Functional Review of the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This vertical review of the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning aims to improve the Ministry’s
performance in the medium-term. To achieve this goal, it sets out a framework of changes that can be
implemented in the short-term (1-2 years) and in the medium-term (3-5 years) period. The summary of all
recommendations is provided in Section IV of this report.
Considerations during the whole project execution are based on the Kosovo Government’s current
priorities and strategies. Actions are recommended to contribute to the Government’s goals to become a
member of the European Union and at the same time retain the national socio-economic growth within the
principles of sustainable development.
MESP has a formal mandate that defines its respective competencies, portfolio and functions. These are
established by law and, in general, reasonably reflect the responsibilities expected. Some difficulties
appear through the gap between the legally defined functions, i.e. administrative work to be executed -
and the functions actually discharged, e.g.:
- Cooperation among the line ministries - ministries tackling environmental issues are institutionalized
through the ad-hoc working groups to solve particular agenda. However the Advisory Board for
Protection of Environment in Government - an official decision-facilitating inter-ministerial body – is not
approved yet by the Assembly of Republic of Kosovo (despite the provision of the actual Law on
Environment Protection).
- Fund for environmental protection (so called Eko Fund), is mostly financial instrument for improving the
environmental infrastructure country-wide but is not yet functioning despite it being stated in the Law on
Environmental Protection.
Major deficiencies have been identified at the Inspectorate for Environment and Water. There are a very low
number of genuinely professional environmental inspectors. In addition, there is a lack of respective legislation,
applicable working methodology, relevant environmental standards and proper coordination of their activities as
well enforcements processes. Modern enforcement concepts and standards, although envisaged by the
promulgated primary legislation, are not yet in use.
Also in Kosovo, there is an increasing need for unified environmental standards, harmonised procedures and
compatible technical solutions which are also not adopted yet.
Although all the fundamental institutional elements of a regular environmental and spatial planning
administration system are present, the environmental administration is still undersized and under-skilled for
the challenges it will have to face. The existing legal provisions reflect concern for the basic functions identified
in today’s EU. However, for default-proof, client-friendly and internationally recognised yet cost-efficient
delivery, the MESP needs to be organised more purposefully, fully covering both the core and supportive
functions of the central administration.
It is widely known that a multidisciplinary sector requires an enormous effort of strategic planning and
coordination. Without due coordinating mechanisms, the administrative system for environment and
spatial planning cannot function effectively. Unfortunately, the effective horizontal communication and topbottom
planning approach are still missing.
Noticeable huge effort was undertaken in the policy area. Several strategy documents have been
produced (some of them by the foreign experts or under their supervision), e.g. Kosovo Environment
Action Plan 2006-2010 (KEAP) bringing comprehensive list of priority projects spread over all significant
areas of environment interest. Then project list within the European Partnership Action Plan (EPAP) is
derived from the KEAP and can easily choose the proper projects and realize them. Among other
documents which should be mentioned include: the Environment and Spatial Planning section of the
Program of the Government of Republic of Kosovo 2008 – 2011; Sectoral Strategy for Spatial Planning
2007 – 2013 and Business Plan for the Kosovo Cadastral Agency 2009 - 2014 are of high value. However
other environmental sectors, i.e. Water and Wastewater Management, Solid Waste Management, Air
Quality, Nature Conservation and Biodiversity Protection etc. are still without definition of clear vision,
mission and values.
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