The lack of inter-institutional cooperation, untrained staff, and non-implementation of laws by inspection institutions hinders the fight against environmental violations in Albania.
A report conducted by the Environmental Resource Center analyzes the role of administrative bodies in environmental justice, highlighting that the lack of clear strategies for environmental inspection and development, non-implementation of the law, and lack of inter-institutional cooperation in information exchange reduce the efficiency of administrative penalties against entities that commit environmental violations.
Environmental inspection in our country has been in operation since 2003. The Law on Inspection has mainly provided practical effects on the work of inspectorates and institutions with inspection and administrative sanctioning powers, such as the State Inspectorate of Environment and Forestry, the Directorates of the Forest Service, the National Forest Agency, Inspection Structures in Municipalities, the National Inspectorate of Territory Protection, the National Environmental Agency, or the National Agency for Protected Areas.
However, the report highlights that these bodies lack specialized or well-paid staff and are consequently unmotivated in their work in effective protection and inspection of violations.
"The level of preparation of environmental and forest inspectors is low and there has been a need for continuous training, a task of the regional branches themselves but also of the State Inspectorate of Environment and Forests in Tirana," the report's findings cite.
This lack of professional education as well as the insufficient experience of field inspectors has led to the failure to fulfill the duties and requirements of organic laws and the inspection law.
These shortcomings are also a result of the financial problems of inspection agencies, low budgeting and the low level of investment in laboratories and logistics in these institutions.
On the other hand, procedural shortcomings in the implementation of legislation lead to a lack of collection of evidence necessary for the prosecution of cases.
The report emphasizes that the inspection teams went into inspections unprepared, without knowing the subject and its activities or the main issues.
"Environmental inspection structures, during the exercise of inspection activity for the years under study, have not correctly implemented the rules, requirements and inspection procedures in fulfillment of the legal obligation arising from the law 'On Inspection in the Republic of Albania' and the General Inspection Manual," states the report on the non-implementation of the law.
The findings highlight that in most of the inspections carried out, inspection reports were not completed. In those rare cases where they were completed, they were without the signatures of the inspected persons.
"In describing the violations, the inspectors do not include the findings of the activity or activity being exercised, or compliance with legal requirements, data which are the basis for making final decisions," the report notes.
Also, the lack of internal control reports on the use of the environment and natural resources as public property makes it impossible to protect them from mismanagement and abuse.
Apart from environmental inspectorates or agencies, it turns out that responsibilities are not being followed even in the municipalities responsible for reporting environmental violations.
"Although fires have been a constant problem for our country with extremely negative climatic consequences in forests and pastures, direct contacts with forest employees and managers of several municipalities show that the responsible inspection structures within the municipalities have not carried out any administrative proceedings for violations of the forest law, the pasture law, or the hunting law," the study states.
Instead of a proper inspection, the work of these institutions has consisted only of monitoring the forest fund and the hunting fund.
There have also been no reports from the National Inspectorate for Environmental Protection, while a significant portion of the administrative decisions taken by it have been found to be invalid.
On the other hand, the lack of inter-institutional cooperation in information exchange also leads to discrepancies in the number of reports of environmental violations.
"In 2017, environmental guards from the regional branches of the AdZM in the regions found a total of 176 illegal interventions, while according to data from another structure of the State Inspectorate of Environment, Forests, Waters and Tourism, 1,764 interventions were identified nationwide in protected areas and national forest parks," the report notes.
These discrepancies lead to inability to verify and delays in reviewing violation cases.
As a result, although violations of laws have been frequent, it has been observed that there has been a decrease in the level of sanctions in the form of fines for environmental violations.
In addition, the report also raises concerns that even those revenues that come from fines or sanctions go to the municipal budget and not to the rehabilitation of the damaged environment.
"Fines imposed by other inspection structures, despite being supposed to go towards environmental rehabilitation, go to the state budget," the report emphasizes on the worrying findings. /BIRN/
