Environmental Public Monitoring (UA0066)

Event: Introduction of public monitoring of the state of the environment.; Implementation timeframe: 2016-2018; Entities responsible: Ministry of the Environment, State Agency for Administration of the Exclusion Zone, Regional and Kyiv Municipal State administrations; Partners: Civil society institutions and international organisations (by consent).; Expected results: Ensuring the: Creation of an open list of the largest polluters in the regions as part of the development of a national automated environmental data system. Creation of an electronic system for monitoring radiation safety and environmental threats.

10. Introduce public monitoring of the state of the environment

Commitment Text:

Introduction of public monitoring of the state of the environment.

Expected results: Creation of an open list of the largest polluters in the regions as part of the development of a national automated environmental data system. Creation of an electronic system for monitoring radiation safety and environmental threats.

Responsible institutions: Ministry of the Environment, State Agency for Administration of the Exclusion Zone, Regional and Kyiv Municipal State administrations.

Supporting institutions: Civil society institutions and international organizations (by consent).

Start date: December 2016..                                     End date: August 2018

Commitment Aim:

This commitment aims to introduce a public monitoring system of the state of the environment in Ukraine. It would provide a transparent mechanism to monitor the enviornment and keep residents informed about enivronment issues and dangers in their regions. This commitment seeks to create an open list of the largest polluters in the regions as part of the development of a national automated environmental data system. It would also create an electronic system for monitoring radiation safety and environmental threats.

Status

Midterm: Limited

By the end of the first year of the action plan, the government delivered the first expected result. On 4 July 2017, the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources published a list of the top 100 national polluters on its website. [178] The list identified polluters based on one of three categories of pollution: water, air, and industrial waste. Experts from environmental civil society groups criticized the methodology used to acquire the data, as well as the quality and timeliness of the data. Authorities agreed that the information on ecological pollution remained incomplete. The data portal and monitoring system were at the stage of the basic conceptual design. The three published, publicly accessible environmental datasets [179]^, [180]^, [181] present the above-mentioned list in an open data (.xls and .csv) format. However, the government has not integrated the datasets into a single, automatic system. For more information, please see the 2016–2018 IRM midterm report. [182]

End of term: Limited

Although the ministry announced that it updates the datasets annually, [183] as of the end of September 2018, the latest available data was from July 2017. Relatedly, the ministry noted insufficient information and communication technology infrastructure, the lack of institutional capacity, and inefficient coordination of activities related to collecting and structuring ecological information, especially in digital format. The ministry admitted that its methodology was imperfect, as each regional authority submitted the top five polluters in their regions. However, some regions contain more dangerous enterprises than others. The ministry recognized that, instead, the top 100 polluters should be identified nationwide. [184] Considering this, in 2018, the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources (MENR) developed a new methodology for the evaluation of ecological threats. It also developed an integral indicator of negative effect on environment. This indicator includes (1) a potential ecological threat of a facility; (2) a facility’s actual negative impact on environment (in the form of emissions, discharges, waste generation, and waste management); and (3) the current pollution rate of territories (including soils, water surface and underground objects, and the level of damage to the local biosystem). [185] To apply this methodology, in 2018, MENR delegated the monitoring of polluters to a research institution implementing a research project for public funds. [186]

On 28 March 2018 the Cabinet of Ministers adopted decree #244-p. This decree constituted the government’s action plan for 2018. [187] It included the development of a nationwide automated system, Open Environment. The government action plan entails drafting and adopting the relevant concept paper, action plan, and terms of reference for Open Environment. It also calls for a trial operation of several modules of Open Environment by the end of 2018. The government planned for Open Environment to form a digital geo-information infrastructure for the protection of environment and a centralized electronic system for managing ecological information. MENR informed the IRM researcher that it has developed the concept paper on the automated system Open Environment. On 23 July 2018 it received legal approval from the Ministry of Justice, and on 7 September 2018 it submitted the paper to the Cabinet of Ministers for review and adoption. [188] An expert on ecological transparency from civil society confirmed that the government developed the concept paper and that it conforms to European Union regulations. [189]

Various agencies and volunteer projects conduct the monitoring. For instance, on 6 July 2018 the State Agency of Water Resources presented a jointly developed interactive map of river pollution in Ukraine. [190] The ministry envisions this tool as becoming part of the future Open Environment system. This Clear Water map visualizes the pollution of the six biggest rivers in Ukraine to a high precision. [191] An ecologist and civic activist explained that the map demonstrates water pollution by 16 parameters, according to data from 445 locations. [192] The State Agency for Administration of the Exclusion Zone conducts air pollution monitoring exclusively in the contaminated zone. [193]

Did It Open Government?

Access to Information: Did Not Change

At the beginning of the action plan, despite the efforts of the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources, there existed no transparent mechanism for monitoring the environment in Ukraine. The available information was limited or outdated. For example, publicly accessible pollution data was significantly out of date. Therefore, the government took on the commitment to introduce public monitoring mechanisms. Specifically, it sought to publish an online, open list of the largest polluting industries by region and to develop a national, automated data system to track environmental indicators. The government designed this system to be paired with an electronic system to monitor spikes in unsafe radiation, as well as other environmental threats. The Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources published the top 100 polluters (up top five polluters in each monitored oblast) and drafted a concept paper of the automated system Open Environment. However, the government has published the lists of top 100 polluters in previous years, [194]^, [195]^, [196] and the concept paper has not been adopted by the government yet. Thus, there has been no significant change in government policy on the issue.

Carried Forward?

Given the relevance of this topic in Ukraine, the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources should develop and launch the automated system Open Environment. It should present detailed, disaggregated information on air, water, and industrial waste pollution, and radiation contamination in an open data format, with visualization.

[178] “Information about Objects, Which Are the Biggest Atmosphere Polluters,” Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine, https://menr.gov.ua/files/docs/news/TOP_100.pdf.

[179] “The List of the Biggest Environmental Polluters in Ukraine—Considering Air Pollution,” Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources, 13 July 2017, https://menr.gov.ua/news/31570.html.

[180] “The List of the Biggest Environmental Polluters in Ukraine—Considering Water Pollution,” Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources, 14 July 2017, https://menr.gov.ua/news/31574.html.

[181] “The List of the Biggest Environmental Polluters in Ukraine—Considering Industrial Waste,” Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources, 14 July 2017, https://menr.gov.ua/news/31575.html.

[182] “Ukraine Mid-Term Report 2016–2018,” Open Government Partnership, https://www.opengovpartnership.org/documents/ukraine-mid-term-report-2016-2018-year-1/.

[183] “Information about Objects, Which Are the Biggest Atmosphere Polluters,” Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine, http://data.gov.ua/passport/b348d687-40d6-4039-b346-171096fc6101.

[184] Dmytro Bulyka (Ministry of Ecology of Ukraine), email exchange with IRM researcher, 14 September 2018.

[185] Ibid.

[186] Ibid.

[187] “Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. The Decree on 28 March 2018 #244-p, The Government Portal,” Unified Web-Portal of Executive Authorities of Ukraine, https://www.kmu.gov.ua/ua/npas/pro-zatverdzhennya-planu-prioritetnih-dij-uryadu-na-2018-rik.

[188] Dmytro Bulyka (Ministry of Ecology of Ukraine), email exchange with IRM researcher, 14 September 2018.

[189] Antonina Yerysheva (Civic Energy), interview with IRM researcher, 16 August 2018.

[190] “‘Clear Water’: The Online Map of River Pollution in Ukraine Was Presented,” the Government Portal, Unified Web-Portal of Executive Authorities of Ukraine, https://www.kmu.gov.ua/ua/news/chista-voda-prezentovano-onlajn-kartu-zabrudnenosti-richok-v-ukrayini.

[191] Clear Water, http://texty.org.ua/water/.

[192] Antonina Yerysheva (Civic Energy), interview with IRM researcher, 16 August 2018.

[193] Ibid.

[194] “Top Environmental Polluters in Ukraine Have Been Announced,” Ukrainian Pravda, 21 July 2006, https://www.pravda.com.ua/articles/2006/07/21/3133304/.

[195] “Top Environmental Polluters in Dnipropetrovsk Region in 2007,” Ukrrudprom, 15 February 2008, http://www.ukrrudprom.com/digest/dfdsaqw150208.html.

[196] “Top Environmental Polluters Need to Be Known,” Sivershchyna, 7 February 2011, https://siver.com.ua/news/najbilshi_nashi_zabrudnjuvachi_jikh_varto_znati/2011-02-07-7066.