Institutional framework for environment protection
The Ministry of Environmental Protection, Physical Planning and Construction (MEPPPC) is responsible for administrative and other tasks related to general environmental protection policy and achieving the conditions for sustainable development. However, some parts of the environment protection are responsibility of other ministries: the Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Development, Ministry of Regional Development, Forestry and Water Management, Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure, Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Ministry of the Economy, Labour and Entrepreneurship, etc.
· The air quality monitoring and air pollution prevention, and protection of marine environment activities on national level in Croatia is under the responsibility of the MEPPPC which cooperate with other state bodies and institutes involved in air quality monitoring activities, health and nature protection, monitoring of meteorological conditions and monitoring of marine waters and sea bathing water quality.
· Water management in Croatia is under the responsibility of the Ministry of Regional Development, Forestry and Water Management and the implementing public institution – Croatian Waters (Hrvatske vode).
- The MEPPPC is responsible for the development and implementation of the waste management policy at the national level. Institutional responsibilities are divided across vertical sectors – the State is responsible for managing hazardous waste and waste incineration. Counties, including the City of Zagreb, are responsible for managing all other types of waste, excluding municipal waste which is under the jurisdiction of local
level government (municipalities and towns). Regional and local level implements public policies in its own domain according the waste management plans for a respective level.
· Institutions responsible for nature protection on national level are the Ministry of Culture (MoC), the State Institute for Nature Protection, public institutions for management of national and nature parks, and on regional level county public institutions for management of other protected areas, as well as county administration offices. In the MoC the two directorates are directly responsible for nature protection issues - Nature Protection Directorate (NPD) and Directorate for Nature Protection Inspection (DNPI).
An important role in the development and implementation of the environment protection policies also belongs to the Sustainable Development and Environmental Protection Council which was established by the Croatian government for the purpose of achieving coordinated and harmonised economic development in the context of environmental protection and ensuring conditions for sustainable development, as well as for the continuity of professional and scientific basis for regulation of certain issues in the field of environmental protection and sustainable development.
The two other important institutions for environment protection are the Croatian environment agency and the Environmental protection and energy efficiency Fund.
- The Croatian environment agency (CEA) has the obligation to analyse and interpret the collected environmental data and provide, to the state administration, the Government and the Parliament, the information necessary for efficient implementation of the environmental policy. In addition to these basic tasks, the Agency is active on a much wider scale as it takes a pro-active part in planning and development of new environmental protection forms and follow-up of the environmental action plans and projects. It harmonizes and co-ordinates the data flows and plans all parts of national environment information system (CEIS):
1. defining the need for measurement of individual parameters (indicators),
2. method definition/review,
3. measurement planning – frequency, institutions, financing, and the like,
4. setting up the measurement and data processing QA/QC System,
5. information system levels of data submittal and exchange,
6. legal background for data accessibility definition.
The Agency uses the data from the CEIS for production of the State of the Environment Report of the Republic of Croatia and other various reports by individual topics (by themes, regions, indicator impacts, etc.).
- The Environmental protection and energy efficiency Fund (EPEEF) , from its founding in 2003, performs financing, preparation, implementation and development of programs, projects and related activities in the field of conservation, sustainable use, protection and improvement of environment and in the field of energy efficiency and renewable energy use. The Fund is financed by funds raised through different taxes imposed on the environmental polluters. One part of the founds is used to achieve the goals of improving air quality, soil, water, sea, mitigation of climate change and ozone layer protection through financing the projects that have as their purpose the development of systems for measuring air quality and emissions, the construction of filters for purifying emissions into the environment, reconstruction of existing plants to reduce harmful emissions, the transition from solid fuels to gaseous fuels, improving the existing boilers and construction of eco heating plants. Certain funds have been invested in projects of biological and landscape diversity in order to fulfil Croatia’s obligations in its EU accession process.
The second part of the fund is invested in energy efficiency projects which include the implementation of national energy programs and energy audits, promotion of renewable energy sources and sustainable building, promotion of educational, research and development studies and programs, promotion of cleaner transportation technologies and information campaigns like "Promoting energy efficiency in Croatia", "Energy Management in Cities and Counties" and governmental "Program for energy efficiency in buildings owned by the state - Bring your house in order" developed in collaboration with the UNDP Croatia.