EMLA and the World Resources Institute (WRI) of Washington, DC, began joint leadership of a major long term project aimed at developing a rankings system (like Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index or Freedom House's Survey of Civil Liberties) to measure public participation in environmental matters worldwide. EMLA and WRI will develop the indicators, guide the pilot phase, and present results of the project at the Rio +10 Earth Summit in 2002. The rankings will be based on a wide range of indicators, and results will aim to inform public opinion, spark media attention, and give states and their governments the impetus to "harmonize upward" in terms of their performance in "environmental democracy" matters. The EMLA-WRI team still has not settled on the project's name, as "Environmental Democracy" may be prejudicial to some countries of the Global South who associate "democracy" language with countries of the North. Environmental NGO's, UN and World Bank representatives, and government and private sector funders who have worked with EMLA and WRI in planning sessions have expressed a common ownership and great enthusiasm for this very important project.

EMLA, acting as the secretariate of the Hungarian United Nations Environmental Program National Committee (HUNEP), made great efforts putting together the inaugural board for the Hungarian UNEP Committee. A number of illustrious individuals accepted our invitation to serve as board members. They include the chairman of the Parliament's Environmental Committee, leading NGO representatives and government administrators, and one of Hungary's most prominent businessmen. The inaugural board meeting took place on June 5, World Environmental Day.

Four workgroups have been set up to contribute to the plenary committee's overall workplan. These groups are as follows: 1) "UNEP PR/Communication" to raise awareness of UNEP and its activities, communicate environmental issues to the general public, and channel the position of the National Committee on certain issues to the media; 2) "Environmental Information" to clarify the status (public/confidential) of environmental data and information and clearly define the term itself; 3)"Greening the banks and financial sector" to raise awareness of environmental issues in the financial sector, promote examples of environmentally conscious financial activities, and map the funding sources for the environmental industry; 4) "Local Agenda 21: the Rio Earth Summit's Global Agenda 21" to develop local objectives for creating sustainable communities, management tools for monitoring local activities, and community agendas which include sustainable activities.

EMLA, serving as Secretariat of the Environmental Law Association of CEE/NIS and with Sándor Fülöp currently holding the organization's directorship, undertook major efforts to solidify the organization while continuing to push for the ratification and practical application of the Aarhus Convention on Public Participation in members' home countries. EMLA developed a website for the Association in order to provide a secure communication environment in which members can share documents and ask for advice on specific cases. The website, along with "Environmental Advocacy," the Association's Newsletter, provides an information source on public participation issues in the region.

At the end of June, EMLA hosted a three-day conference which brought the Association members together - for the first time as a formally organized unit - to develop common goals and strategies for achieving them. At the meeting over fifty participants, made up of environmental and legal advocates from over a dozen countries, had the opportunity to pool their expertise and influence to issue a common policy statement. The conference proceedings will serve as a valuable resource on participation issues in environmental law. Lastly, we are very pleased to report that the Association has been officially registered by the court.

In 1996 the OECD issued guidlines for member countries known as the Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (PRTR). EMLA has prepared a systematic analysis on how the Hungarian legal system can move towards fulfilling the requirements of a fully operational PRTR system.

First we distilled from the international literature the most basic definitional elements of PRTR as well as those elements which are vital for constructing an effective system. Then we reviewed three areas of Hungarian law (Hazardous Waste, Dangerous Chemicals and Catastrophe Prevention) for those elements which could form the core of a PRTR system. Our findings revealed that the Hungarian legal system contains redundant requirements concerning the provision of environmental information services. These should be systematized and simplified for the good of companies, government, and the public especially, who currently lack meaningful information about the dangers hazardous chemicals pose.

The Hungarian environmental NGO community held a conference in June 2000, where they received EMLA's PRTR findings with enthusiasm. Based on the experience we collected during our PRTR study, the Ministry of Environment asked EMLA to revise its planned Chemical Safety legislation.

EMLA wrote a study on Hungarian water laws regarding dams and related issues such as indigenous peoples, access to information, and expropriation. An international expert panel working for the World Commission on Dams (WCD) commissioned the study. The panel is led by a professor from the American University in Washington, DC, and contains twelve members including EMLA attorney Csaba Kiss and otherexperts from countries such as Brazil, Thailand, Norway, and South Africa. EMLA’s leadership on the Hungarian side of the WCD project, a worldwide comparison of laws and practices surrounding dams which will ultimately become a book, proved especially important for EMLA as a predecessor the "Environmental Democracy" project with WRI.

EMLA wrote an expert opinion for the Dutch Government's Ministry of Environment's Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Department on development of their transboundary EIA guidelines. The Dutch Government is operating in this matter under the auspices of the UN Economic Council for Europe (UNECE). Our work is a follow-up activity to a joint research project and workshops. In February EMLA, serving as the official representative of the Hungarian government, met with the Dutch government in Soesterberg, Holland.

EMLA Scientific Branch Coordinator, Csaba Sándor, participated in a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Study Tour which took him to California, USA. The objective of the study tour was to build EMLA's capacities in the field of GIS in order to contribute to the development and use of map-based interface. The tour was financed by the Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI), the Society for Conservation GIS, and others. Csaba took two GIS software courses on ArcView GIS at the ESRI training center in Redlands, and presented a paper entitled"PRTRs in Central Europe" at the organization’s annual conference in Idyllwild, CA. ESRI also invited Csaba to their annual five-day conference for GIS users which took place in San Diego. The trip was also a success for EMLA because of the contacts Csaba made from all over the world of GIS (business, academic, NGO sectors). One Hungarian GIS firm which Csaba met in San Diego later helped the EMLA Student Foundation with its digital imaging analysis needs on the Rákos-patak project.

EMLA participated in a conference hosted by the Budapest University of Economics on the importance of company environmental reports - including use of leaflets, brochures, and other items - to encourage companies' environmental compliance, especially in the area of environmental management systems. Among the nearly forty participants, NGO's, businesses, municipal governments, and environmental agencies were equally represented. The debate of the day centered around whether the information contained in company environmental reports would be reliable or just another form of PR and marketing for businesses. We imagine there is much debate to come, but we are pleased to begin discussions among these diverse actors.