|
This year the Kellner Fund is sponsoring three EMLA
member projects which lay some of the groundwork for
major advances on the Hungarian environmental scene.
The first is "Local Agenda 21: Csömör." The
village of Csömör, located on the outskirts of Budapest,
is serving as a case study for implementation of Local
Agenda 21, the Rio Earth Summit's Global Agenda, in
Hungary. The Hungarian UNEP National Committee is working
on Local Agenda 21 at the national level and this case
study will support the National Committee in its work.
The push of the Rio plan and of the members' project
is to develop and track locally-based objectives and
activities for creating sustainable communities.
The second member project is called "Economic
valuation of caves." This project is an experimental
effort to develop a set of criteria which can be used
to put a price on a specific natural resource, in this
case caves, for the potential assessment of damages.
The criteria for assessing a cave's monetary value is
comprised of several variables, including proximity
to a village or city and presence of geologically important
rocks or minerals. Once a system is developed which
sets the value of such natural resources, the idea is
that the state will be able to claim material damages
against violators of protection laws.
The third member project is entitled "Is it possible
to harmonize the interests of the different stakeholders
of brownfield sites?" Brownfields are former industrial
sites which may harbor any number of harmful remnants
from past activities. Although practices and regulations
on brownfields are well developed in the US, for instance,
this project is a groundbreaking effort in Hungary as
it aims to develop a methodology by which stakeholders
come together to resolve the major questions surrounding
brownfields assessment and development.
|
