Document Type

Article

Disciplines

International Law

Abstract

The environmental degradation in the Central and Eastern European (CEE) region is adversely affecting the quality of life of its inhabitants. The extent of this environmental decay compels discussion of environmental issues in the context of any discussion of human rights. The improvement of human rights in the region is directly related to environmental policy and law. Today, the implementation of the right to an environment serves as a pre-condition to the well-being of the people who live in that region. The implementation of a protected environment has not been effective, however, and one sometimes has the feeling that there is neither "change," nor "development."

It is useful to start with an assessment of the extent of the environmental degradation of the former socialist countries. Such an assessment can provide a basis for declaring a new environmental policy in Europe by one of the newly created European institutions. The Council of Europe commented on the state of the environment in its recommendation on environmental policy in Europe (1988-89) when it stated: "At a time when relations with the countries of Central and Eastern Europe are opening up, we are also discovering the scale of the assaults on the environment in these countries, assaults to which we cannot remain indifferent and which will require particular attention from Europe as a whole."

In Hungary, the environmental degradation is not as great as in some other parts of the CEE region. Heavy industry and the use of low calorie coal caused severe environmental problems in the former East Germany and Poland. The environmental degradation in Hungary, however, is still remarkable. The Hungarian Environment Ministry declared that:

The state of the environment in the country - despite the noticeable improving tendency at some environmental elements - is deteriorating and the pace of deterioration is not slowing down. The acidification of soils and their biological and physical degradation are intensifying. The surface and subsurface waters continue to be polluted. The protection of subsurface drinking water bases poses the main problem. The underground waters nearly in the whole country are unsuitable for human consumption. Despite the reduction of industrial atmospheric pollutant emissions, the atmospheric pollution of settlements does not improve in required degree because of the increase of air pollutant concentrations resulting from transport and communal heating. Its deleterious effects have been proved in some cities. Beside wasteful material use in the structure of industrial production, a lot of wastes also are produced. Primarily owing to resistance by the local population, the construction of waste dumping sites and incinerators is going on at a very slow pace. The state of the health of forests is also deteriorating. The structural development of settlements and their infrastructural situation are unfavourable from environmental protection point of view.

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