Environmental audit on the three-border area of Hungary Slovenia and Austria

Report ID: 190

The territory of Hungary includes the deepest parts of the Carpathian basin, the country’s rivers originate in the neighbor countries and their catchments areas are also located mostly there. Due to this fact of Hungarian natural geography and to the prevailing movement of air in the region, the water and air pollutions occurring in the neighbor countries can speedily reach Hungarian territory and the chance of prevention is small. Intensive international cooperation is required for the timely protection against, respectively the treatment of unfavorable environmental impacts, which can affect the country. The government is to coordinate the enforcement of citizens’ rights for a healthy environment with the implementation of environmental treaties and agreements concluded with other countries and international organizations. Interstate treaties were concluded with the aim to protect surface waters and source water bodies in the border areas, and continuous and organized cooperation is in place on the basis of treaties between the local and central agencies of the neighboring countries. The audit targeted primarily the activities of and cooperation between the institutions, authorities being responsible at the regional level. In addition, the total amount of resources coming into the region for funding the running and capital expenses of nature and environment protection was quantified, and the audit included also an assessment of the cooperation realized between the competent bodies of the countries. The audit strove to find an answer to the question of what influence the above-mentioned resources and activities had on meeting the objectives of environment and nature protection, on the condition of environmental elements (i.e. air, waters, soil). The audit assessed also the risk factors with a potential bearing on the environmental condition of the region in question. The audit covered the government ministry responsible for the governance and control of environment and nature protection, as well as the institutions being under its control and providing specific technical services regionally. Activities of concerned local governments were also covered by the audit. The years 2000-2004 and the first quarter of 2005 were subject to the audit.

Audit on the conservation of biodiversity on the area of the planned regional parks Sne?nik and Koevsko Kolpa and in Risnjak National Park

Report ID: 191

In the recent decades we witnessed the reduction of biodiversity and landscape diversity due to negative impacts on the animal and plant species, their habitats and habitat types. Therefore the reduction of the current rate of biodiversity loss at global, regional and national levels is an important step in the conservation and protection of biodiversity.

The countries that are aware of the importance of the conservation of biological diversity have agreed to implement the Convention on Biological Diversity. By signing the Convention they have decided to build up national strategies, plans and programmes in order to provide for the conservation and sustainable use of the biodiversity. For the conservation of biodiversity, i.e. »in situ «conservation, the Convention on Biological Diversity stresses the development of protected areas such as national, regional and landscape parks where the conservation of ecosystems, species and habitats is of high importance.

Croatia and Slovenia are countries with relatively high levels of the biodiversity; their biodiversity index (NBI) ranks them in the first quarter of the European countries. On the territories of Croatia and Slovenia there are wild animals that belong to the endangered European species, among them there are three large carnivores: brown bear, wolf and lynx. Despite the positive biodiversity situation both countries ratified the Convention on Biological Diversity in 1996 and agreed to implement its objectives in order to provide for the efficient protection of biodiversity.

The Supreme Audit Institutions of the two neighbouring countries decided to contribute to the implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity by auditing the establishment or management of the protected areas and by auditing the efficiency of the implementation of the measures for the conservation of biodiversity.

Because the audit findings and the conclusions were comparable, the SAIs published a joint audit report on the protected areas; i.e. Risnjak National Park in Croatia and planned regional parks Snežnik and Kočevsko Kolpa in Slovenia. The areas included in the audit are mainly covered by forests. The forests of Snežnik and Javornik linked with forests of Kočevje and Gorski Kotar com Europe. This is also the habitat of the three large carnivores.

The SAIs assessed the appropriateness of the institutional framework for the conservation and protection of biodiversity and the efficiency of the establishment or management of the protected areas. The special focus was placed on the implementation of the measures for the protection of the large carnivores that exist in those forests. When the audits were completed they issued national audit reports that are available on the web sites of the SAIs.

The audit of the Slovenian SAI included the period from 1996 to the end of 2005 and was implemented at the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food and the Forestry Institute of Slovenia. The audit of the Croatian SAI included the period from 2003 to the end of 2005 and was implemented at the Ministry of Culture, the National Nature Protection Service, the Public Institution Risnjak National Park and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water management.

This report presents the common audit findings, recommendations and summaries of the most important findings. The Appendix includes the explanations of the used terminology.

Umweltschutz im Dreiländereck Ungarn-Österreich und Slowenien

Report ID: 351

Umwelt- und Naturschutz sind entscheidende Faktoren in der modernen Gesellschaft. Da Umweltprobleme nicht an nationalen Grenzen Halt machen, ist eine intensive internationale Zusammenarbeit notwendig, um Umweltverschmutzungen zu verhindern und zu reduzieren. Oberste Rechnungskontrollbehörden (ORKB) haben als unabhängige Organisationen eine besondere Funktion bei der Behandlung dieser Themen.

Mit dem Ziel, zu einem supranationalen Ansatz in Umweltfragen beizutragen, haben die Leiter der ORKB der Republik Ungarn, der Republik Slowenien und der Republik Österreich vereinbart, koordinierte Prüfungen zur Behandlung der häufig identischen Probleme des Umwelt- und Naturschutzes in der Region entlang der gemeinsamen Grenzen der drei Länder durchzuführen. Alle ORKBn hatten bereits Erfahrung mit erfolgreicher bilateraler Prüfungskooperation; diese trilaterale Prüfung stellt einen weiteren Schritt in der Zusammenarbeit und im Austausch von Know-how zwischen den ORKBn der Republik Ungarn, der Republik Slowenien und der Republik Österreich dar.

Angeregt wurde diese trilaterale Kooperation durch die Arbeitsgruppe für Umweltprüfung der Europäischen Organisation der ORKBn (EUROSAI). Die Leiter der drei ORKB sind überzeugt, dass die gewonnenen Erkenntnisse und Die Leiter der drei ORKB sind davon überzeugt, dass die gewonnenen Erkenntnisse und Erfahrungen zur technischen Zusammenarbeit zwischen den ORKB auf dem Gebiet der Umweltprüfung beitragen werden.
Die von den drei ORKBn durchgeführten Umweltprüfungen umfassten die Themen Wasser, Boden und Naturschutz. Das geprüfte Gebiet umfasste die Grenzregion der drei Länder mit Schwerpunkt auf der Region der Grenzflussgebiete Raab/Rába und Mur/Mura sowie Schutzgebiete. Die Audits deckten den Zeitraum 2000-2005 ab, wobei der Schwerpunkt auf den Trends und jüngsten Entwicklungen lag.

Die Hauptziele waren:
- die Qualität von Flüssen, Grundwasser, Boden und natürlichen Lebensräumen
- die Situation der Abwasserentsorgung,
- die Effektivität der behördlichen Maßnahmen zur Förderung des Umwelt- und Naturschutzes sowie der Einsatz der Mittel,
- Defizite und Bedarf an weiteren Maßnahmen.

Bei den Audits wurde besonderer Wert auf die grenzüberschreitende Zusammenarbeit der zuständigen Behörden der drei Länder auf dem Gebiet des Umweltschutzes gelegt.
Die Prüfungen wurden im Sinne einer engen Zusammenarbeit der drei ORKBn durchgeführt. Über die eingehende Abstimmung der Prüfungsergebnisse untereinander hinaus führte jede der drei ORKBn die Prüfung in eigener Zuständigkeit und als Teil ihres jährlichen nationalen Prüfungsprogramms durch. Die Prüfungsergebnisse wurden in separaten nationalen Berichten veröffentlicht und zu dem gemeinsamen Bericht zusammengefasst, der den Anhang zu diesem Kommuniqué bildet und von den drei ORKBn erstellt wurde. 

Quelle: https://www.rechnungshof.gv.at/rh/home/home/Umweltsituation_im_Dreilaendereck_Oesterreich-Ungarn-Slowenien

Joint report on auditing the implementation of flood protection measures on transboundary waters of Ukraine and Republic of Poland

Report ID: 289

In accordance with the Joint Action Plan between the Supreme Audit Institutions of Ukraine and Poland for the years 2004-2005 and the implementation of the Working Plan of the EUROSAI Environmental Audit Working Group for the year 2005, the above-mentioned SAIs carried out an audit in parallel with the implementation of flood control measures in the border waters of Ukraine and the Republic of Poland, countries between which there are international agreements for cooperation in the field of border water management.

The objective of the audit was to assess the implementation of protection measures in the Carpathian region by public authorities and local governments; as well as at the level of intra-state cooperation on transboundary waters. Based on the results of the audit of both SAIs, the joint report was prepared.

Source: https://rp.gov.ua/IntCooperation/IntAudits/?id=813