainable development in Romania.
The objectives of the project are:
- The exchange of experience, know-how and good practices between the City Hall of Bucharest and City Hall of Askim – Norway, by means of training activities for civil servants working in the field of ecology and environment protection from the City Hall of Bucharest, training offered by Norwegian experts;
- Educational campaign for citizens in order for them to become more aware of the fact that environment protection cannot be ensured without their active involvement.
 The project is developed between July 2009 and December 2010, with the following results at present:
The enlarged team of the project gathers representatives of the City Hall of Bucharest and of the 6 sector halls in Bucharest, representatives of the Agency for Environment Protection and the Environmental Guard, as well as representatives of the School Inspectorate of Bucharest. The implementation of the project is developed on a Cooperation Protocol between Bucharest City Hall, APDD-Agenda 21 and the School Inspectorate of Bucharest, Protocol that was approved through the decision of the General Council of Bucharest Municipality.
12 young people were selected as eco-volunteers for Bucharest and benefited from two training sessions.
Furthermore, the design of the poster and of the leaflet was finalized and they were printed by the end of September.
The opinion survey “The Quality of the Environment in Bucharest in the Citizens’ Opinion” was prepared and conducted by IRSOP between August and September 2009 and it reflected the citizens’ perception regarding environmental problems in Bucharest. Among the results of the survey we mention:
- The quality of the environment in Bucharest is considered to be dramatic by the majority of the population (71%).
- In the public opinion, the main causes for the poor state of the environment in Bucharest are:
- Citizen behaviour 78%
- Weak institutions 43%
- The prevailing feeling is that the situation is going to become even worse (38%) or it will remain unchanged (35%).
- The public places where the quality of the environment is the poorest are streets (67%), food markets (56%) and means of public transport (43%).
The survey was launched on October, 14 during a press conference, which benefited from the presence of Ms. Anne-Lise Rognlidalen, commercial councillor at the Royal Norwegian Embassy, representative of the Norwegian Programme for cooperation and economic growth in Romania.
Between 4th and 8th November 2009, two Romanian experts, Monica Nazare – Executive Director – Directorate for Environment Protection and Eco-civic education and Daniela Stănculescu – councillor- Directorate for Education, took part in an exchange of information and experience with their peers from the Askim Municipality – Norway and from the Association of Local and Regional Authorities of Norway.
The project ensures the training of 360 young eco-volunteers from 12 schools from Bucharest, training developed in the field of sustainable development and project writing on environmental topics.
The young eco-volunteers are promoters of an environment campaign „Clear the Air in Bucharest” that will be launched on June, 5. (more details on www.aerisestebucurestiul.ro)
The process of revising and updating the strategic documents necessary for an efficient management of the environment in Bucharest - The Environment Strategy and the Action Plan for the Air Quality in Bucharest - has already started. A technical commission, created within the Agency for Environment Protection – Bucharest is coordinating this process at present.
30 civil servants from the institutions in charge with the quality of the environment in Bucharest will benefit from the expertise and know-how offered by 4 experts from Norway during a training course the aim of which is to improve the environment governance in Bucharest.
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