FINAL REPORT

KAJA PETERSON
IPF 2003

Table of Contents

Activity Report
Publication Report
Mentor Critique Forms
Annex
	Work Plan

Environmental Assessment Group
International Policy Fellowship
30 April  2004

ACTIVITY REPORT

Herewith, I would like to give an overview of the activities and main results obtained during the second reporting period of August 2003 till March 2004 (see also annex).

August 2003
2nd draft of policy paper was submitted to prof Aleg Cherp and Mr Panu Kontio for review on 22 August. Financial report, draft policy paper and mentor critique forms were submitted to IPF Office. Travel arrangements to Riga and Vilnius were made: communication with people to be interviewed, dates and time of meetings agreed; hotel booked. 
Travel to Riga 28-30 August 2003 was held:
1)	Meeting with Ms Sandra Ruža, EIA officer of the Latvian Ministry of the Environment, Peldu Str 25, Riga. Interview and discussion on my draft paper
2)	Meeting with Mr Janis Avotinš, Director of EIA State Bureau, and Mr Arnolds Lukševics, Deputy Director of EIA State Bureau. Interview on Latvian system of EIA and SEA. I introduced my findings on SEA in Estonia

September 2003
Travel to Vilnius on 10-12 September 2003:
1)	Meeting with Irena Bušiunaite and Mr Vitalius Auglius, Division of EIA, Ministry of the Environment
2)	Meeting with Mr Aleksandras Gordeviucius, Head of Spatial Planning and Regional Development Division, Ministry fo the Environment
3)	Meeting with Mr Aurelius Rimas, Head of Environmental Impact Assessment Division of Environmental Protection Agency of Lithuania
In all meetings I had introduced my draft paper and the key findings and discussed the problem areas, Lithuanian colleagues introduced me the Lithuanian progress in SEA. I provided the interviewees with a copy of my paper.

October 2003

My second mentor Mr Panu Kontio invited me to Helsinki to hold a elcture on SEA and particularly on my key findings on Estonian SEA at Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE). The seminar at  SYKE was held on 31 October 2003. 

November 2003

On 22 November, Regional Environment Centre- Estonian Office organised a seminar on SEA. I was invited as a speaker. I presented my results of OSI research.

December 2003
My first mentor Dr Aleg Cherp proposed that my research results could be submitted to the peer reviewed journal “Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal” (IAPA). Dr Cherp guided my work. 

January 2004

I got the first feedback from the first reviewer. I had to respond back to the list of questions and make amendments to the draft article.  Communication with Dr Cherp for advice.
I had prepared the policy brief and forwarded it to Dr Cherp for review.

February 2004

My first mentor Dr Cherp forwarded me the feedback from the second peer reviewer of my article to IAPA. I had to prepare answers to reviewer. Communication with Dr Cherp.

On 20 February 2004, I was invited to give a public lecture on implementation of EIA and SEA in Estonia and what changes are expected once Estonia becomes an EU member in 1 May 2004. The participants were journalists, environmental experts and consultants.

March 2004

OSI final workshop in Budapest 21-28.03.2004. Dr Aleg Chepr held a seminar of two outgoing fellows (myself and Mr Gabor Szarvas) and one incoming fellow Ms Olga Demidova. Outgoing fellows presented their main findings and a discussion was held. 

I had also continued to work on the draft article “The Role and  Value of SEA in Estonia: Stakeholders’ Perspectives” to be published in the peer reviewed journal “Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal”. Mentor Dr Cherp had assisted me to a significant extent and my gratitude goes to him. The paper will be published in June 2004 (http://lysander.ingentaselect.com/vl=14480516/cl=37/nw=1/rpsv/cw/beech/14615517/contp1.htm).

I  was invited to give a lecture at Tallinn Pedagogical University on EIA and SEA and to held a seminar with a practical case. I had again a good chance to present my key findings on SEA in Estonia to students.

I had also contacted my second mentor Mr Panu Kontio. Mr Kontio had also reviewed my paper and gave his comments.

I had also printed 50 copies of my research paper and policy brief that will be disseminated to all the people I had interviewed personally or who had responded to my questionnaire. Some copies will be made available to key people at the Estonian Ministry of the Environment, Department of Environmental Management and Technology, that is in charge of EIA and SEA

April 2004

In April I had given my comments and recommendations to the draft EIA law that is currently being amended to become in line with EU directives on EIA and SEA.

I prepared a joint paper with Mr Peep Mardiste, Department of Geography, Tartu University titled “The use of Strategic Environmental Assessment for predicting the impacts of EU regional development projects in new Member States, with reference to an Estonian case” to be submitted to the International Conference on Monitoring, Simulation and Remediation of Geological Environment, 5-7 July 2004, Segovia, Spain (http://www.wessex.ac.uk/conferences/2004/geoenvironment04/).

Financial reports were prepared and activity report written. 

Acknowledgements

Herewith  I would like to thank OSI staff for the excellent opportunity to work on the subject that really interests me and is an issues of political debate in my country.  During the fellowship year I had many opportunities to present my work and findings at different stages of the work process and to different audiences. 
I owe my special thanks to Dr Aleg Cherp, who assisted me in my work, encouraged me to prepare and submit a paper to a peer reviewed journal and assisted in the finalisation of the paper. 

Annex
 
Work Plan 2003-2004 and status of implementation	
				
Month of the year	Planned Activity	Expected results	Status of implementation	
2003	 	 	 	
March	Contract settelement, communication with IPF Office, possible mentors;	Contract signed, preliminary approval from mentors received; participation in the IPF training	Activities completed	
	IPF training seminar in Budapest 			
April	Setting up project outline, development of methodology and questionnaire; developing list of respondents and initial contacts with them; dissemination of the first set of questionnaires via e-mail; literature reviews, data collection via internet	Project outline developed, three types of questionnaires (dependant on the type of stakeholder group) developed; first set of questionnaires (25 copies) disseminated	Activities completed	
May	Development and updating of the IPF homepage; dispatch of the  second set of questionnaires (mostly to Latvia and Lithuania); development of database on responses received; interviews with selected respondents to clarify their responses	Minimum requirements for IPF homepage met; second set of questionnaires dispatched; 8 interviews with representatives of SEA stakeholder groups conducted	Activities completed	
June	IPF training seminar in Budapest; analysis of the responses received 	Participation in the IPF training seminar; response data base developed and filled in; preliminary results gained; IPF homepage updated 	Activities completed	
July	Interim reports (project report and financial report) drafted and submited to mentors for review	1st draft of policy paper submitted to Prof Aleg Cherp for review	1st draft of policy paper submitted to Prof Aleg Cherp for review; comments and recommendations for improvement received on 22 July 2003	
August	Interim reports submitted to IPF Office; updating of IPF homepage with reports; trips to Riga and Vilnius to interview representatives of stakeholder groups 	Reports prepared and submitted; travel arrangements completed	2nd draft of policy paper submitted to prof Cherp and Mr Panu Kontio for review on 22 August; financial report, draft policy paper and menor critique forms submitted to IPF Office; travel arrangements to Riga and Vilnius made; communication with people to be interviewed via e-mail made, dates and time of meetings agreed; travel to Riga 28-30 August 2003 completed; travelt to Vilnius schedulled 10-12 September 2003	
September	Data analysis and development of draft policy paper; updating of IPF homepage with draft policy paper	Trip to Riga	Trip to Riga to the Latvian Ministry of the Environment, intervies with national authorities on SEA; mid-term financial report drafting	
October	IPF training seminar in Budapest; work on draft policy paper	IPF seminar held;  first draft of research and policy papers	Trip to Vilnius to the Lithuanian Ministry of the Environment, intervies with national authorities on SEA; invitation by menot Mr Panu Kontio to deliver a lecture on the experience of implementation of SEA in Estonia on 31 Oct 2003 in Helsinki; IPF seminar was cancelled	
November	Data analysis and development of draft policy paper continued	Draft policy paper 	Literature review and update; amendments to the reserach paper	
December	Communication with mentors on the draft policy paper; meeting with civil cervants at the Estonian Ministry of Environment to discuss the preliminary results of my work	Meeting at Estonian Ministry of the Environment to discuss the paper	Communication with mentor Dr Aleg Cherp on the progress of the work, preparaion for the submission of a paper to IAPA 	
2004	 	 	 	
January	Finalising of the policy paper	Policy paper finalised	Policy paper introduced to the Estonian Ministry of the Environment	
February 	Finalising the research and policy paper, communication with mentors	Review of the paper by mentors	Communication with mentor Dr Aleg Cherp and Mr Panu Kontio on the progress of the work, reponses to the reviewers of the paper to IAPA ; presentation on the findings of my research to vairous audiences: Students of Tallinn  Pedagogical University, NGO  European Union Movement and Estonian Ministry of the Environment	
March	Finalising of the policy paper; printing and communication with IPF Office for completion of the fellowship	Final reports submitted to OSI	Final reporting; OSI seminar 21-28 March 2004 in Budapest