REC Powerpoint template

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The Regional Environmental Center for Central and
Eastern Europe (REC)

• is a non-partisan, non-advocacy,
  not-for-profit international organisation with a
  mission to assist in solving environmental
  problems ()
• The REC is legally based on a charter signed by
  the governments of 29 countries and the European
  Commission
• Head Office in Szentendre,
  Hungary
• Offices in 17 countries
• Annual turnover in 2006
• around EUR 10 ml
• 300 projects in 2006
• 190 staff (some 30 nationalities)

REC Video Click!
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REC beneficiaries

• Turkey
• Balkan Countries
• New EU members Bulgaria and Romania
• EU countries Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary,
  Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia

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Donors

• RECENT DONORS
• European Commission
• The governments of Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and
  Herzegovina, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic,
  Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany,
  Hungary, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, the
  Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia,
  Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the
  United States
• Other inter-governmental and private institutions

THE TOTAL CONTRIBUTION OF DONORS GIVEN TO CEE
THROUGH THE REC EXCEEDED 100 MILLION EUROS!
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RECs motto Building bridges

• The REC bridges decisions and actions
• The REC bridges stakeholders
• The REC bridges regions
• The REC bridges donors and beneficiaries

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The REC bridges decisions and actions

• The REC works in the field to facilitate
  political decisions in its beneficiary regions
• Over 3500 projects since 1990
• Environmental information
• Environmental policy
• Environmental law
• NGO support
• Climate Change
• Capacity building
• Public participation
• Sectoral integration
• Environmental education

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The REC bridges stakeholders
Government
NGOs
Government
NGOs
The REC
Local Governments
Business
Local Governments
Business
Citizens
Citizens
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The REC bridges regions

• The RECs inputs have became an integral part of
  key international mechanisms and partnerships.
• Contribution to European and Global Processes
• International Mandates / International
  Secretariat support
• Partnerships

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The REC bridges donors and beneficiaries

• The REC serves as a unique mechanism for
  implementing political decisions
• Regional Environmental Reconstruction Programme
  for South Eastern Europe
• Local Environmental Action Plans
• Strategic Environmental Assessments
• Legal support EU harmonisation
• Implementation of the Aarhus Convention
• Public Participation
• Renewable Energy
• Biodiversity Projects
• Capacity building, NGO trainings
• Education for Sustainable Development

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Partnership in focus

• The REC fulfils this mission by promoting
  cooperation among non-governmental organisations,
  governments, businesses and other environmental
  stakeholders, and by supporting the free exchange
  of information and public participation in
  environmental decision making
• The REC has developed, promoted and implemented
  numerous varieties of models and tools to address
  environmental challenges, such as stakeholder
  engagement, clearing house mechanism, capacity
  building and regional/international partnerships
• The REC aims to support the implementation and
  the enforcement of the acquis communautaire in
  the new EU member states and transfer the lessons
  learned about building environmental democracy to
  countries in the CEE region

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Partnerships

• EEA Several topic centers of the European
  Environment Agency
• EC - Environmental Experts Group on Structural
  Funds (DG Env.)
• OECD - EAP Task Force, Development Assistance
  Committee Working G. on SEA
• UNDP - Danube and Black Sea Task Force
• UNEP - Finance Initiative Task Force, Joint work
  on the Carpathians Convention, Partnership for
  Clean Fuels and Vehicles
• CSD Commission on Sustainable Development
• UNECE - Cooperation with UNECE on the
  implementation of the Aarhus Convention, the
  Espoo Convention, the International Water
  Convention, the International Accidents
  Convention and related protocols
• ICPDR - International Commission for the
  Protection of the Danube River
• MEDREP Mediterranean Renewable Energy Programme
  Initiative
• E3G, HBLF, VIU, CEU, Agroinnova, Bellagio Forum,
  IUCN, EPE, AMCHAM
• TOYOTA, JIBIC, Philips, GE, ITDH
• EECCA RECs

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Implementation

• REC carries out projects with the support of
  the country and field office network with
  programmes, topic areas and funds
• TAs were introduced in 2004 as a tool to better
  organise and manage the existing expertise and
  knowledge within the network of 16 Country
  Offices of the REC.
• The topic areas are managed by REC experts based
  in different countries
• This development is a direct result of the
  continuous efforts over the last years to
  strengthen the synergies within the organisation,
  to build on the accumulated experience and
  knowledge and fully use the available in-house
  expertise.

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Operation of the REC beyond CEE

• EECCA, Asia, Africa, Latin-America
• Transfer of experience, e.g.
• enforcement and compliance
• strategic environmental assessment

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Climate Change Department

• Capacity-building activities to support the
  implementation of the UN Framework Convention on
  Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol in all
  beneficiary countries
• Promotion of flexible mechanisms under the Kyoto
  Protocol (JI, CDM, IET)
• Support of the implementation of the EU
  activities in the field of Climate Change
• Adaptation
• Support the development of new mechanisms (Green
  Investment Schme)

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Green Investment Scheme an instrument to
achieve sustainable economic growth

• GIS facilitates foreign investment into the
  country
• GIS Fund (Ecological Investment Agency Ukrainian
  case) channels the money towards the projects
  reducing the GHG directly or indirectly
• As a long-term financing mechanism GIS can cover
  small scale projects as well as non-quantifiable
  GHG reduction projects
• Less complicated procedures compared to JI. For
  instance, the rules for baselines and monitoring
  can be simplified.

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Ukraine and GIS challenges ahead

• Ukraine is in the beginning of the process
• Assigned Amount Units is an asset needing proper
  management over the two Kyoto Commitment periods
• Legislative and regulatory framework is be be set
  up
• Institutional framework first step done
  (Ecological Investment Agency)
• REC is happy to support this workshop which
  hopefully contributes towards the establishment
  of GIS
• Funds came through the Japan Special Fund (JSF)
  established by the Government of Japan within
  the REC.

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• Thank you for your attention!