Reconciling Environmental Justice and Development in Transition Economies : The Central and Eastern European Reality

The aim of this chapter is to evaluate the importance of the environment in Central and Eastern Europe Countries (CEE) in the general context of current social, economic and political reforms since the early 1990s and, more precisely, to examine the extent to which these emerging democracies with economies in transition address environmental and social considerations in their question to achieve sustained economic growth. The current environmental legislative framework in CEE and the problems surrounding its actual implementation are canvassed first. The difficulties in reconciling environmental protections with economic development are then analysed and an attempt is made to provide a workable definition of the concept of environmental justice for the region. As the lessons drawn from the CEE experience could be applicable to development and environmental issues in other regions of the world, a few principles of general application are proposed in conclusion