Gordon Hughes

Magda Lovei

..".transition has proved to be a much longer and more difficult process than most had anticipated, and progress has varied. By 1998 only one country, Poland (which embarked on economic reform before the rest of the region), had reestablished sustained economic growth and surpassed the pretransition level of real gross domestic product (GDP)." - From 'Economic Reform and Environmental Performance in Transition Economies' Most global economy and environmental watchers expect the transition to a market economy to yield environmental benefits. The changing incentives that a market economy introduces should foster more efficient production, better use of resources, and increased community input. The advanced reformers of the Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries proved this to be the case. They improved energy efficiency and reduced emissions intensity of pollutants. The slower-reforming countries of the Newly Independent States (NIS) also experienced lower pollution. However, that downturn coincided with the economic decline, which shut down many major polluters. This report reviews progress in environmental trends since transition began. It looks at air and water pollution and health indicators in the trends and in light of the environmental issues identified in the Environmental Action Programme for Central and Eastern Europe. It continues and builds on the World Bank's work in analyzing the environmental effects of transition, restructuring, and privatization with a view to identifying priority areas for investment and policy initiatives. The report will interest environmental policy makers and practitioners.

Economic Reform and Environmental Performance in Transition Economies

Annotation Implementing the Environmental Action Programme for Central and Eastern Europe As a result of increasing awareness of the dangers of lead to human health and measures to tackle urban air pollution, the use of lead additives in gasoline has been declining rapidly worldwide since the 1970s. A number of countries have completely eliminated the use of lead additives in gasoline, but in Central and Eastern Europe, lead still ranks as one of the most serious and widespread environmental hazards--yet one that is relatively inexpensive to remedy. At a major international conference on the environment held in Switzerland in 1993, fifty countries endorsed the Environmental Action Programme for Central and Eastern Europe, which addressed environmental priority issues such as lead exposure. Phasing out Lead from Gasoline in Central and Eastern Europe summarizes the findings of case studies on lead phase-out as a first-step study designed to assist in the implementation of the Environmental Action Programme. It examines major sources and levels of lead exposure in the region, looks at the costs of phasing out leaded gasoline, describes progress in reducing lead exposure over the past 5-8 years, identifies human health improvements, and draws on lessons of experience from countries in the region. One of the case studies, for example, describes in detail the complete phase-out of leaded gasoline in the Slovak Republic. Although it recognizes the importance of dealing with all significant sources of lead exposure, the study focuses on lead exposure from the exhaust of vehicles using leaded gasoline.

Magda Lovei

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