Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe
Encyclopedia
The Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC) is a non-profit
, non-advocacy, independent international environmental
organisation. Its mission is to assist in solving environmental problems in Central
and Eastern Europe
by providing information on the environment, promoting public participation and encouraging cooperation among regional stakeholders in the environment, including non-governmental organisations, governments, and businesses.
Areas that the REC works in include biodiversity
, climate change
, providing environmental information, environmental law
, environmental policy
, promoting public participation, renewable energy
, sustainable development
, and waste management
.
The REC was established by the European Commission
, Hungary
, and the United States
in 1990. Currently, the REC is legally based on a charter
signed by the governments of 29 countries and the European Commission, and on an international agreement with the government of Hungary.
The REC's head office is in Szentendre
, Hungary. It has offices in 17 Central and Eastern European countries. It has sister institutions in the Caucasus
, Central Asia
, Moldova
, Russia
, and Ukraine
.
The REC publishes a quarterly magazine called Green Horizon, which was published as The Bulletin from 1990 to spring 2004.
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
, non-advocacy, independent international environmental
Natural environment
The natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof. It is an environment that encompasses the interaction of all living species....
organisation. Its mission is to assist in solving environmental problems in Central
Central Europe
Central Europe or alternatively Middle Europe is a region of the European continent lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe...
and Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
by providing information on the environment, promoting public participation and encouraging cooperation among regional stakeholders in the environment, including non-governmental organisations, governments, and businesses.
Areas that the REC works in include biodiversity
Biodiversity
Biodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems. Biodiversity is in part a function of climate. In terrestrial habitats, tropical regions are typically rich whereas polar regions...
, climate change
Climate change
Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average...
, providing environmental information, environmental law
Environmental law
Environmental law is a complex and interlocking body of treaties, conventions, statutes, regulations, and common law that operates to regulate the interaction of humanity and the natural environment, toward the purpose of reducing the impacts of human activity...
, environmental policy
Environmental policy
Environmental policy is any [course of] action deliberately taken [or not taken] to manage human activities with a view to prevent, reduce, or mitigate harmful effects on nature and natural resources, and ensuring that man-made changes to the environment do not have harmful effects on...
, promoting public participation, renewable energy
Renewable energy
Renewable energy is energy which comes from natural resources such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, and geothermal heat, which are renewable . About 16% of global final energy consumption comes from renewables, with 10% coming from traditional biomass, which is mainly used for heating, and 3.4% from...
, sustainable development
Sustainable development
Sustainable development is a pattern of resource use, that aims to meet human needs while preserving the environment so that these needs can be met not only in the present, but also for generations to come...
, and waste management
Waste management
Waste management is the collection, transport, processing or disposal,managing and monitoring of waste materials. The term usually relates to materials produced by human activity, and the process is generally undertaken to reduce their effect on health, the environment or aesthetics...
.
The REC was established by the European Commission
European Commission
The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....
, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
, and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1990. Currently, the REC is legally based on a charter
Charter
A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified...
signed by the governments of 29 countries and the European Commission, and on an international agreement with the government of Hungary.
The REC's head office is in Szentendre
Szentendre
Szentendre is a riverside town in Pest county, Hungary, near the capital city Budapest. It is known for its museums , galleries, and artists. Due to its picturesque appearance and easy rail and river access, it has become a popular destination for tourists staying in Budapest...
, Hungary. It has offices in 17 Central and Eastern European countries. It has sister institutions in the Caucasus
Caucasus
The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...
, Central Asia
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
, Moldova
Moldova
Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked state in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the West and Ukraine to the North, East and South. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the preceding Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, as part...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, and Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
.
The REC publishes a quarterly magazine called Green Horizon, which was published as The Bulletin from 1990 to spring 2004.