Sustaining Partnerships into the Next Century
(SPAN) Project

Quarterly Progress Report
April to June 2000

ECOLOGIA (USA)/ Ecoline (Russia)

To facilitate sustainable development in the Russian Federation by promoting public participation in decision-making concerning the implementation of modern environmental management based on internationally approved EMS (Environmental Management System) approaches.

Project Objectives:

  1. To increase project efficiency and effectiveness, ECOLOGIA/Ecoline will rationally select (based on the results from a specially designed questionnaire) target regions, enterprises, NGOs, governments to participate in project activities.
  2. ECOLOGIA/Ecoline will conduct environmental assessments and prepare recommendations concerning EMS development and implementation at chosen facilities.
  3. ECOLOGIA/Ecoline will conduct a series of EMS training and awareness workshops focusing on international, national, and regional case studies for target project participants.
  4. To increase project impact and to promote wider acceptance of EMS in the Russian Federation, ECOLOGIA/Ecoline will organize a special EMS help desk support service to provide consultations and disseminate information (both via Internet and in person).
  5. ECOLOGIA/Ecoline will contribute to the development of policy recommendations on environmental management systems (at regional, national and international levels).
  6. In order to focus international attention on the use and need for EMS in the Russian Federation, ECOLOGIA/Ecoline will present project results and case studies at international forums on EMS - and will bring back international perspectives on EMS to the NGOs, governments and businesses in the Russian Federation.

Progress Report According to Achievement Plan Outcomes and Outputs

OUTCOME 1:
Conducting environmental site assessment (introductory environmental audits) and on-site training.

Output:
During the first quarter a special questionnaire was prepared and sent out to the selected target regions, enterprises, NGOs, and governments. Leading regional partner NGOs visited some of the sites. Questionnaire responses were evaluated; target enterprises and regions were selected based on their responses. Project participants will be selected from the Central Russia (Vladimir region), the Urals (Sverdlovsk region), and Siberia (Tomsk region).

In order to present the project approach to industries, NGOs and authorities, Ecoline staff traveled to Gus-Khrustalny and Kurlovo in the Vladimir region (which was selected as a target region for project activities). In order to utilize contacts established during the implementation of the previous SPAN project, Ecoline staff and experts visited the "Simvol" glass factory, the Gus-Khrustalny Committee for Environmental Protection, and the environmental NGOs "Planeta" and "Meschera" - all of whom participated in previous project activities. Ecoline staff met with representatives of "Red Echo," a progressive enterprise in the region that is already implementing a quality management system. "Red Echo" president Yu. Klegg suggested that one of the "Red Echo" glass industries could become a pilot project site, while other "Red Echo" industries (as well as neighboring enterprises) would join project workshops and other events. An initial agreement to undertake a preliminary environmental assessment of the site and to conduct a workshop in August was achieved.

Taking budget limitations into consideration, Ecoline explored opportunities to use other resources to help achieve project objectives. Since Ecoline is currently engaged in a project in the Tomsk area (funded by the Matra Programme), it was considered to be a wise use of resources to also focus Siberian SPAN project activities there. Thus, an overview of the SPAN project was presented to Siberian colleagues during a field trip undertaken as part of Ecoline's Matra project. The SPAN project questionnaire was circulated to enterprises in Tomsk, Kemerovo and Krasnoyarsk . The respective responses were analyzed. As a result, Tomsk instrumental plant "Instrument" and Tomsk aviation company were invited to participate in the SPAN project.
 
 
OUTCOME 2:
Organizing training and awareness workshops and liaising with federal, regional and local institutions.

Output:
ECOLOGIA/Ecoline produced a special tailor made set of training materials, explaining pollution prevention principles, the major elements and structure of environmental management, and related Russian and international standards and policies.

The first information workshop was conducted in Moscow, 29-30 June 2000. Twenty eight target group members attended the workshop - including interested civil activists (NGO leaders), enterprise managers and supervisors, and federal, regional and local governmental officials. Project questionnaires were completed by representatives from the Leningrad, Moscow, Vladimir, Perm' and Sverdlovsk regions, as well as by industry managers representing the Republic of Bashkortostan. Participants were encouraged to share knowledge and materials gained at the SPAN project workshops with others in the institutions they represent (i.e., government agencies, industry, NGOs). Lessons learned at the workshop will be considered in the development of future project workshops and materials.

In addition, a short working meeting with regional project coordinators was held in order to plan future project activities in greater detail. It was agreed that the next series of events would happen in the Vladimir region, while the Sverdlovsk and the Tomsk regions would begin working with the Ecoline help desk service.

Despite difficulties connected with the restructuring of the RF environmental protection authorities, project events and activities gained attention from officials at the federal (I. Limonova and A. Kuznetsova from Goscomecologia, O. Yatsenko from Gosstandart) and regional (A. Adam from the Tomsk region Goscomecologia, V. Tseveliov from the Vladimir region Goscomecologia, A. Varnakov from the Ryazan region Goscomecologia) levels.
 
 
OUTCOME 3:
Providing EMS help desk service for project participants and other interested parties.

Output:
Ecoline's EMS website, developed during the implementation of the first SPAN project, has been enriched (http://www.ecoline.ru/mc/management). ECOLOGIA's site dealing with ISO 14000 and EMS issues for NGOs (http://www.ecologia.org/iso14000) has been completely re-designed and includes new publications and references. An Internet discussion on EMS implementation, which was initiated at the Ecoline site during the previous SPAN project, continues to be visited and utilized by interested parties. In addition, an Internet discussion on ISO 14000 and NGOs was begun at ECOLOGIA's site.

ECOLOGIA/Ecoline Help Desk Support services are available via:

  • e-mail consultations;
  • Ecoline website (http://www.ecoline.ru/mc/ - site of Ecoline's methodological center where one may find documents, case studies, project descriptions, handbooks on environmental monitoring, environmental impact assessment, environmental information, etc.);
  • telephone and fax requests;
  • visits to the Ecoline office in Moscow or to the regional project partners' offices where consultations are provided.

On a weekly basis Ecoline provided necessary information and additional explanations to 10-15 project participants (regional NGOs, industry, government representatives) who are either involved actively in project implementation, and/or have expressed interest in being regularly updated. ECOLOGIA also provided information on EMS and the ISO 14000 standards for website/Internet discussion visitors.

The most frequent requests and a brief description of the materials provided are reflected in the table below.
NoRequest typeMaterials provided
1Information on the EMS standards introduced by the RF GovernmentA list of Gosstandart (State Organization for Standardization) ISO 14000 documents.
Selected copies of the above standards.
Ecoline articles on EMS and related issues.
2Information on the EMS international standards (BS 7750, EMAS, ISO 14000)Ecoline reviews and articles.
Selected copies in English.
Various publications.
Information on Internet availability of the documents needed.
3Information on the involvement of the general public and NGOs in the development of EMSEcoline reviews and articles, case study descriptions.
Information on Internet availability of the documents needed.
4Information on pollution prevention, cleaner production, "Responsible Care" and other approaches used by the foreign companies (case studies).Various articles, case study descriptions, glossaries, materials produced during the project implementation (such as those based on UNEP EMS Implementation Guide).
Information on Internet availability of the documents needed.
5Descriptions of the regional environmental management initiatives.Case study descriptions, information on related (including those of Ecoline) projects
6Sample environmental policies and reports.Selected copies in English and Russian.
Information on Internet availability of the documents needed.
7Russian environmental laws, technical documents and standards.Selective copies.
Ecoline reviews and articles.
Information on Internet availability of the documents needed.

Outcome 4:
Increasing the participation of citizens and NGOs in economically sustainable, environmentally sound decision-making via their active participation in EMS promotion and implementation.

Output:
General public and NGOs are reached in the most efficient and practical way and involved in EMS promotion and implementation.

During the first quarter regional partner NGOs in Ekaterinburg, Moscow and Tomsk established small exhibits of project-related literature and documents in their offices and provided help desk services for citizens.

EMS related information was presented at

  • Open House library events in Gus-Khrustalny;
  • Environmental NGOs meetings in Moscow, Irkutsk, Saint-Peterburg, Tomsk, and Novokuznetsk;
  • National Park spring environmental actions in Spas-Klepiki and Urshel';
  • University students' meetings in Moscow, Tomsk, Ufa and Ekaterinburg.

A brochure written and published as a result of the first SPAN project has been widely distributed (about 800 copies have been disseminated all over the RF) to raise public awareness.

OUTCOME 5:
Assisting state environmental agencies in the preparation of national recommendations on EMS (translation of the international standards into national and regional policy) and presenting project case studies and participating in international forums.

Outputs:
The first draft of recommendations on EMS implementation has been prepared and submitted to the Federal Committee for Environmental Protection.

Due to the current restructuring of environmental authorities in the RF, it is difficult to predict the future of the above recommendations. Currently, the draft recommendations are being used in SPAN project materials (for target industries and environmental specialists).

In June ECOLOGIA and Ecoline jointly presented information on EMS implementation in RF at the plenary meeting of the International Organization for Standardization's Technical Committee 207 (the committee responsible for the ISO 14000 series of standards on environmental management) in Stockholm. At the ISO/TC207 plenary, ECOLOGIA/Ecoline representatives were panelists in a roundtable discussion devoted to the issue of environmental reporting and presented a paper on external communication partially based on Russian experience in this area (see Attachment 1).
 
 
 
Dr. A. Cherp, A. Deutschler and Dr. T. Guseva participated in NGO Contact Group meetings at the plenary. The Contact Group seeks to encourage the participation of NGOs in ISO/TC207 and facilitate greater understanding of the ISO 14000 standards in the NGO community. Within the Contact Group, ECOLOGIA and Ecoline representatives sought to emphasize the importance of NGOs for disseminating EMS information in economies in transition (see Attachment 2).

Ecoline (Dr. T. Guseva, Dr. M. Khotulyova, Dr. Y. Molchanova, H. Zaika, S. Daiman, Dr. A. Khachaturov) and ECOLOGIA (Dr. A. Cherp) project participants presented project ideas, approaches, findings at the EMAS Eastwards international seminar in Moscow on 3-4 April. The seminar was sponsored by the European Union to promote their Environmental Management & Auditing Scheme (EMAS).

Ecoline participants (Dr. T. Guseva and H. Zaika) took part in a workshop held at the Center for Wildlife protection on 5 May. They presented Ecoline's experience in management of industries located within protected landscapes.
 
 
 
 

ATTACHMENT 1
Environmental Management Roundtable,
Focusing on Performance Evaluation and External Communications

Stockholm, June 14, 2000
 
ECOLOGIA
(ecologia@ecologia.org,
www.ecologia.org/iso14000)
Position paper

THE VALUE OF EXTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS

External communications support the main goals of EMS in the following two ways:

  1. Through ensuring the information flow from various stakeholders to the organization, they help to meaningfully define the organization's environmental policy, targets, as well as operational performance, environmental condition and management performance indicators.
  2. Through ensuring the information flow from the organization to various stakeholders they promote the credibility of EMS (and any EMS standards such as the ones of ISO 14000 series).
Thus, external communications are instrumental in establishing a credible, efficient, and effective EMS.

In addition to their 'instrumental' value, external communications may also be considered as a value in themselves. This happens within organizations who want to demonstrate their commitment to citizens' environmental rights and who share the conviction that an improved access to environmental information would enhance the quality and the implementation of environmental decisions, enable consumers to make informed environmental choices and promote democratic decision-making mechanisms.

According to ECOLOGIA's experience, voluntary environmental reporting can lead to the enhanced confidence of investors and shareholders and easier access to investment market. Active involvement of stakeholders can help the organization better identify priorities of environmental programs, improve training programs for employees, develop new directions of environmental marketing and encourage the trust of regulators.

KEY PRINCIPLES OF EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENTAL COMMUNICATIONS

  • External communication should be interactive and work in both ways
  • External communication should be sensitive to the needs of both the organization and its stakeholders with whom the organization intends to communicate. External communications should not discriminate different audiences based on their language, technical skills, race or other factors. Thus, the content and form of external communications should be developed in a participatory manner
  • External communications should be objective, use sound data sources, be clear and accessible to its intended audiences (in terms of language, form of presentation, etc.)

THE SUGGESTED SCOPE OF A GUIDANCE ON EXTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS

There is a need for several kinds of guidance on external communication: process-oriented as well as product-oriented. The former guidance should focus on the process of developing and implementing an external communication program (for example, in relation to EMS introduction and implementation, certification, environmental labelling etc.). The latter may involve specific advice on information products, such as environmental reports, which constitute such a program. It is also possible that both types of guidance are combined in a single document.

'Process-oriented' guidance

Guidance of this type may cover the main principles (see above) and the essential elements (stages) of the process of external communication accompanying certain organization's activities such as:

  • identifying the objectives and audiences of the external communication program;
  • identifying the existing information which may serve these information needs and any related issues of confidentiality;
  • identifying the types of information to be communicated (these may be, for example, performance indicators of different types as appropriate to the needs of the audiences), in which form it should be communicated (what should be the information products?);
  • setting up responsibilities for external communication (including data collection, analysis, validation (if necessary by a third party) and dissemination);
  • monitoring the quality, performance and effectiveness of external communications and adjusting them if and as necessary.

Guidance should emphasize that all these elements of the communication strategy should be performed in consultation with key stakeholders, such as the local community, government regulators, and other interested parties.

Additionally, such guidance should also define 'environmental information' which should be included in external communications.

Product-oriented guidance

This type of guidance covers the content and format of particular information products used in external communication, such as periodic environmental statements, environmental reports, or Internet sites, etc. It is possible that several types of guidance might be needed depending on particular information products. For example, guidance on producing a validated Environmental Statement may follow the principles outlined in EMAS (esp. Article 5).

Essential content elements of any external communications

The form and the content of the external communications should be appropriate to its objectives and serve the needs of the intended audiences. Ideally, the objectives and the audience of the external communications should be clear from its content. Other key elements of external communications may be the following:

  • Methods of obtaining data and arriving at conclusions should be acknowledged as well as any external data sources
  • External communication should use widely recognized frameworks for assembling and presenting the data, such as, for example, the one defined in ISO 14031
  • Care should be taken in the presentation of information to make sure that it is accessible to the non-specialist. The layout of the communications should enable the reader to find and assimilate data easily and quickly
  • Unnecessarily technical or obscure language should be avoided. Technical terms, acronyms and initials should be defined.
  • Information should be presented without bias and receive the emphasis appropriate to its importance in the context of the EMS. Prominence and emphasis should be given to potentially significant environmental issues. Adverse impacts should not be disguised.

Possible forms of external communications

External communication can take a variety of forms depending on their purpose and intended audiences. If external communications are considered as essentially a two-way activity, then the following forms of communication may be useful:

  • production of special printed or electronic documents and disseminating them to concerned audiences (or making them publicly available e.g. through libraries or Internet sites); such reports might be validated by a third party to increase their credibility;
  • establishing more open access procedure for existing documents and information;
  • organizing public hearing, public meetings, "open door" events, exhibitions, seminars, etc. where communication is occurring more interactively;
  • setting up hot-lines and other services for disseminating information and collecting stakeholders' comments; conducting surveys for the latter purpose.
There is no 'most effective' form of external communications - it is not a particular form, but the process of determining it which defines the success of a communication strategy.

The potential value of a new ISO document on external communications

Potential benefits of ISO guidance on external communications include:

  • standardized guidance could reduce confusion for stakeholders and organizations about what to communicate and how;
  • guidance developed by ISO would use ISO terminology and could be easier for organizations to implement;
  • organizations may be more inclined to use communication guidance developed (and, thus, sanctioned) by ISO;
  • stakeholders may be more willing to accept external communications developed according to ISO guidance;
  • if implemented, ISO guidance on external communication will reinforce and promote other ISO standards and guidance (as described elsewhere above)
  • ISO guidance on external communication will act in synergy with other international conventions and treaties, such as the Århus Convention, regulating access to environmental information.

 
 
 
 

ATTACHMENT 2

PRESENTATION OF ECOLOGIA

for Environmental Management Roundtable,
Focusing on Performance Evaluation and External Communication,
Stockholm, June 14, 2000

GENERAL OVERVIEW OF ECOLOGIA AND ITS RELEVANT PROJECTS AND DOCUMENTS

Ecologia is a private, non-profit international organization providing information, training and technical support for grassroots environmental groups. Ecologia was founded in 1989 with the idea that the support of grassroots organizations promotes the development of public participation and community decision-making skills, which are preconditions for peace, democracy and sustainable development.

Ecologia promotes and supports public participation in environmental decision-making by providing training, professional quality technical information, advice and environmental monitoring capability to NGOs and local governments.

Ecologia facilitates international co-operation in resolving environmental and related problems. While Ecologia's initial focus was on Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, currently it has offices and programs in eight countries on all continents except Africa.

RELEVANT PROJECTS AND PUBLICATIONS OF ECOLOGIA

Ecologia aims to promote transparent, publicly accountable, environmentally effective and economically efficient EMS, especially in low- and middle-income countries. The main areas of Ecologia's work in this direction include:

  • Education to increase public awareness of ISO 14000;
  • Capacity building such as training and information dissemination directed primarily at SMEs, local and regional governments and NGOs;
  • Involvement in national and international standard-setting processes promoting transparency and participatory nature of ISO 14000 standards
  • Co-operation with enterprises and other stakeholders at the local level promoting dialogue between businesses and local communities within the framework of introducing EMS
Ecologia's US office began participating in the US TAG to TC207 in 1996 and attended the 6th plenary of TC207 in San Francisco. In 1998, Ecologia became a liaison to SC1 and began actively participating in the work of this subcommittee. In 1999 Ecologia participated in the 7th plenary of TC207 in Seoul.

Since the Spring of 2000, Ecologia co-ordinates the NGO Initiative on ISO 14000 which is currently organized around an electronic discussion group with 25 members from at least 13 countries and an Internet site providing general information and original publications for NGOs and featuring on-line discussions of key documents.

Since 1997 Ecologia has been involved in a number of projects aimed at the wider promotion of environmental management systems in the Russian Federation. The general goal of this program has been to help small-to-medium sized enterprises implement EMS with input and support from local stakeholders. Ecologia works directly with enterprise employees, NGOs and regional governments to help develop effective environmental management strategies and facilitate open, public dialogues. Companies participating in the project are expected to actively solicit community concerns when developing their EMS. The project has enabled 15 enterprises to date in developing EMS at their facilities, with three sites serving as long-term EMS pilot projects. Four more enterprises are slated to begin EMS pilot project activities in 2000-2001.

Additionally, Ecologia works on supporting EMS introduction in the Republic of Belarus through publications, training and advice to enterprises.

Ecologia has published and made available through the Internet eight manuals and pieces of guidance related to EMS, other forms of voluntary environmental activities, collecting, analyzing and providing public access to environmental information, environmental indicators, and public participation in environmental decision-making.

CONCERNS AND INTERESTS OF ECOLOGIA AND ITS CONSTITUENTS IN EMS, PERFORMANCE EVALUATION AND EXTERNAL COMMUNICATION

Ecologia's interest in external communication has two origins. First, we are convinced, based on our experience, that external communication is a key aspect of any credible and effective EMS, especially in transitional and developing countries. They are also a precondition for the success of national EMS standards. Secondly, we believe that a meaningful external communication requirement would have a value in itself by supporting citizens' environmental rights, increasing public awareness and participation, and contributing to building democratic societies.

Regarding the first point, Ecologia has concluded that adoption of EMS and the ISO 14 000 standards in transitional economies may result in two different scenarios. Under what we call 'a positive scenario', EMS standards significantly contribute to sustainable development through improving environmental protection, reconciling environmental and economic objectives and facilitating more equitable development in developing and transitional nations. In particular: *

  • EMSs can encourage industries going beyond existing environmental standards (which are often inadequate, obsolete, non-realistic or simply absent) and they can supplement largely inefficient government environmental regulation; *
  • EMS can facilitate economic development through opening access to new markets, attracting investment, and promoting economic efficiency; *
  • EMS can improve corporate governance and help the transition to a market economy; *
  • EMS can promote democracy through increased transparency and stakeholder involvement in corporate environmental decision-making;.
Under the second, 'negative' scenario, the value of EMS will be largely weakened and introducing EMS standards may even be counter-productive to sustainable development. They will harm effective environmental protection, delay democratic and market transition, encouraging close and corrupted industry-government relations, and lead to monopolization and inequality. This may happen when
  • EMS standards are introduced largely to meet external demands (such as the international trade or conventions requirements) rather than to deal with domestic issues;
  • Domestic stakeholders are not involved in and do not understand the process of introducing ISO 14000 standards in environmental regulation; it is particularly common for many countries in transition where the process of ISO 14001 certification is dominated by traditionally closed national bureaucracies
  • ISO 14000 standards are implemented in the regulatory context which OECD has recently described as involving excessive discretion and arbitrary decision-making by public officials as they perpetrate 'administered' economic relations and encourage corruption
The above analysis highlights that the difference between the 'negative' and the 'positive' scenario is largely in the degree of transparency and accountability with which EMS are introduced and regulated. Thus, Ecologia views external communication is a key factor determining the success of EMS in transitional economies.

Secondly, Ecologia believes in the value of external communication as a tool for providing citizens access to environmental information. The recent Århus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters stated that improved access to environmental information:

  • enhance[s] the quality and the implementation of decisions, contribute to public awareness of environmental issues, give the public the opportunity to express its concerns and enable public authorities to take due account of such concerns ..."
  • strengthens public support for decisions on the environment.
  • promotes environmental education, public awareness and participation
  • enables [consumers] ... to make informed environmental choices
  • promotes democracies;
Thus, in our view, external communications not only provide for effective EMS, but also, in a wider context, contribute to environmental protection, sustainable development and democratic transitions.

WHAT ARE THE DRIVING NEEDS FOR ECOLOGIA ACTIVITIES

Ecologia activities serve the need of promoting EMS in transitional societies. Both governments and industries in these societies need efficient and effective EMSs. Additionally and more importantly, Ecologia serves the needs of NGOs and the public whose access to environmental information and capacity to influence environmentally significant decisions affecting their lives is currently restricted.

Ecologia serves these needs by enhancing local EMS implementation capacities. These capacities are typically very poor resulting in a danger of non-transparent, non-accountable and formalistic implementation of ISO 14000 series standards. In this context such NGOs as Ecologia and its partners have a special role to play.

KEY PARTICIPANTS IN ECOLOGIA PROJECTS/DOCUMENTS

Ecologia's NGO Initiative on ISO 14 000 currently involves 25 members representing NGOs, businesses, universities and research organizations from at least 13 countries. The recent Ecologia projects in Russia have involved the following key constituencies:

  • More than 20 government agencies including standardization and environmental authorities of federal, regional (from at least six European and Asian regions) and local levels of the Russian Federation;
  • Over 40 local and regional NGOs (ranging from grassroots citizen groups to non-profit service-providers) from European and Asian parts of Russia;
  • Several universities and academic research institutions;
  • Industries from all parts of the country: oil, electronics, textile, lead battery, glass, construction, leather, wood processing, food industries, power stations. Of these 15 participated in pilot projects and on-site training, 20 other companies attended more general training and working meetings.
In addition, Ecologia worked with industries in Kazakhstan and Belarus, while participants from Ukraine took part in its workshops.

RELATIONSHIP WITH GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS

The relationship of Ecologia's activities with governmental regulations is multi-faceted as follows:

  1. Ecologia and its partners participate in discussing national and regional government regulations and providing advice on the best international experience
  2. Ecologia and its partners are involved in building capacities of local, regional and national governments through providing them with training and information within the framework of capacity building initiatives
  3. Ecologia's and its partners' publications supplement and clarify government regulations.

ISSUES AND EXPERIENCE IN THE DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF ACTIVITIES

Ecologia's experience has demonstrated that EMSs can be effective in a transitional country if they are implemented in a transparent and accountable manner and accompanied by a dialogue of stakeholders. In particular, the benefits of EMS could be divided into environmental, economic and socio-political.

In environmental field many enterprises (e.g. glass, glass fibre and crystal producing industries, a cable industry, textile factories) participating in Ecologia's pilot projects have demonstrated improved environmental performance (decreased emissions, discharges, losses, waste generation, intensified used of water and raw materials).

In economic field benefits partially resulted from improved utilization of raw materials, but also from an easier access to investment market (as a building industry and a machinery plant in the Central Russia) or develop new directions of environmental marketing (as a pharmaceutical company in the Baikal region). Additionally, general management systems have improved (for example through improvements in staff training programs at a photochemical company, a cable plant and several glass industries) leading to better corporate governance and, potentially, to long-term increase in economic performance.

Most importantly, pilot EMS projects have resulted in a social dialogue which contributed to consolidation of local democracies, social stability and, eventually, spurred additional economic and environmental benefits. For example, participating industries in Siberia reached an agreement with environmental authorities on pollution prevention measures. In Central Russia environmental actions of a national park were supported by local industries as well as public environmental monitoring activities. In the North-West a lead battery plant is developing a battery recycling program with local environmental groups.

In those cases where companies did not take into consideration needs and expectations of stakeholders, developing external environmental communications, face severe problems. Thus, the only formally ISO-14000 certified industry in Russia has given up its EMS development and even use of the certificate for marketing purposes due to public criticism and negative perception of governmental agencies.

HOW BROADLY ARE YOUR ACTIVITIES IMPLEMENTED AND HOW IS THE SUCCESS MEASURED

It was already mentioned that Ecologia's EMS program involves a wide spectrum of enterprises and communities across Russia. Participating companies have ranged from large (over 2000 employees involved in electric cable production) industrial enterprises (TG: specifics?) to a small hotel (10 employees) in Siberia.

The success of Ecologia's activities is currently measured by:

  • improved environmental performance (via EMS related measures)
  • the number of EMSs being developed in a participatory manner
  • personnel trained on site
  • governments, NGOs, parliaments, industry managers participating in training programs and asking for consultations
  • demand of EMS related training programs, consultations, methodological materials, etc.

CONCLUSION

Ecologia's experience in transitional and developing countries indicates that the value of EMS critically depends upon the degree of its accountability to and credibility with the stakeholders. These two factors are enhanced by both adopting more specific guidance on external communication and strengthening capacities of industries, governments and NGOs to implement this guidance.