| |
Since the beginning of the 1990s, the countries of the region, with the financial assistance of the international community, have started to co-operate in order to promote the sustainable use of transboundary water resources. The 1992 Bucharest Convention and the 1993 Odessa Declaration, a set of practical guidelines for which Rio’s Agenda 21 supplied the model, provided the impetus and framework for cooperation among the six Black Sea countries. A similar movement has taken place among the larger group of countries in the Danube Basin – itself a major part of the Black Sea basin and a major contributor to Black Sea pollution, having as a result the signature of the Danube River Protection Convention in 1994. Bulgaria, Romania and Ukraine are signatory parties of both Conventions.
The two conventions have resulted in the establishment of several institutions that are required to develop concrete measures and initiatives to protect the water environment. The Black Sea Commission and the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River were set up in order to achieve the purposes of the two Conventions. Co-operation between the two commissions started in 1997 on a preliminary basis, by establishing a Joint Technical Working Group.
Both Commissions are assisted by Secretariats: the BSC Permanent Secretariat, officially opened in 2000 and the ICPDR Secretariat, officially opened in 1999. In 2000, the ICPDR was nominated the platform for coordination of issues of international importance for the implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive. Since this time, the Secretariat also supports the cooperation/coordination between the Danube River Basin countries towards the implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive.
The ICPDR has joined forces with the Black Sea Commission to remedy the environmental degradation of the Black Sea through the Danube by establishing a Joint Technical Working Group. This body is currently drafting guidelines for achieving good environmental status in the coastal waters of the Black Sea, in line with EU legislation. Co-operation between the two commissions was reinforced by a Memorandum of Understanding signed at a ministerial meeting in Brussels in November 2001.
The Black Sea Commission and ICPDR are also members of the DABLAS Task Force, which was set up in November 2001 as a platform for co-operation between international financial institutions (IFIs), donors and beneficiaries with regard to the protection of water and water-related ecosystems along the Danube and in the Black Sea. The task force includes representatives from the countries in the region, the ICPDR, the Black Sea Commission, IFIs, the EC, interested EU Member States, and other bilateral donors, as well as other regional/ and international organisations.
| |
The Black Sea Commission has one member from each of the six contracting parties, Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Turkey, Russia and Ukraine. The Chair of the Commission is rotated on an annual basis among the Contracting Parties. The Commission holds one regular meeting each year and may hold extraordinary meetings as agreed by the Contracting Parties. The Commission’s decisions are made on the basis of unanimity.
The BSC was created with the main objective “to achieve the purposes” of the Convention. Under Article XVIII, the BSC is entrusted to:
- Promote the implementation of the Convention and inform the Contracting Parties of its work.
- Make recommendations on measures necessary for achieving the aims of the Convention.
- Consider questions relating to the implementation of the Convention and recommend such amendments to the Convention and to the Protocols as may be required, including amendments to Annexes of the Convention and the Protocols.
- Elaborate criteria pertaining to the prevention, reduction and control of pollution of the marine environment of the Black Sea and to the elimination of the effects of pollution, as well as recommendations on measures to this effect.
- Promote the adoption by the Contracting Parties of additional measures needed to protect the marine environment of the Black Sea, and to that end receive, process and disseminate to the Contracting Parties relevant scientific, technical and statistical information and promote scientific and technical research.
- Cooperate with competent international organizations, especially with a view to developing appropriate programmes or obtaining assistance in order to achieve the purposes of the Convention.
- Consider any questions raised by the Contracting Parties.
- Perform other functions as foreseen in other provisions of the Convention or assigned unanimously to the Commission by the Contracting Parties.
Existing protocols to the Bucharest Convention either add some new functions to this already extensive list or specify concrete actions or activities expected from the BSC in the context of its broad mandate. Existing protocols are the:
- 1992 Protocol on Protection of the Black Sea Marine Environment against Pollution from Land Based Sources (1992 LBS Protocol).
- 1992 Protocol on the Protection of the Black Sea Marine Environment against Pollution by Dumping (1992 Dumping Protocol).
- 1992 Protocol on Cooperation in Combating Pollution of the Black Sea Marine Environment by Oil and Other Harmful Substances in Emergency Situations (1992 Emergency Protocol), and
- 2003 Black Sea Biodiversity and Landscape Conservation Protocol (2003 Biodiversity Protocol; not yet in force).
Based upon the example of the Biodiversity Protocol it can be reasonably expected that the two new legal instruments – the Revised Protocol on Land-Based Sources of Pollution and, possibly, the Convention on Fisheries – will significantly expand the mandate of the Commission.
Additional functions and responsibilities have been entrusted to the Commission by the two declarations adopted by the regular Meetings of the Ministers of the Environment of the Black Sea states – the 1993 Odessa Declaration and 2002 Sofia Declaration, as well as by the memoranda of understanding and cooperation between the BSC and other international bodies – ICPDR and the European Environment Agency.
As can be seen from the above, the mandate of the BSC is fairly broad and with time it has been further expanded to include additional functions and responsibilities.
The Commission is supported by a Permanent Secretariat, headed by an Executive Director. The Commission is currently acting in a general supervisory role for the Secretariat, overseeing the activities conducted.
The Permanent Secretariat is supported in implementing the BSC activities by sixteen subsidiary bodies: six activity centres, seven advisory groups and three ad hoc working groups (Fig. 6.1). Each group meets regularly, up to twice per year.
The activity centres were designed as in kind contributions of the Contracting Parties (CPs). The situation in several of the countries has changed over time due to government reorganizations and changing budget priorities. Currently, only two of the original six have funding from the CPs to carry out activities to support the BSC. |
|
Figure 6.1 General structure of the Black Sea Commission |
There are a number of criticisms that can be levelled at the current structures, the organization of which are complex and inconsistent. The current organizational structure of the BSC is multi layered. There is little accountability within the existing organizational structure. For example, deadlines missed are often further extended and incomplete activities are rolled over to the next period. The resources, both human and financial, required to maintain such a complex organization is neither cost effective nor sustainable.
The Advisory Groups have a number of issues which need to be addressed including: qualifications of members, continuity in membership and focus on outputs. The Advisory Groups are all supported by a single member of the Secretariat which limits the amount of support available, flexibility for meeting times and other issues. The materials produced by the Advisory Groups are not generally used by the decision makers in the Black Sea countries because they are not seen as being relevant to policy making.
For the EU Accession countries the WFD is part of the .acquis communitaire. Since 2000, the ICPDR is the framework for basin-wide cooperation and serves as the platform for coordination to develop and establish the Danube River Basin Management Plan. The Danube River Basin District has been defined and covers: 1) the Danube River Basin; 2) the Black Sea coastal catchments on Romanian territory; and 3) Black Sea coastal waters along the Romanian and part of the Ukrainian coasts.
By the time the deadline for the completion of the River Basin Management Plan is reached in December 2009 two more Danube countries, Bulgaria and Romania, have become EU Members starting in January 1st, 2007. Although the countries have no reporting obligations until they become EU-Member States, they have fully cooperated through the ICPDR framework. |
