Country Report Slovakia

Networking

Networking was an important step towards gaining a cross-sector view on the complex river basin problems and challenges of the Slovak part of Tisa river basin. The objectives of these workshops were:

a. to get broader view on the diversity of stakeholders in the Slovak part of Tisa river basin (state government, local government, NGO's, business), to identify the key stakeholders and collect information from potential stakeholders (the First National Workshop)

b. to provide a "bottom-up" picture by organising a workshop in the vicissitudinous flood micro-region to collect information, and identify their needs, problems and interests

c. To the second national workshop on "Strategic dialogue", to invite the key stakeholders that will be able to identify their needs (from those two workshops and from individual consultations) and to create a platform for participation in further strategic planning in the river basin (project preparation).

The micro-regional workshop was held on January 22-23, 2002 (co-organised by NGO People and Water and Ekosvinka Association). This micro-region was chosen because of enormous flood destruction in July 1998, when 50 people died. Their main mission is targeted into proper (integrated) river basin management, supporting complex programme for ecological revitalisation and thus to create preventive programmes for reducing risks of floods, etc.

During First National Workshop, 165 the most important local stakeholders attended (February 6-7, 2002, Levoca) and they adpoted the Charta "The prospering regions - a key to the Slovakia's stability".

During the Second National Workshop "Strategic Dialog" 26 experts from selected stakeholders were invited. (March 27, 2002 in Košice).

The outputs from the facilitated dialogue are:

using best practices from functioning integrated river basin management cases abroad (e.g. Scandinavia, etc.)
empowering human capacities in the river basin
collaborating on updating Regional Operational Plans (NUTS II - Eastern Slovakia) and on the National Plan for Regional Development
encouraging all stakeholders in the river basin to create partnerships
implementing tangible "pilot projects" in the river basin in order to get concrete outputs that will assign the gaps in the river basin governance
enforcing the EU Water Framework Directive and AGENDA 21 (Chapter 18) into practice and devoting to flood prevention respectively, which is not covered in EU Water Framework Directive
contributing to enforce legislation and its transparency
promoting development of methodological instructions, guides, manuals of river basin governance for local government preferably that will enable enforcing of legislation
publishing and disseminating recommendations on "what to do and how" in terms of complex sophisticated tools (e.g. stimulation criteria for farmers, etc.)
adjusting of "top-down" approach to "bottom-up" (implementing national strategies into local and regional strategies and vice versa, using local and regional concrete examples as the outputs from "pilot projects" for upgrading hierarchical higher strategic materials )
utilising the outputs of relevant projects (MATRA, NATO etc.)
creating a platform of stakeholders (cross-sectoral) for strategic planning processes in the river basin

Important organisations and contact persons

(Description of the major stakeholders, lists in the annex).

It is expected that the current Directorate for Water Protection under the Ministry of Environment will cooperate closely with the Ministry of Agriculture (water, agriculture, forestry) which manages water sources and the Ministry of Construction and Regional Development which deals with the whole country's (river basins) planning process.

Public Bodrog and Hornad River Enterprise "PBaH" was identified as one of the most important stakeholders, dealing with waterworks, flood protection, and water management.

NGO "People and Water" in Košice and the other NGOs (SOSNA etc.) could have significant importance in raising public awareness, information dissemination and NGO participation in TRB SDP.

A database of 89 institutions and contact persons relevant for TRB SDP was developed.

Description of the possible national focal point

One or two potential umbrella organisations will play a major role in the project implementation - the Ministry of Environment and Ministry of Construction and Regional Development. The Ministry of Environment deals with the environment generally, including with the inspection of elements of the environment. The Ministry of Construction and Regional Development deals with strategic planning processes.

As agreed during the consultations with Mr. Milan Matuška (Director General, Ministry of Environment) and Mr. Peter Tapák (State Secretary, Ministry of Construction and Regional Development), the national focal point representative will be selected afterwards, when the TRB SDP Programme is finalised and this topic was not discussed during the workshops.

Proposal for organisation(s) to implement TRB SDP on large scale

Among 89 institutions identified as relevant for TRB SDP, several could potentially implement the TRB SDB on large scale. The Public Bodrog and Hornad River Enterprise "PBaH" has capacities for water management, flood protection and projects. It has already established cooperation with neighbouring countries. The Slovak Hydro-meteorological Institute and the Slovak Research Institute of Water Management have capacities for implementing different monitoring projects. The Network of local municipalities with improved coordination (newly created self-government regions Prešov, Košice, Banská Bystrica) has a significant role in project implementation.

"People and Water, Foundation for Watershed Restoration and other NGOs could have significant importance in public awareness, pilot project implementation and information dissemination.

Despite the fact that these institutions are listed above as potential implementation institutions, if the TRB SDP project is implemented, an open competitive, transparent process should be followed, where everybody has an equal chance to participate.

Mapping

Recognised needs for sustainable development