Coordinated Audit on “Transboundary movements of waste in the light of the Basel Convention provisions” by the Supreme Audit Institutions of Poland, Slovak Republic and Ukraine (2nd Edition)

Report ID: 390

The European Union has incorporated the Basel Convention into the Waste Shipment Regulation. It applies automatically and uniformly in the Member States of the European Union without the need for transposition into national law. The regulation is binding to all Member States in its entirety.

In  2007, the Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) of Poland, Ukraine and Slovakia carried out a cooperative audit on transboundary movement of waste between their countries on compliance of international obligations in the management of hazardous waste across the borders of their states.

Taking into consideration some changes in the provision and in order to assess the state of implementation of recommendations included in the first audit, as well as assessing the scope of compliance with the provisions of the “Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal”, the SAIs of Poland, Slovakia and Ukraine agreed to re-conduct the joint international audit within the activities of the EUROSAI Working Group on the Audit of Funds Allocated to Disasters and Catastrophes.

The Coordinator of the audit was the Supreme Audit Office of the Republic of Poland. Period covered by the audit 2015 – 2019 Audits were conducted in Poland, Slovakia and Ukraine in the second half of 2019.

The audit objective was to assess the reliability and effectiveness of activities carried out by authorities responsible for transboundary movements of wastes, including within the international cooperation, in particular: y national authorities competent for auditing procedures applied in transboundary movements of wastes; y national environmental protection authorities competent for auditing entities that dispatch or receive wastes from other countries; y national authorities, in particular border authorities, customs services etc., in the scope of auditing the compliance of the notified type of wastes with the actual content of cargo transported across the border.

Source: https://www.nku.gov.sk/documents/10272/1542112/Final+report+Pol-Slo-Ukr-Ang+2021+v7.pdf

The report of the first edition of the audit is available at:  https://intosai-cooperativeaudits.org/catalog/report/joint-information-on-the-results-of-transboundary-movement-of-waste-between-ukraine-the-republic-of-slovakia-and-the-republic-of-poland-2004-2007-in-the-light-of-the-basel-convention

The national report issued by SAI Slovakia on this second audit is available at: https://intosai-cooperativeaudits.org/catalog/report/2019-final-report-transboundary-movement-of-waste-according-to-basel-convention

Managing interventions in case of sudden pollution in the Adriatic sea – International Parallel Audit

Report ID: 391

From November 2019 until June 2021, the Supreme Audit Institutions of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Italy, Montenegro and Slovenia conducted an international parallel audit on managing interventions in case of sudden pollution in the Adriatic Sea.

As a result, the SAIs signed a Joint statement addressing the urgency to adopt measures aimed at strengthening prevention and management response systems in the case of marine pollution. The environmental risk requires cross-border cooperation for emergency management to be implemented through the adoption of a common emergency response plan for all the States bordering the Adriatic Sea and the organisation of joint exercise programs.

The document is a compendium of short summaries of individual audit reports published by contributing SAIs. Full audit reports and other materials of each individual SAI can be found by following the links provided after each short summary.

Source: https://www.rs-rs.si/en/public-media/news/news/meeting-of-heads-of-supreme-audit-institutions-in-trieste-to-sign-a-joint-statement/

OLACEFS Coordinated Audit on Environmental Liabilities

Report ID: 398

The management of solid and hazardous waste, such as mining waste, as a result of economic activities, is of great relevance, given the negative effects that its lack of management or inadequate management can have on the population, natural resources and ecosystems, which increases the risk of producing environmental liabilities.

Within the framework of the activities of the Technical Commission on the Environment (COMTEMA) of the Latin American and Caribbean Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (OLACEFS), a Coordinated Audit on Environmental Liabilities was carried out to address this issue.

The Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) of Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Honduras, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru and Dominican Republic; as well as the Audit Institutions (SAIs) of the Argentinean Provinces of Buenos Aires and Santa Fe participated in the audit. It was coordinated by the SAIs of Mexico and Peru. In addition, the audit was supported by the German Cooperation through GIZ.

During this audit, the state management for the prevention and integral management of environmental liabilities was evaluated. The audit assessed the actions carried out by the governmental entities responsible for the management (prevention/control and/or restoration) of environmental liabilities and their effect on the mitigation of the damage they cause to the environment. 

As a result of this evaluation, it was possible to analyse the results of the actions taken by 88 public institutions responsible for environmental liabilities in 9 Latin American and Caribbean countries and in 2 Argentinean provinces.

The findings of the Coordinated Audit show that the policy of attention to environmental liabilities, designed and implemented by the institutions evaluated, is not consolidated, which has led to a limited contribution to the preservation of the environment, of the actions of prevention and control of the generation of environmental liabilities and the remediation of existing ones.

Source: https://www.olacefs.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/03-Resumen-Ejecutivo-ACPA-11oct16-English_REVISADO_Setrad.pdf

AUDITORÍA COORDINADA SOBRE ESTRUCTURAS DE GOBERNANZA PARA EL MANEJO INTEGRAL DE LOS PASIVOS AMBIENTALES MINEROS

Report ID: 401

A raíz de la auditoría coordinada en pasivos ambientales de 2015 realizada por la COMTEMA de la OLACEFS, se observaron espacios de mejora para los países de la región, respecto de los riesgos generados por los PAM. Esta situación se evidenció en un sector económico determinante, puesto que la extracción de recursos naturales de origen minero constituye, históricamente, un eje central en la economía regional. Con el fin de ahondar en esta temática y, en el marco de las actividades del Grupo de Trabajo de Obras Públicas de la OLACEFS, se realizó la auditoría coordinada “Estructuras de Gobernanza para el manejo de los pasivos ambientales mineros”.

Esta auditoría fue liderada por la Contraloría General de la República de Chile y contó con la participación de las EFS de Argentina, Bolivia, Brasil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, México, Perú y República Dominicana; así como las entidades de fiscalización subnacionales del estado de Bahía, en Brasil, y la provincia de Buenos Aires, en Argentina.

El objetivo general de la auditoria fue evaluar si los países y unidades subnacionales participantes en la auditoría coordinada cuentan con estructuras de gobernanza y mecanismos de gestión, que permitan implementar acciones para el manejo integral de los PAM. Ello, con énfasis en: a) la identificación de riesgos, b) la priorización de los sitios y c) la implementación de medidas de eliminación, mitigación o control de los riesgos identificados en los sitios priorizados. La auditoría inicio su planificación y capacitaciones en el año 2019.

La ejecución se realizó durante el año 2020 y en el 2021 se realizó la consolidación de los resultados de las auditorías llevadas a cabo por las EFS. Esta auditoría contó con el valioso apoyo de la Cooperación Alemana, por medio de la Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, así como también con el aporte de la Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL) de las Naciones Unidas; el Departamento de Asuntos Económicos y Sociales de las Naciones Unidas (UNDESA); Instituto Federal de Geociencias y Recursos Naturales (BGR); los Grupos de Trabajo de Medio Ambiente (WGEA) y de Industrias Extractivas (WGEI) de INTOSAI; el Programa de Cooperación Regional para la Gestión Sustentable de los Recursos Mineros en los Países Andinos (Programa Minsus).

Fuente: https://minsus.net/olacefs-presenta-principales-resultados-y-hallazgos-de-la-auditoria-coordinada-de-pasivos-ambientales-mineros-en-latinoamerica/

El informe de la primera auditoría de pasivos ambientales de la OLACEFS está disponible aqui: https://intosai-cooperativeaudits.org/catalog/report/informe-regional-de-la-auditora-coordinada-sobre-pasivos-ambientales-de-la-olacefs

Summary report of the results of the Cooperative Audit of the management of water sources in Mekong River Basin in line with the implementation of the SDGs

Report ID: 402

With the aim of affirming the role, position and efforts of ASOSAI Community in fulfilling the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,  a cooperative audit on the management of water resources in Mekong River Basin was  approved at the 55th ASOSAI Governing Board Meeting on July 27, 2020.

The SAIs of  Vietnam (coordinator), Thailand and Myanmar, three of the six countries that share the Mekong River Basin participated in the audit. The three SAIS worked closely together to reach a concensus to sign the Statement of Commitment and Terms of Reference for the cooperative audit on December 12, 2020.

The audit was performed in a context where  the whole basin is facing enormous challenges and negative impacts of climate changes, environmental degradation as well as unsustainable management, exploitation and use of water resources which potentially have a significant effect on the daily lives of more than 65 million people.

The audit was aimed to assess whether the countries concerned have fulfilled the commitments linked to the implementation of SDGs in the Mekong River Basin. The SAIs of Vietnam, Thailand and Myanmar effectively applied the audit approaches which were modern and suitable with international audit practices such as IDI’s SDG Audit Model (ISAM) and Whole-of-Government approach.

The participating SAIs created a mechanism for information exchange and close cooperation with INTOSAI’s Knowledge Sharing Committee (KSC), experts from SAIs of Malaysia, Indonesia, the World Bank (WB) and Canadian Audit and Accountability Foundation (CAAF) in training activities for the audit.

Source: Kindly shared by the SAI of Vietnam-