Proposals for Environmental Noise Management Boost at a National Level in the European Union Member States
Proposals for Environmental Noise Management Boost at a National Level in the European Union Member States

Summary/Abstract: Environmental noise is currently becoming one of the most dominant types of environmental pollution. The effects of noise closely correlate with quality of life especially regarding the physical and psychological health of inhabitants, social and economic costs, thus impacting the sustainable development of a country. Environmental noise management, therefore, is one of the most exigent tasks for environmental pollution management. The management of noise need to be developed in a comprehensive, integrative and cross-sectorial way, and appropriate methods and approaches for the management of noise impacts need to be found to deal with them in the most effective and sustainable manner at different governance levels, including national level that takes into account not only the requirements of the unions the country is a part of but also finds tailor made approaches. Taking into account above mentioned, the aim of this research is to study environmental noise management at a national level, taking into account the framework in the European Union (hereinafter – EU). The objectives of this research are as follows: (1) to justify the need for development of environmental noise management, based on theoretical studies of environmental noise as a comprehensive environmental pollution component; (2) to analyze the established legislative and institutional practices for noise management in EU; (3) to analyse the problem situations detected in previous authors’ researches carried out in Latvia (that is as an example of EU member state); (4) to propose improvements for noise management processes at a national level in Latvia. Research mostly focuses on EU member states that joined EU after the year 2000, including Baltic countries. In the scope of the study authors analyze legislation and the institutional system for environmental noise management, and provide conclusions from Latvian case studies regarding practical implementation issues of environmental noise management. The conclusions from the studies allow providing suggestions for improvements at a national level by developing Latvian environmental noise management model. The model consists of the complex of processes that are used in practice at a national level: development of legislation and policy, noise mapping and action planning, control and complaints management, data and information collection, analysis and dissemination, and environmental impact assessment. The research allowed providing proposals for the improvements and further development of these processes. The innovative aspects of this research are related to the description of the practice based management model and the development proposals.

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