Our recommendations for local governments and municipalities

Nowadays, the settlements have reached a turning point where multiple decisions shall be made. Do we have financial funds for convergence? Do we have enough power to improve the quality of life of the residents and the competitiveness of the farmers and the local businesses? Can we protect our natural values, such as the fertility of the soil, landscape values, the clean and quiet environment, the rich fauna and flora? And probably the most important question is: how we can develop our settlement in order to be well-developed but also liveable, where we have clear air, healthy water and food, the soil is not contaminated, and which natural, landscape and architectural values, can be maintained for the next generations. The different kinds of development plans and strategies for settlements and districts shall consider the changing environmental conditions, the decreasing natural resources and the conditions of sustainable development.

The Env-in-Cent Consulting Ltd. can offer a wide variety of services and activities for performing the official environmental tasks of municipalities and preparation of programmes, plans for the successful transition towards sustainable development.

Our company has many references in the elaboration of municipal (local) environmental programmes for large cities and small towns, as well. Our team previously worked in the development process of the second and third National Environmental Programme of Hungary. In the past few years we worked out environmental programmes for several settlements in Hungary (among others, the Env-in-Cent Ltd. elaborated the Environmental Programme of Budapest). In the course of the planning process, as a first step, we explore and evaluate the local needs and then we make an individual proposal for the suggested planning objectives. This process includes the following activities:

♦  situation analysis, conflict mapping: assessment of the local development needs, determining the possibilities and ecological constraints,

♦  environmental assessment: detecting the local environmental problems and environmental values, setting environment-oriented priorities and objectives,

♦  planning process for environmental measures (delegating tasks and responsibilities, planning of financing options).

We have considerable experiences and references in elaborating local and regional level waste management plans; in the 2000s, we made such documents for more than 50 settlements. We can undertake the execution of the following tasks:

♦  the elaboration or review of waste management plans,

♦  the consultation and authorization of the waste management plans with the relevant authorities and the management of the whole authorization processes.

Previous experiences

In the new EU financing period, lasting from 2014 until 2020, the compliance with the sustainability and climate protection requirements will have an increasing emphasis in the availability for EU financial funds. To comply with these requirements, specific tools and methods may be used, for example the elaboration of Local Agendas (LA-21) which deal with the sustainability at regional or settlement level or the strategy for climate protection/adaptability. The main objective of these planning documents is to realize a well-based community-level planning method, which – besides attaining to financial funds – may harmonize the goals and objectives of the settlements with their specific social-economic-ecologic features. Our company took part in the elaboration of the basic documents of the National Framework Strategy on Sustainable Development, and formerly we worked out studies in the fields of sustainable regional and territorial development, sustainable tourism and sustainable energy management.

After the assessment of local needs, our company makes individually prepared proposals for the settlements. These proposals include the detailed planning tasks, which are based on the following items:

♦  situation analysis for sustainability and adaptability, SWOT analysis,

♦  proposals for reducing the emission of greenhouse gases (GHG),

♦  evaluation of local vulnerability in climatic and sustainability aspects,

♦  objectives and directions towards local sustainability, proposals for the opportunities of the development of local institutions, determining indicators and monitoring system.

If you are interested in these services and activities, please contact Éva Enikő Szabó, Head of Division at the branch for municipalities.