RAMBLINGS OF A MODERN DAY MAN, MAN

My first direct exposure to the environmental movement was when I visited the Center for Nonviolent Conflict Resolution in Nis, Yugoslavia, October 1997. I had been introduced to members of the center through mutual friends in the NGO community. During my visit I participated in the meetings, which included the intercultural, women’s, and environmental projects. As an American considering working in Serbia, I was naturally drawn to the environmental project as a less controversial area. During this time I was included in weekly organizational meetings with an average of fifteen members present and a majority of the trustees. The center’s strongest supporter was the Star Delphi women initiative. I met with the members of a delegation from Sweden. As a native English speaker and fluent in Serbian I helped with less literal translation. After a month long stay I had formed a very good opinion of the activities of the center. In my work earlier in Bosnia, working with youth, the majority of local organizations had been formed with direct international support. It was refreshing to find a truly local organization. The key-founding member had left before my arrival for Washington, D.C., with the Brethren Volunteer Service. An American volunteer had been placed in the center through the same program. The center, at the time I arrived, had a developing relationship with the nonviolent student movement in Kosovo. The numerous international delegations I met with during my first month gave me the impression that there was a strong desire by the international community to invest in Kosovo and southern Serbia. A general attempt was being made to contain an old problem, but Kosovo was being disturbed by the recent formation of the KLF (Kosovo Liberation Army). During my first visit to Serbia the international press had only theorized their existence. I returned to Bosnia in November to complete my contract with the United Nations Development Program in Gornji Vakuf.
I returned to Serbia for New Years and began working directly with Eko Tim, January 1, 1998. They had recently completed a neighborhood recycling drive with mixed results. Several members had moved on to other organizations, the first meeting I attended included seven other people. A majority of the members were environmental students and all members were university students. In early 1998 two members of Eko Tim were invited to the 1rst International Skill Share on Local Agenda 21, held in Szentendre, Hungary. The two members held several workshops on Local Agenda 21 upon their return. Quality materials in English were provided by The Northern Alliance for Sustainable Development (ANPED), the sponsor of the Skill Share. Eko Tim’s only project developing at the time was the creation of an environmental map of the Nis region. I attended ANPED’s annual meeting in Sophia Bulgaria with one other Eko Tim member. For three days we attended general workshops including green manufacturing, corporate responsibility, genetically engineered foods, and LA21. In general sessions my colleague was offered a position on the ANPED board. Eko Tim suggested Nis as a possible place for a LA21 case study. Several test programs throughout Europe had begun with strong support from the international community. Substantial financial support was offered to local governments included in these programs. The focus of Eko Tim was quickly shifted to Local Agenda 21 (LA21). The center received a large cash donation at a donor’s conference in Banja Luka, BiH. The project coordinator brought the money to Nis overland. This was how the majority of donations for all organizations in Serbia received their funding. Financial logistics was the most challenging aspect of the work. There was no direct support from the general operating budget of the center for Eko Tim. A limited amount of material resources was available in the center for all activities. In March 1998 Eko Tim began writing a LA21 proposal for the Regional Environmental Center for Southern and Eastern Europe (REC) located in Budapest. The local agenda material we had was limited to English, during the proposal writing process I was needed to explain more deeply some of the issues involved. Agenda 21 is the action plan for sustainable development agreed by over 170 heads of government at the 1992 Earth Summit, in Rio de Janeiro. The term sustainable development was defined in 1988 as: "Development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs"
The key concepts were the focus in our proposal; local agenda means that people should be responsible for the environment that they directly inhabit. In the Eastern European context there are several issues that lead to adaptations in the general approach. After the fall of the iron curtain, a large percentage of the responsibility for the environment shifted to the local government. This was certainly the case in Serbia and the Balkans in general. Local governments lacked the skills and resources, during an initial stage, to deal with a new area of responsibility. LA21 is designed to bring all the stakeholders into a dialogue of environmental concerns. An interesting finding from LA21 implementation is that a polling of the general population to set priorities for environmental action in most cases will mirror the recommendations of expert analysis. This idea was not arrived at lightly. The data in Eastern Europe is consistent, perhaps because the problems are more severe. LA21 calls for the creation of Local Environmental Action Plans (LEAP) and Eko Tim’s proposal included the creation of a LEAP for Nis. The general situation made public awareness our first challenge. A river cleaning and happening was scheduled to celebrate the anniversary of the Rio conference and the creation of LA21. Five Saturdays in May Eko Tim cleaned up a local wild dump along the Nisava (the river running through town). A concert with 15 regional bands was held June 5 1998 on the cleaned riverfront. Media coverage for this event was very strong. This was the first time the center appeared on the local news. Shortly after, the women’s project was the focus of a special report on local television. Although this project was the heart of our proposal to REC, funding had been delayed two months and local fund raising covered the shortfall. The local ministry for the environment donated 500 Dinars (about $40 at the time). The regional ministry for the environment was very helpful with contacts in the business community. The Yugoslavian oil industry actually provided electricity for the concert from a near by gas station. Five hundred dollars did eventually reach Eko Tim near the end of the summer. This money was used to develop an Internet project for the center and Eko Tim. Two versions are still active on free-servers, but are no longer maintained. A new proposal was being prepared for REC in the time leading up to the NATO bombing campaign. Two members had attended REC’s month long “Junior Fellowship” program and strong ties had been made locally as well as throughout Europe. Generally speaking, support for travel expenses to seminars and conferences were always provided to a limited number of organizations in Eastern Europe. Two things made our work possible in Nis; the local government was an opposition party, which generally supported contacts with the west and our ability to convince local politicians of the financial attractiveness of a LA21 case study supported by the international community.
In the fall of 1998, Eko Tim began working with the national Geographic Research Society (GID). The project focused on a gorge on the edge of the urban field. The British Embassy in Belgrade provided funding for an international work camp. The gorge was first described during the crusades. International volunteers arrived from all over Europe, but I was the only American as it was very difficult to obtain an extended visa. I extended my visa by teaching English at the local university. I first had contact with GID members during this time. Eko Tim supported GID with workshops for the local population. Our first workshop was boycotted due to the name of the river we place on our promotional material. A feud existed between the two largest villages as to the actual name of the river they shared. This problem was avoided in our later workshops, which were well attended. The focus of these workshops was the possibility of creating eco-tourism in the region. As far-fetched as the idea seemed at the time, a majority of those in attendance understood the logic and held hope for the long-term future. A key issue at many of these meeting was the fact that in the villages of Serbia there is no organized trash removal. Eko Tim members also attended the work camp, which lasted 15 days. After this experience I could see that the general approach of Eko Tim, raising public awareness, was very practical. Given the current situation in Serbia, eco-tourism remains only a long-term possibility.
As Eko Tim began to stabilize, the center began to fall apart. In 1998 with the creation of the KLF the Nonviolent Student’s Movement was all but abandoned. The intercultural project, which was well funded, faced an impossible situation. Practically speaking the project ceased to exist. At the time conflict within the center was focused on the problems of the intercultural project. While ties to Pax Christi were created the group had little direction. The worsening situation in Serbia created apathy in the membership. The leader of the women’s group left to create a new organization. Eko Tim soon followed suite, although the situation was not that clear cut. A new coordinator did attempt to hold an intercultural seminar to fulfill the letter of the grant. While the seminar was still in the planning phase the center ceased to hold weekly meetings. The original coordinator of the Intercultural program is currently the coordinator for Eko Tim in Nis. As the NATO bombing campaign started the center ceased to function. In the stressful environment several factions formed in the organization and equipment original donated by the US embassy was dispersed among them. Eko Tim was inactive for the duration of the bombing campaign, although, members met regularly.
At the conclusion of the bombing campaign, Eko Tim was contacted by REC’s office in Belgrade. Of all the projects REC funded in Serbia, Eko Tim was one of the few organizations that returned a coherent report. Because of this fact, we were invited to a meeting between the local government and United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP). The leader of the UNEV mission was also the deputy secretary for REC in Budapest. He was familiar with one of the members who had completed their “Junior Fellowship” program. UNEV came to Nis to do tests to assess the environmental impact of the NATO bombing. Of major concern was the damage to the electrical grid in Nis. Extremely toxic materials were released into the ground water. UNEV met with the local government as a courtesy. They had no mandate to discuss political issues, which made a meeting with politicians rather confused. The local government stated that all of the environmental problems were a direct result of the NATO bombing campaign. UNEV asked if there were any environmental occurrences in the city in the last several years. Members of Eko Tim reminded those present of a major fish killing on the Nisave. A large tire plant up stream was generally blamed, but the local government could provide no actual data. The politicians present expressed the political realities of environmental issues in Serbia. I believe the local officials were only interested in potential funding for any project. The local government expressed indirectly their opposition to the Federal Government. UNEV expressed once again that they were only present in Serbia to provide a basic sketch of the environmental conditions for the Security Council. There was first hard data available. UNEV asked those involved to state what they though was the greatest threat to the environment. Some local officials stated the radiation from various weapons used by NATO, but a consensus was reached at the end of the meeting; the lack of funding for Eastern Europe in general, made funding for Serbia almost nonexistent in the current political environment.
In July and August of 1999 we began making transition plans for Eko Tim. . The original coordinator of the intercultural project in the center was appointed as the coordinator for Eko Tim in Nis. I relocated back home to Cleveland in September of 1999, with my new wife and baby, to complete my degree in Environmental Policy and Management here at CSU. My wife was only the equivalent of a few credit hours from finishing her degree in Environmental Studies in Nis. She was also the coordinator for Eko Tim during my time in Serbia. In June of 2000, I began the procedure for incorporating Eko Tim Cleveland as a nonprofit organization here in Ohio. A core group of members is committed to continuing the work of Eko Tim. I have not encountered LA21 since I returned to Cleveland. In early 1999, a member of Eko Tim attended the European Union’s first Environmental Ministers Conference in Arhus, Denmark. LA 21 was the major focus of the conference. LA21 represents a general approach to the overall environmental movement. In contacting environmental organizations here in Cleveland I have not seen any reference to LA21.
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