The tendency of excluding environmental goals from the benefits which should be accomplished through privatization of properties and restructuring of the economy is a real threat in some of the CEE countries. The free market is an indirect regulatory system which operates through financial incentives and disincentives. The CEE countries must still decide on the role of market incentives in their environmental protection strategies. The extensive ownership changes occurring throughout the CEE countries pose especially serious threats to the preservation of natural areas. Small businesses emerging from the privatization process are aggressive in their exploitation of environmental resources.
Big businesses tend to prefer being located in relatively clean areas.
There is a potential threat that new enterprises will avoid engaging in clean-up activities of the polluted industrial centers. At the same time, by moving into new areas they may put natural ecosystems at risk, and such areas should be protected as the countries' natural capital. Western consumption patterns 85. The current desire to attain Western consumption standards is providing the general motivation for production and growth. Material consumption influences the system of values, as well as the behavior of individuals.