THE INFLUENCE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION ON LAND MANAGEMENT AND THE ENVIRONMENT

 It is now eleven years since Mikail Gorbachov presented his "perestroika" reform programme to the people of Russia and the other countries of the former Soviet Union. From that developed his concept of a "Common European Home" to the point where now the European Community contemplates its own expansion, however hesitantly, into the territories of Central and Eastern Europe.

 Whilst considerations of continental stability lie at the heart of this process, its wider consequences penetrate far into the practicalities of economic development and environmental sustainability. As part of this process professional Surveyors from both existing and prospective EU states face completely new demands for technical knowledge and management skills.

 Within the existing community the European Union’s influence touches numerous aspects of political, economic, social and environmental activity. It would be impossible to give here a complete analysis of these as they affect the land management professions. Simplistically, however, the EU’s influence on the management of land is most directly applied through its authority in the spheres of free trade, agricultural policy and protection of the environment. These three elements are inevitably interwoven but within recent years it is through the environmental aspect that the EU has brought about the greatest areas of change in the management of land.

EU ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY AND ITS MECHANISMS

 Policy Making

 The driving force behind EU environmental legislation has been the series of Environment Action Programs which have been running since 1973 despite having no clear legal basis until the passing of the Single European Act in 1987. The current (5^th) programme runs for the period 1993 - 2000.

 The 1987 Act established the principle that "environmental protection requirements shall be a component of the community’s other policies". The Maastrict Treaty (effective from 1.11.1993) further introduced EC responsibilities for the promotion of "sustainable and non-inflationary growth respecting the environment". The Maastrict Treaty also introduced the principle of "subsidiarity".

 The Environment Action (framework) Programs do not have legislative force, but they do establish political commitment to general principles in relation to the environment. The increasing influence of the framework programs can be seen in the steady growth in EC environmental legislation over the years (Fig 1.)

 Policy Implementation

In common with other areas of responsibility EU environmental policy is applied through two fundamental mechanisms:

 Regulation - A regulation adopted by the Council of Ministers is "binding in its entirety" and is "directly applicable in all member states".

A regulation automatically has the force of law in each of the member States. Regulations are most commonly used for financial matters and the day to day management of the Common Agricultural Policy.

Directive - A Directive is also binding as to the result to be achieved, but methods and the form of implementation are left to the decision of each Member State.

In effect Directives require adoption of additional domestic legislation within member countries.

Directives are, therefore, the most appropriate policy instrument where some degree of flexibility is required to accommodate existing national practices, procedures, and conditions. For this reason Directives are the most commonly used method of applying environmental policy in the EU.

 A Directive will typically set certain standards and time limits by which those standards must be complied with. For a Directive to be fully implemented not only must Member States have introduced the necessary domestic legislation, but they must also ensure that the goals specified in the Directive are achieved in practice.

  Source: Manual of Environmental Policy

In common with other areas of responsibility EU environmental policy is applied through two fundamental mechanisms:

Regulation - A regulation adopted by the Council of Ministers is "binding in its entirety" and is "directly applicable in all member states".

A regulation automatically has the force of law in each of the member States. Regulations are most commonly used for financial matters and the day to day management of the Common Agricultural Policy.

Directive - A Directive is also binding as to the result to be achieved, but methods and the form of implementation are left to the decision of each Member State.

In effect Directives require adoption of additional domestic legislation within member countries.

 A Directive will typically set certain standards and time limits by which those standards must be complied with. For a Directive to be fully implemented not only must Member States have introduced the necessary domestic legislation, but they must also ensure that the goals specified in the Directive are achieved in practice.

 EU Directives on the environment are numerous and extensive in their coverage. They include protective measures for the following:

Water

Waste

Air

Harmful Substances

Radioactivity

Wildlife and Countryside

Noise

Environmental Impact Assessment

Protection of human health.

Preservation of the natural environment.

Promotion of economic development based on principles of "sustainability".

THE PRACTICALITIES OF IMPLEMENTATION

 To examine in detail the practical implementation of all the Directives affecting the environment would be a large undertaking. A brief study of the 1991 Nitrates Directive and the 1992 Wildlife Habitats Directive will, however, give some indication of how the system works in practice.

 The Nitrates Directive

 This directive is intended to reduce or prevent the pollution of water caused by the application and storage of inorganic fertilizer and manure on farmland. Its purpose is to safeguard drinking water supplies and to prevent wider ecological damage.

 Member states are required to identify ground and surface water, including coastal and marine water, affected or potentially affected by pollution from nitrates. By December 1993 all known areas of land which drain into water identified in this way and which contribute to pollution of this type were to have been designated by Member States as Nitrate Vulnerable Zones (NVZs).

 Action programs to protect such areas were to have been established by December 1993 and implemented by December 1999. Amongst other items, the Directive specifies minimum types of action to be included in the programs relating to inorganic fertilizer and livestock manure applications to affected land. There is a requirement to design codes of "good agricultural practice" which shall be mandatory and applied without compensation for resultant loss of income. The programme will be reviewed every four years and must include on-going monitoring of water nitrate levels. There are approximately 1.6 million people in England currently receiving nitrate contaminated water above recommended EU levels.

 In the case of the United Kingdom, the Water Act of 1989 previously made provision in England and Wales for the designation of water protection zones where any potentially polluting activity might be prohibited or restricted. The Act also made provision for the prohibition or restriction of specified activities in such cases with or without compensation.

 In the case of the United Kingdom, most of the legislative powers required by the EU Directive were therefore previously in place. The UK had, in fact, already been operating a voluntary system of restricting farming practices in return for financial compensation on land falling within what it had designated as Nitrate Sensitive Areas (NSAs). The NSA scheme was designed to assess the effectiveness of agricultural measures designed to reduce Nitrate leaching from agricultural land prior to the implementation of the Nitrate Directive.

 As a result of the Nitrate Directive the number of designated areas in the UK has now increased to 72 covering 650,000 hectares. These will be subject to mandatory measures based on good agricultural practice without compensation. All NSAs (UK designation) fall within the NVZs (EU designation) and will remain eligible for compensation payments where the specified farming requirements under the NSA scheme go beyond the good agricultural practice required under the NVZ specification.

 The Habitats Directive

 The Habitats Directive was introduced in 1992 with the aim of assisting the maintenance of the biodiversity of flora and fauna within the European Union. Many habitats types in Europe have deteriorated and a growing number of species have become threatened or increasingly rare. The measures cover the conservation of habitats and the protection of species.

 The Directive lists habitat and species types, the conservation of which depends on their environment being granted special designation status. Priority habitats and species are especially identified within the Directive.

 The habitats and species are to be protected by a ‘coherent-European ecological network’ of sites of Community importance to be known as Natura 2000 sites. These fall into 3 categories:

 Habitats types of general Community importance.

Habitats of certain animal and plant species which are of importance as individual species.

"Special Protection Areas" for birds previously classified by Member States under an earlier EC directive.

To achieve this Member States are required to designate ‘Special Areas of Conservation’ (SACs). Member States have been required to submit appropriate lists of sites by June 1995 for consideration by the Commission. The Directive sets out the criteria by which such sites are to be selected. This process may lead to further consultation and negotiation between the Commission and individual member states.

 The final list is to be adopted by June 1998 after presentation to a Committee of Member State representatives where voting is by qualified majority. Once the list is approved Member States are obliged to designate the sites concerned as SACs as soon as possible and within 6 years at the latest. However, certain obligations will apply to all sites on the list irrespective of whether or not they have yet been domestically designated as SACs. These obligations cover the general protection of the areas concerned. They are in addition automatically applied to Special Protection Areas (SPAs) designated under the Birds Directive. Unusually, Community co-financing is provided to help Member States meet their obligations in respect of the Habitat Directive.

 Generally the Directive sets out obligations by Member States for the protection of plant and animal species in designated areas, although it also seeks to encourage related research and scientific work. It also regulates the introduction of non-native species in designated areas and seeks to encourage the reintroduction of native species where necessary.

 In the United Kingdom the Directive was implemented via the Conservation (Natural Habitats, etc.) Regulations 1994.

 In practice both SACs and SPAs in the United Kingdom are already protected by existing SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest) designations. The new regulations, therefore, replicate that protection with certain modifications. These include powers by the national nature conservation bodies to compulsory acquire such sites from the owners, where agreement over suitable management cannot be reached or is not implemented. In addition European sites are to be subject to special assessment where development plans or projects, both within and beyond the site boundaries, are likely to have a significant effect upon them. This provision has required the alteration of a variety of other national Acts relating to land use planning and infrastructure provision.

 In June 1995 the UK Government sent a first list of 136 candidate SACs to the European Commission. All the sites submitted are already SSSIs. Further lists of candidate sites will be submitted in due course.

 PROBLEMS OF IMPLEMENTATION WITHIN THE EXISTING EU

 Compliance

 The implementation of the Nitrates and Habitats Directives in the United Kingdom illustrate the fact that in some cases the effect of this type of EU legislation is simply to formalize and fine tune existing national practice.

 Converting EU legislation into national practice is, however, often fraught with difficulty. Firstly, it requires the necessary passing of domestic legislation. This can often be delayed by lack of parliamentary time, or inadequate existing national legislative frameworks which means that legislation has to be designed "from scratch". When it eventually takes place this national legislative process is sometimes described as "formal compliance" with the Directive. It can, however, be thwarted if national assemblies are unable to muster the necessary majority to secure the ratification of the relevant legislation.

 Usually the relevant legislation at national level is approved. The question of "compliance" in practice then arises. Is the legislation put into practice? If so, how thoroughly? And is it enforced?

 The 1985 Directive on Environmental Impact Assessments is a good example of how practice and enforcement vary substantially from one Member State to another. The purpose of the directive is that before consent is given for certain development projects - such as large-scale industrial or infrastructure project - an assessment has to be made of the effect they may have on the environment (A list of projects which are subject to such assessments is given in the Appendix).

 As part of the procedure the project developer is required to supply relevant information to the public, and certain public authorities have to be consulted. The Directive sets out the requirements for this procedure.

 Although the same procedure applies in principle to each individual Member State, in practice its implementation varies enormously. Relevant cases may pass through the hands of local planning authorities without the Directive being applied in any great depth (particularly because in certain categories the application of the Directive is at the discretion of the relevant authority; and Member States are in any case free to specify the extent to which information must be supplied by the developer), or the information requested to meet compliance may range from cursory to immensely detailed. The cost to developers in different parts of the Union varies enormously as a result, and in effect, lack of consistency in this area leads to distortions in economic competition.

 Subsidiarity

 The application of Directives such as this also frequently raises issues of subsidiarity - the principle that legislation should not be introduced at EU level where the issue can be adequately dealt with at a national level instead.

 In the case of the Directive on Environment Impact Assessments, for example, the Danish Parliament initially objected in principle to having to submit development projects to the procedures of the Directive on the grounds that it impinged on their sovereignty. There were also strong objections from the UK government on similar and other grounds.

ADAPTING CEEC LAND MANAGEMENT PRACTICE IN THE PROCESS OF ACCESSION

 The scale of the task

 The European Union has given a commitment to begin accession negotiations with qualifying Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs) for accession to the EU within 6 months from the end of the Intergovernmental Conference due to be completed in the middle of 1997.

 It is clearly unrealistic to expect CEECs to be in a position to comply with all aspects of EU law at the precise moment of their accession. As in the case of the earlier entry of Spain and Portugal into the Community a period of transition will be required with appropriate time tables to allow the necessary adjustments to be made. This will be particularly so in relation to the application of environmental Directives.

 Already considerable work is being carried out in this direction. Environmental standards in CEECs are continually being improved and wherever possible new national legislation anticipates eventual EU requirements. However, the legacies of the past mean substantial obstacles remain. It is estimated that an investment of ECU 300 billion will need over the next 15 years to substantially raise the quality of the environment in Central and Eastern Europe. 

Financial Assistance 

In recognition of this many multilateral and bilateral aid programs (World Bank, Phare Program, Know How Fund, etc.) are directed at dealing with practical and administrative environmental problems. The most prominent, and those most directly geared to eventual EU accession are those under the EU Phare Program.

 Direct environmental aid spending since 1989 under the Phare Programme, totals over ECU 400 million (Fig 2). The aim of the Phare Programme is to help the countries of central and eastern Europe rejoin the mainstream of European development through future membership of the European Union. In the first five years of its operation to 1994 Phare has made available ECU 4.2 billion across all sectors to 11 partner countries, making it the largest assistance programme of its kind.

  Source: PHARE 1994 Annual Report

Phare provides assistance in many key areas. In addition to targeted environmental projects, additional budgets also cover research, reform of institutions, public administration, and education and training. It utilizes a wide range of public and private organization in both the EU and CEECs to implement its programs. In addition to funding research, training and expertise the programme also invests directly in infrastructure, an increasingly important element as the integration process progresses. In particular Phare funding is focused on meeting the conditions required for membership of the European Community.

 The role of Cadastre and Land Information Systems

 An essential element in this process has been the efforts to develop and modernize national cadastres and land information technology with Phare funding for this purpose being provided in many CEECs. The importance of a well designed and efficiently operating cadastre or land registry is recognized as prominent in ongoing endeavours to establish a fully functioning market economy. The wider potential of the cadastre in the context of environmental improvement and management is, however, one which has only recently begun to be recognized.

 As the power and flexibility of new information technology starts to be realized, this represents a genuine opportunity to ensure that cadastral science expands into an area which can make a profound contribution to land and environmental management. The digital world has already arrived in central and eastern Europe. In some instances information technology is being applied at levels of sophistication and cover yet to be implemented in many EU countries. The Czech Republic, for example, is due to complete a digital national database of 1:10,000 scale mapping in Raster format this year. This database will be available to both the public and private sectors.

 THE CHALLENGE OF IMPLEMENTING EU ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY IN CEECs

 Legislative adjustments

 Whilst developments in information technology will greatly enhance the speed at which EU environmental standards can be established and implemented in Central and Eastern Europe, the obstacles should not be underestimated.

 Since 1989 the parliaments of CEECs have been faced with introducing 40 years worth of missing legislation. In many cases, Acts have had to be rushed through with inadequate time for detailed scrutiny. Attempts to "approximate" national legislation to EU legislation are taking place continuously but the process will have to continue well beyond formal dates of accession.

 The role of local administrations

 It is often felt that the Commission in Brussels is a large beauracracy. With not much more than 10,000 non-interpreter civil servants, however, it remains smaller than the Ministry of Agriculture in the United Kingdom.

 The reality is that the real administrative burden for national compliance with EU legislation falls upon the shoulders of civil servants within the ministries and local authorities of Member States. Compliance with EU legislation will inevitably mean expansion of bureaucracies within CEECs, and a vast process of education and training for the civil servants involved. The private sector will also need to adjust accordingly.

 Enforcement

 Whilst it is one thing to have the necessary legislation in place, it is another to have to enforce it. A properly functioning legal system, up to date information and trained personnel are all required for this purpose. To apply and enforce environmental standards you need information. You need to know what the current environmental situation is and be able to measure it reliably. This information is required both by the public authorities whose job it is to monitor standards and by the managers of land who are expected to comply with these standards. Undoubtedly, information technology will be able to assist in closing the gap that currently exists in CEECs concerning environmental data but the task will remain nonetheless, an enormous one.

 CHANGE IN EUROPE AND THE ROLE OF THE SURVEYOR

EU Accession will substantially accelerate the process of change in CEECs. It will also raise wider land management issues beyond the mere implementation of environmental Directives. Some of the more important issues to be faced include:

national sovereignty and subsidiarity

fair economic competition in the context (or otherwise) of common standards of social security, environmental protection, and health and safety.

the future of the Common Agricultural Policy, with the prospect of financial support for production being switched to environmental protection in northern Member States, social protection in southern Member States and perhaps a combination of both in CEECs.

the liberalization of international trade through pressures exerted by the World Trade Organization; but with frontiers only being opened subject to Environmental Management Agreement (EMAs) on a global basis.

As we pass through the final years of the 20^th Century the nature of society is changing fundamentally. In the words of Sir John Starkey at the annual congress of the Confederation of European Agriculture in Strasbourg 1995: "In the first millennium men learned to exist in nature; in the second millennium they developed the ability to dominate nature, but in the third millennium we will be trying to be part of nature".

 In the United Kingdom we have had for some time a population migration from city to countryside, both to live and to work, driven by the liberating effects of information technology and the desire for a higher quality of life. This is a process which is likely to effect the whole of Europe as we move into a post industrial age.  

The role of the Surveyor in this process is an important one. We are one of a range of professionals to whom the rest of the population will look - not only to meet their growing needs for information about land and the environment, but also for the skills and vision to manage it in a sustainable and evolutionary fashion.

 " The tendency of the rural population towards the large towns, being really the tendency of water to flow uphill when forced by machinery": Thomas Hardy - ‘Tess of the d’Urbervilles.’ 1891.

 References: 1. Manual of Environmental Policy: the EC and Britain

 Nigel Haigh

the European Union 1994.

3. Phare 1994 Annual Report - European Commission

 - Office for Official Publication of the European Communities

ISBN 92-77-92087-4

 4. EU Environmental Policy and UK Agriculture: what next?

 - Eurinco: Report prepared for the Royal Institution of Chartered

Surveyors:April,1996.

 APPENDIX

 Projects which must be made subject to an Environmental Impact Assessment, unless exempted:

 oil refineries;

large thermal power stations and nuclear power stations and reactors;

installations for storage or disposal of radioactive waste;

iron and steel works;

installations for extracting and processing asbestos;

integrated chemical installations;

construction of motorways, express roads, railway lines and airports;

trading ports and inland waterways;

installations for incineration, treatment or landfill of hazardous waste.

Annex II

 Member States are to make the projects in Annex II subject to an assessment if they consider that their characteristics so require, i.e. if they consider that they have a significant effect on the environment:

agriculture;

extractive industry;

energy industry;

processing of metals;

manufacture of glass;

chemical industry;

food industry;

textile, leather, wood and paper industries;

rubber industry;

infrastructure projects;

other projects:

modifications to projects included in Annex 1.