Analysis of Environmental Funds in Belarus and the Republic of Moldova

The paper provides comparative analysis of environmental funds in Belarus and the Republic of Moldova based on the results of the Environmental Performance Reviews of the two countries. Environmental Funds in the two countries have a very different structure of their revenues. In Belarus, majority of revenues come from the pollution charges. In the Republic of Moldova, pollution charges constitute only a small part of the total revenues of the Fund, while tax on imported fuel and the tax on environmentally harmful products are the main sources. Expenditures from the funds in the two countries suffer from similar problems. Among those are lack of clear priorities, insufficient transparency of the process of project selection, frequent absence of assessment of the environmental and other benefits of accomplished projects and their cost-effectiveness. Insufficient capacity of the management staff of the funds, particularly at the local level, is one of the main reasons for these problems. However, environmental funds play important role in solving environmental problems. The paper outlines recommendations for their improvement in both countries using both international and domestic experience. When you are citing the document, use the following link http://essuir.sumdu.edu.ua/handle/123456789/893