State Funds Spent on the Enhancement of Purity of Water in the Oder Watershed

Report ID: 30

On October 23, 2001 in Seoul, representatives of the Supreme Chamber of Control of the Republic of Poland, the Supreme Audit Office of the Slovak Republic and the Supreme Audit Office of the Czech Republic (the participating parties) signed a joint standpoint on cooperation in the sphere of carrying out parallel audits of implementation of tasks related to protection of water against pollution in the Baltic Sea Area.

The parties carried out a jointly prepared audit related to the activities organized by state authorities of each of the parties and affecting the quality of water flowing into the Baltic Sea. A summary 'was drown up of financial means of the individual countries, employed to improve water management in the relevant areas.  The results of monitoring water quality were evaluated.

The SAI of Poland, in accord with its competence required that the state authorities implement recommendations connected to audit findings. It also evaluated the fulfilling of tasks following from the previous audit. The audit emphasized activities carried out on trans-boundary waters in the Oder watershed since 1997.

The SAI of the Slovak Republic audited implementation of measures connected to protection of water against pollution in the Dunajec and Poprad Rivers, which waters drain into the Baltic Sea through the other watercourses. Audits were carried out of purposeful and economically effective use of the means of the state budget and stole funds for investments, monitoring and other activities in the period since 1998. No serious inadequacies were found in these areas.

The SAI of the Czech Republic carried out audits of measures implemented since 1996 in the entire watershed of Oder in the territory of the Czech Republic and evaluated the results of monitoring in selected monitoring points in this territory. It summarized the means employed and audited selected recipients of state funds to ascertain whether they complied with the conditions under which this assistance was allocated. Trends in important water pollutants were evaluated and the ecological benefits of subsidies from the State Environmental Fund CR in the Oder watershed were evaluated.

AII the audit authorities were concerned with compliance with international agreements in the given area and stated that these agreements had been fulfilled. The Supreme Chamber of Control of the Republic of Poland pointed out difficulties occurring Since 1998 in connection with absence of the representative of the Government of the Republic of Poland in the frame work of the agreement between the Government of the People's Republic of Poland and the Government of the Czechoslovak Republic on water management on trans-boundary waters on March 21, 1958.

In relation to water quality, it was stated that this has improved over the lost approx. 5 years. This improvement is the result, amongst other things, of substantial l investments and other measures implemented in the individual countries.

Source: https://www.nku.cz/assets/publications-documents/other-publications/state-funds-spent-on-the-enhancement-of-purity-of-water-in-oder-watershed.pdf

Report on auditing the flood control preparedness in the Upper Tisza region

Report ID: 73

The area of the basin of the Upper Tisza is one of Europe’s wettest regions, at high risk from floods. The fundamental cause of the frequent and sizeable floods characteristic of the region, is the hydrometeorological and sinoptic situation, as well as the special location and structure of the beds of mountain rivers, soils and mountain rocks. Floods cause major damage to Ukraine and Hungary alike, and this determines to a large extent the parties’ cooperation in preventing the damaging effects of water and averting the consequences of floods.

The execution of a parallel audit covering the flood control preparedness in the Upper Tisza Region was preceded by an agreement signed in Budapest, on 4 March 2004, by the Presidents of the State Audit Office of Hungary and the Accounting Chamber of Ukraine aimed to monitor the implementation of the contents of the Transboundary Water Agreement signed between their respective countries in 1999, which serves as international legal basis for the cooperation between Hungary and Ukraine in respect of transboundary waters.

The parallel audit was integrated, in case of the Hungarian State Audit Office, in the performance audit task entitled “Audit of Preparations for the Prevention of Natural Disasters”, while in the case of the Accounting Chamber of Ukraine it was a part of the task entitled “Analysis and Audit of the Execution of the State Programme Covering the Complex Flood Control Preparedness of the Catchment Area of the Tisza River and the Sub-Carpathian Region for the Period 2002 to 2006 and the Forecast until 2015”. The audit offices submitted their respective reports to the legislative bodies of their countries.

The joint report presents the summary of the findings made on the Hungarian and Ukrainian sides, as well as the details of the joint conclusions concerning the fields of cooperation, which cover the transboundary waters.

SOURCE: https://rp.gov.ua/IntCooperation/IntAudits/?id=47&lang=eng

AFROSAI-e _Collaborative Audit for Integrating Environmental Risks in an Audit at Local Government

Report ID: 263

During the 2015,  AFROSAI-E Governing Board and Technical Update Meetings, the role of SAIs in addressing critical environmental challenges through their day-day audit activities was discussed. They decided to design a simplistic way to use SAIs’ existing financial and human resources to identify possible areas of improvement supported by solution-driven  planning towards environmental focus and decide to conduct an Environmental Risk Project.

The SAIs of South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Botswana, Sierra Leone, Rwanda and Tanzania decided to participate in the program, which comprised, among others, the development of an e-learning programme, in collaboration with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), the execution of parallel audits and the development of a joint publication.

Find attached (in a merged file) the joint publication explaining the project methodology, as well as the  AUDIT REPORT ON MANAGEMENT OF SOLID WASTE IN HUYE DISTRICT – 2016 preparared by SAI Ruanda, as a result of the audit conducted in the framework of the Project.

Source: https://afrosai-e.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Integrating-Environmental-Audit-Risks-in-Audit-at-LG-level-Brochure1_00.pdf

Joint Report on the parallel audit "Protection of the waters in the Bug River catchment area from pollution"

Report ID: 269

In 2006, the Supreme Audit Institutions of the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Poland and Ukraine conducted a parallel audit “Protection of the Bug river drainage basin waters against pollution”. The audit was conducted based on cooperation agreements signed  among the three participating SAIs.

Before audit commencement, in February 2006, SAI – audit members agreed and signed “Joint position on the scope of parallel audit regarding protection of the Bug river drainage basin waters from pollution” and methodology (goal, scope, audit criteria, procedures, etc).

The parallel audit objective was to analyze and assess:

− The international cooperation as regards pollution protection of cross-border drainage basin waters of the Bug river, implementation of assumptions and leading recommendations of the pilot project regarding the implementation and assessment the pollution of cross-border drainage basin waters of the Bug river, in accordance with the provisions of Convention of the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes,

− Investment activities undertaken in order to improve the purity of the Bug river drainage basin waters as well as effectiveness of utilization of financial funds allocated for such activities.

The audit covered the period of 2003 – 2005 and 2006.

Source: https://rp.gov.ua/upload-files/IntCooperation/IntAudits/31-12-2008%2010-00-00/Zvit_Protection_Bug.pdf

Joint Report on the Results of the Parallel Audit of Implementation of the Agreement on Transboundary Water Issues Signed by the Government of the Slovak Republic and the Government of Ukraine

Report ID: 272

The SAIs of the Slovak Republic and Ukraine carried out the Parallel Audit of Implementation of the Agreement on Transboundary Water Issues signed by the Government of the Slovak Republic and the
Government of Ukraine.

The purpose of the audit was to verify and assess:

- implementation of the Agreement on Transboundary Water Issues signed by the Governments of the Slovak Republic and Ukraine;
- adherence to the Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes.

The Joint Report includes the summary of the findings made on the Slovak and Ukrainian sides, as well as joint conclusions and recommendations concerning the issues of the water management development in the area of Slovak-Ukrainian transboundary waters.

Source: https://rp.gov.ua/upload-files/IntCooperation/IntAudits/31-12-2007%2009-00-00/Zvit_water.pdf