Horizontal environmental policy

Editor's note 3Jul14: Sources D142-3 and D242-4.

Implementation

During the 1990s and early 2000s, the principal formal actor for the implementation of horizontal environmental policy was the Heraklion Prefectural Department for the Natural Environment. Since 2010, the department has been incorporated into the structure of the regional administration, effectively becoming the Department for the Natural Environment of the Heraklion Regional Unit. 

Application for a license to the Prefectural Department has had to include the opinions of several other services, primarily the Heraklion Forest Service, the Heraklion Prefectural Department of Industry (for mechanical installations) and the Department of Spatial Planning regarding compliance with land-use regulations.

For projects above a certain size, EIAs have to be submitted to higher levels of government, usually the central ministries. In case of rejection, applicants may resort to higher levels of government (Head of the Prefecture, Minister of Public Works, Planning and the Environment (replaced/renamed since 2009)).

These administrative units have been changing throughout the last 30 years, creating a general uncertainty with regard to competences and appropriate levels of government for intervention.

An additional role for environmental licensing rests with the General Directorate for Environment and Planning (GDPSE), which has been under the General Secretary of the Region and is now under the General Secretary of the devolved-authority. Based in Heraklion, the GDPSE is the general environmental licensing authority for most public works including roads and other transport infrastructure, waste and wastewater management facilities.

Private investors and businesses are, by definition, formal actors in the horizontal environmental policy. Investment, and therefore applications requiring EIAs for new industrial installations in the study sites, has been minimal during the last 30 years. In the Messara Valley, the prevalent installations concern small scale agri-businesses, primarily olive mills and presses and, to some extent, hotels along the coastline. In the absence of other spatial planning requirements with regard to resources of the area, the main issue for both categories of installations is the question of wastewater receptors for sewage (hotels, olive mills).

The character of the policy is such that all actors have clear formal roles. However, during the licensing or inspection procedure informal networks are activated either for and applicant of against a rival. 

The main instruments of horizontal environmental policy are the approval of environmental terms of operation and more recently, the Strategic Environmental Assessment.

With regard to approval of environmental terms for private projects, administrative procedures have been in place since 1986, although their effectiveness is hard to assess. Major hotels in the Matala Area (Messara Study Site) do have wastewater treatment facilities. No major individual sources of pollution are present in the area.

With regard to enforcement of environmental terms of operation for private operators there is no significant evidence although anecdotal accounts point to a general lack of inspections and controls.

The implementation of environmental licensing tends to focus on procedural requirements set out in the relevant EU legislation. With regard to the content of environmental impact assessment studies (part of applications) and the content of subsequent decisions on Environmental Terms of Operation, conclusions are hard to draw. However, local tensions with regard to resources point to weaknesses: for example, water shortages during the summer season indicate that both residential and tourism development have put severe strain on the local environment, not anticipated during environmental licensing procedures.

The same conclusion may be drawn with regard to environmental controls and inspections. Although periodic inspections are foreseen in the legal framework, inspections tend to take place only after the filing of formal complaints. All interviews point to a general reluctance on the part of the public to use formal complaints as a means to mobilise the administration. There have been no penalties or fines for private operators in the study area for environmental infringements during the last 5 years.

With regard to public works, approval of environmental terms is related to general project approval, covering the construction of works such as roads, waste and wastewater treatment facilities as well as dams. As project finance (EU co-financing) is dependent upon compliance with EU legislation, procedures tend to be closely followed, often speeded up by widespread public approval and demand for those projects. In this case, political pressure for approval may prevail over technical and other considerations.

Implementation of horizontal environmental policy brings to the forefront issues which go to the heart of the land degradation problem in Messara. Firstly, the largest projects and investment tend to be carried out by public authorities whose incentives (fund absorption, works visibility) may go against the policy objectives. In this case, different branches of government may collude to achieve a “development” objective.  Secondly, compliance with and enforcement of policy provisions is hampered by the practice described above as well as the tendency to ignore “minor” infringements on social or political grounds. Thirdly, the two elements above breed a culture of “non-compliance” which becomes pervasive. As a result, land degradation in the study area becomes a policy co-ordination problem: the aggregate impacts of small-scale operations (water wells, olive processing, small tourism infrastructure) has visible effects over time, affecting all citizens and natural resources. The situation is exacerbated by the reluctance of public authorities to undertake coordination initiatives or actively undermine implementation in the case of their own projects. All of the above contribute to the chronic weakness of the implementation mechanisms.

The use of Strategic Environmental  Assessment process as an instrument has also been limited. SEAs were first implemented during the preparation of the Operational Programmes of the National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF) 2007 -2013, as part of the approval process by the European Commission. With regard to the ROP Crete-Aegean Islands, the SEA study clearly identifies potential problems and deems the ROP to generally have negative environmental impacts (biodiversity loss, land degradation and land-use change, water resources depletion, landscape degradation and degradation of the cultural environment, impacts on sustainable resource management). Road construction is identified as the principal environmental threat of the programme, but continues to be the dominant activity receiving regional aid. Other mitigation measures such as water conservation measures, integration of biodiversity and landscape conservation criteria in project selection are totally absent. Interim evaluation and progress reports with regard to the environment have not been prepared.

Impacts

In the absence of an overall framework for the management of major resources (land, water, biodiversity) and in the presence of weak civil service, there is no frame of reference within which to assess environmental impacts of projects and programmes. Licensing therefore acquires a bureaucratic character, with limited examination of specific environmental issues. In addition, horizontal environmental policy has only recently begun to be implemented in earnest and its impacts may not yet be visible. Although the policy has served to bring some environmental issues to the foreground, it has ultimately failed to resist powerful market forces. These forces include the following:

• Small scale developments, such as housing and small scale tourism infrastructure, generally falling under the threshold for environmental impact assessment. Nevertheless, the number of those developments in the 1990's rose to the thousands and their aggregate impacts (wastewater, waste, energy) is significant.
• Water wells operated by individuals, businesses, municipalities or local irrigation organisations (TOEB). Again, although the majority of such installations falls outside the scope of the requirement for submission of an environmental impact assessment, their aggregate result upon the aquifer does have considerable impact. In addition, users tend to exceed the quantities for which they have been granted license. On this front, enforcement and penalties are hampered by a weak administration and political complacency.
• Olive mills, the main source of pollution in the area, operate within a framework similar to the above and are also aided by the fact that they are the destination of much of the study site's produce. They are generally required to have water treatment installations, although water quality inspections and fines are rare.

The policy has therefore had limited impacts upon the Messara Valley SES.

Effectiveness

With regard to the main objective, i.e. "adoption of fundamental rules and the establishment of criteria and mechanisms for environmental protection", the policy has been particularly effective. Since 1986, a variety of rules, mechanisms, and agencies have developed around environmental licensing. However, the policy is geared towards control of (large scale) installations and activities, of which very few exist in the study sites.

The policy has been partially effective with regard to the control of wastewater from olive mills and hotels, and practically non-implemented with regard to abattoirs. Enforcement of the policy after licensing has been particularly weak. Licensing of small-scale activities (construction, groundwater extraction, urban wastewater, waste management) has particularly hampered the effectiveness of the policy: licensing applications are received individually without any framework to assess their collective impacts.

The policy has been applied extensively to public works. In this field, accounts point to the dominance of the development (and EU fund absorption) undermining environmental considerations. No challenges on environmental grounds were brought forward to extensive road works in the area or the Faneromeni dam.

SEA implementation has focused on procedures rather than content. For example, while the Regional Operational Programme of Crete was accompanied by a SEA pointing in particular to the dangers of road construction upon soil erosion, roads continue to be the main source of spending for the ROP.

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