Montenegro

UNECE assesses the environmental performance of Montenegro

What makes the 2nd Environmental Performance (EPR) of Montenegro unique and specific is the fact that the ecological state Montenegro requested a separate assessment of tourism and energy impacts on the environment.
Among other things, the Report recognized that there are serious environmental problems, lack of quality protection and control, lack of strong politics for clean environment but also energy inefficiency. Unlike the EU countries, which spend an average of 2.5% of GDP on the environment, Montenegro sets aside merely 0.2% of GDP, which is 12.5 times less. The Report emphasises that water is being used excessively in respect to resources, including big network losses and waste waters on the coast disposed without prior processing. Also, Montenegro has a serious air polluting problem because of the aluminium plant and the ironworks factory.

Deputy Prime Minister of the Government of Montenegro Mr Vujica Lazović, Deputy Director of UNECE Environment, Housing, and Land Management Division Ms Christina von Schweinichen, UNECE EPR Programme Leader Ms Catherine Masson and UNDP Montenegro Economy and Environment Cluster Leader Ms Milica Begović-Radojević held presentations on different aspects of this Report.

Deputy Prime Minister Lazović said that the recommendations were in a synergy with the Action Plan for the National Sustainable Development Strategy adopted in April. “The Government had reviewed the recommendations from the Report and made conclusions on establishing of a structure at the national level which would define activities for reaching efficient realisation of those recommendations. Also, this body will be relevant for continuous monitoring, evaluation and cross-sectoral coordination to enable implementation of the recommendations through sectoral plans and programmes,” emphasizad Deputy Prime Minister Lazović adding that, considering the complexity and the importance of the recommendations, in the oncoming period of implementation they expected support from UNECE and UNDP and other international organisations which provide support to domestic institutions through their activities.

UNECE EPR Programme Leader Ms Catherine Masson emphasised that international experts believed that there had been significant positive progress in development of strategic frame in the domain of environment since the first analysis in 2002. A large number of strategies were adopted during 2004, 2005 and 2006, and the most recent one is National Strategy for Sustainable Development adopted this year. “Significant approaching to the EU standards is noticeable,” said Ms Masson. “Still, Montenegro needs to improve energy efficiency. The price of electricity is being compensated with subsidies, which causes problems. Taken into consideration the resources that you have – the Sun, wind energy and biomass, you should turn to alternative energy sources. Thermo Power Plant Pljevlja is more harmful than useful because it is very hazardous to health of local population. Also, the Report says that the country did literally nothing to provide more money for environmental protection, and it criticizes the concept that obliges polluters to pay compensation as obsolete and overused.”

“The fact that it is impossible to calculate how much municipalities and enterprises spend on ecology represents a problem on its own,” Ms Masson emphasized. “Montenegro must strengthen administrative capacities at local and national levels, improve the system of sanctions for polluters and improve cooperation between the institutions in charge of ecological regulations. There has to be a quality monitoring so as to achieve a unified monitoring of all the activities,” Ms Masson stated, pointing out also to the necessity of a greater public participation in decision making process.

Ms. Masson evaluated that the fact that there is a lot of donor countries ready to assist as extremely important but also she believes that the orientation of very projects is problematic. “There are no clearly defined priorities on national level. You need to funnel your money on your own as well as assistance to the projects that you consider as most important. Perhaps this is the result of insufficient capacities of the Ministry of Tourism that are swarming with various assignments and influences aside,” Ms. Masson concluded.

Deputy Director of UNECE Environment, Housing, and Land Management Division Ms Christina von Schweinichen expressed readiness of the organisation to continue providing expert support as they did in the case of Second Environmental Performance Report.

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While this event technically includes only two parties, UNECE and MoTEP, UNDP as the agency that carries out the UN Coordination work for Montenegro has assisted UNECE in preparation and facilitation of the report.  Therefore, UNDP used it as a venue to transmit its advocacy message through establishing a link between the priority areas highlighted in the report and the work UNDP is doing in Montenegro.

Connection to the Millennium Development Goals and European Commission Montenegro Progress Report 2007: MDG #7 ; EC Report: 4.2.5. chapter on energy, second paragraph on energy efficiency and renewable energy

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UNDP Montenegro Economy and Environment Cluster Leader Ms Milica Begović-Radojević reflected UNDP’s concrete goal of fostering economic development with respect to environment through review of its activities within the context of EPR’s recommendations: “For UNDP in Montenegro, the work of our partner agency, UNECE, is indispensable in so far as it provides us with internationally comparable results stemming from collection, evaluation and dissemination of economic, technological and statistical information regarding Montenegro’s development.” 

“In an effort to support economic development with respect to protection of environment,” said Ms Milica Begović-Radojević, “UNDP CO Montenegro will continue its cooperation with the Government in three particular areas identified in the 2nd EPR Report:

Challenge area: Low energy efficiency
UNDP intervention: The assessment of the UNDP consultants  who provided expert comments of the Montenegro Draft Energy Strategy is compatible with one of the recommendations from the 2nd EPR Report on Montenegro that maintains that energy efficiency remains low in Montenegro.  The UNDP consultants urged the Montenegrin authorities to consider placing reduction of energy loses (transmission and commercial theft), increases of energy efficiency, and increased use of renewable source of energy in an environment-sensitive way at a heart of the NEDS.  Reduction in the current level of consumption and overall conservation can be achieved through utilization of the currently available technology, increased public awareness, positive incentives including the government-led energy campaign, and tighter regulation and control especially in the area of standards for insulation and ventilation in the built environment.   This last factor can lead to savings in new buildings of up to 50% in heating or cooling, while retrofitting old buildings with insulation could lead to typical savings of 30% or more.       

Challenge area: Montenegro has a strong potential in developing sustainable tourism
UNDP intervention: UNDP in cooperation with the MoTEP is working on the development of nature-based tourism in the northern Montenegro, focusing specifically on: a) creation of economic opportunities through effective management and sustainable use of natural resources such as hiking and biking trails, tourism attraction sites and services; b) capacity building for national institutions in charge of collection, validation and maintenance of information relating to nature based tourism, education and licensing of guides, and safety. 

Challenge area: Uncontrolled development
UNDP intervention: In the area of spatial planning, UNDP through the Swedish funded program has: a) organized wide consultative process for the National Spatial Plan and provided technical assistance to the Government in order to improve the quality of the draft National Spatial Plan, and it will focus its future cooperation with the Ministry for Economic Development on a) registration of illegal developments; and b) assistance to the municipalities in developing spatial and urban plans and establish transparent and participatory planning process.”

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In 1993, at the Second “Environment for Europe” Ministerial Conference, ministers requested UNECE to undertake EPRs in countries with economies in transition that were not OECD members. By 2004, the first cycle of Reviews had been completed*, and UNECE is now performing second Reviews. This second round, while taking stock of the progress made since the first Review, puts particular emphasis on implementation, integration, financing and the socio-economic interface with the environment.

* The first EPR of Montenegro - at that time, part of Yugoslavia - was conducted in 2002.

All information regarding the EPR Programme is freely available on the web at: http://www.unece.org/env/epr/welcome.htm. The EPR of Montenegro can be found in English and local language at: http://www.unece.org/env/epr/countriesreviewed.htm.

This other Montenegro Environmental Performance Report was adopted on 14th session of the Committee for Environment which took place in May 29th this year in Geneva, and presented on the Sixth UNECE Ministerial Conference “Environment for Europe” which was organised in Belgrade between October 10th and 12th 2007.

National daily newspapers about the 2nd Environmental Performance (EPR) of Montenegro