The EAQ-NET project focuses on environmental assessment (EA), a tool used to integrate environmental and sustainability goals into planning decisions, on land and at sea.
Environmental assessment has been described as one of the most important environmental policy innovations of all times. It is a tool that addresses pollution and resource use nationally as well as transnationally. The legislative provisions for environmental assessment are based on common supranational frameworks, such as EU Directives. Yet, the implementation of these frameworks varies between individual countries in the Baltic Sea region and the Eastern Partnership countries. The latter have only recently started using environmental assessment in accordance with international standards. It is therefore necessary to strengthen the understanding of this tool, and the project wants the countries to share experiences and knowledge.
The idea is to set up a network of experts from the countries in the Baltic Sea region (Poland, Sweden) and the Eastern Partnership (Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine). The network consists of individual experts, universities, a law firm, an environmental consultancy and non-governmental organizations. The project aims to address new legislative demands and promote effective use of environmental assessment as a tool. One of the activities will be to discuss and identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in national systems for quality control and capacity development. The activities of the project will take place in all partner countries.