ABOUT THE AGENCY

We are a part of the environment, the environment is a part of us (Presentation Booklet) [pdf, 3.8 MB]

The Environmental Agency is a body of the Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning. It performs expert, analytical, regulatory and administrative tasks related to the environment at the national level. Thus the Agency's mission is to monitor, analyse and forecast natural phenomena and processes in the environment, and to reduce natural threats to people and property. These tasks are performed by the national services for meteorology, hydrology and seismology. The Agency's mission is also to monitor environmental contamination and to provide reliable public environmental data; to this end, the Agency has the appropriate measuring network and laboratories in place. Its mission of exceptional importance is, moreover, to meet the requirements regarding environmental protection deriving from the regulations in force, to preserve natural resources and the biotic diversity and to ensure sustainable development of the country.

The Environmental Agency contributes most towards solving environmental problems by implementing environmental legislation. At the Agency, we handle administrative procedures involving those entities required to pay environmental charges: water fees and taxes on water pollution, carbon dioxide emission and waste disposal. The environmental charges are an extremely effective and well thought-out instrument of environmental protection. A considerable part of these funds is used by the same entities themselves to reduce the environmental burden.

We issue a variety of environmental permits. One project of particular complexity is the issuance of permits for large-scale polluters – i.e. IPPC permits. We keep records of emissions, regulate and monitor restoration programmes, and undertake similar tasks. We take an integrated approach to solving climate change – a consequence of excess greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. At the Agency, we monitor and record these emissions and apply relevant system measures in order to reduce them. Since, in Slovenia, climate change is manifested in a modified precipitation regime, changes in temperatures and in the more frequent natural disasters, we monitor the consequences of climate change in our specialised services and also prepare programmes within individual divisions to reduce the consequences of climate change and make appropriate adjustments. A special role in this process is played by the water management area.

The Environmental Agency pays particular attention to awareness-raising concerning the environment and related issues. If properly sensitised, the public can do a great deal for the protection of our environment. Therefore the quality of our services is most important for all users. For this purpose, we have acquired the ISO 9001: 2008 Quality Management Certificate and, earlier, the certificates for the calibraton laboratory and the chemical analytical laboratory, respectively. The establishment of the quality system and subsequent acquisition of the quality certificate was dictated by the special requirements related to aviation meteorology, which we also cover. Furthermore, we expect it will have important positive effects on operational organisation and streamlining.