Europe & CIS

Environmental assessment of development planning and environment-security monitoring in the Crimea.

Project Background and Rationale

Crimea is one of the most diverse and controversial region of modern Ukraine. It is characterized, on the one hand, by the unique natural environment, variety of historic and architectural landmarks, and, on the other hand, by the highest on Ukrainian territory level of ethnic and religious conflicts, biggest gap between rich and poor, most significant controversy on the future development trends. Disputes related to the access to natural resources (drinking and irrigation water, agricultural land, territories available for recreational activities) have in Crimea often hidden ethnic and social root causes.

Main challenge the project addresses is how to avoid, common for low-income country, temptation of tackling the problem of population well-being as a first priority and leaving environment to be dealt with later. For the region like Crimea where the biggest potential lies in development of recreation, including international tourism and agro-business, maintaining and improving the quality of environment is the question of economic ability of the region, prevention of the conflicts over the natural resources usage, distribution and rights to access, and, in the long run, of improvement security in the region.

Project linkage to other international initiatives and national priorities

International assistance plays significant role in current environmental, social and ethnic conflicts resolution in Crimea. Range of the projects on protection of the Black Sea environment, maintaining water quality in Dnieper river basin, developing social interface for ethnic tolerance, etc, is being implemented with the support of international donor agencies. Given the limited resources and urgency of issues addresses by the international community in Crimea, it is important to ensure that the projects are mutually supportive and have the synergetic character.

The project will be implemented within the framework of the Crimea Integration and Development Programme (CIDP, Phase IY), managed by UNDP. The linkages between the objectives of the CIPD and this project are also described below.

The project will also build on experience with SEA introduction during the regional initiative SEA – Promotion and Capacity Building, that Ukraine was the part of.  
 

Project Vision / Goals

Main goal of the project is to promote implementation of the strategic environmental assessment (SEA) in Crimea as a well-recognized tool for sustainable development and conflict prevention. Project will be linked to and support the implementation of the Crimea Integration and Development Programme (CIDP, Phase IY) (UNDP).

Many CIPD objectives are in line with the objective and overall philosophy of SEA. These  objectives are: improving regional socio-economic development planning, contributing to better communication and coordination among sectors in the development planning process, increasing capacity of national stakeholders, including communities to participate in development planning and implementation, and supporting continuous communities in local planning and decision-making. Considering that, the following SEA specific objectives of the project have been identified:
•    Introducing SEA elements into the local planning process;
•    Developing local capacity for SEA implementation;
•    Demonstrating SEA benefits in practice;
•    Disseminating and promoting best SEA practice country-wide.

At the same time the aim is to develop and implement a mechanism to monitor the environmental and natural resources aspects of Crimean conflict and security situation. The mechanism will be an add-on to the existing system of security monitoring by UNDP, and will in particular focus on monitoring land-related conflicts and the impact of improving land registration and dispute resolution through UN Habitat’s efforts.

Project will target local planners, regional authorities, and community representatives, including NGOs and other interest groups.
Project’s relevance to the ENVSEC Initiative

Relevance of SEA introduction is best illustrated on a concrete example of the conflict over land use in Crimea: In July 2006, one of the major cities of the in-land Crimea, Bakhchisarai (population of 30,000, historically the place of compact living of Tatars) was plagued by street riots of Tatar youth followed by the aggressive reaction of Russian population. Constantly growing local central market is situated in the close vicinity of the historic ruins of sacred Tatar tombs. Situation that did not raise any concerns at the times of planning decision/permit issuing is now the source of bitter controversy, considering that the market is an important employer in the city, and that the Tatar community is not ready to cover full relocation costs.

Conflict could have been prevented by proper public and expert involvement into decision making process, which is very much supported by the SEA process. SEA has been widely recognized as the approach for mainstreaming environment into the planning process, highly integrated, transparent and participatory. It is established that SEA is efficient in improving regional governance, developing the dialogue between stakeholders, and, in the long run, promoting civic society and stability.

The proposed project falls into two ENVSEC key areas of activity : (i) policy development and implementation, and (ii) institutional development, capacity building and advocacy. The project will promote sound governance and multi-stakeholder dialogue, which is crucial for addressing issues that can lead to instability and conflicts. The project falls mainly within the folllowing focus areas identified within the ENVSEC needs assessment  for the Eastern Europe: Security Benefits of Environmenta Cooperation.
Project phases / activities

Project phases will be built around the CIDP stages.

Deliverables and outcomes
The final set of activities and their link to CIDP activities would be clarified and confirmed after the consultation and agreement with the CIPD managers. SEA will be of great added value and would be mainly related to the following CIDP output – ‘Support to integrated planning’. These mutually supportive activities will lead to the following project outcomes:
•    Capacity building package on strategic planning with an SEA module
•    SEA pilots in 2 districts to become a part of the planning processes; built capacity of relevant stakeholders in SEA application in planning
•    Design and pilot set-up of environment-security monitoring, with situation analyses regularly published and disseminated in the region
•    Inputs to regional decision-making and planning processes
 

Henrieta Martonakova