It is obvious, that scientists of Lithuania have actively participated in the research and technological development, being supported by the ESD sub-programme. Lithuanian institutions have participated in 89 consortia of project proposals, including project extensions to the NAS countries.

Out of them, 24 proposals have been selected for support and they are currently implemented or under negotiations. Consequently, the success rate of the proposals with Lithuanian participation is 27 %. Three more proposals with Lithuanian partners are in the reserve list, thus, the success rate may still increase.

The growth of the number of proposals and of the success rate from 1999 to 2002 confirms that the activity and experience of Lithuanian researchers as partners of consortia has increased, too. In the year 2000 10.5 % of proposals with Lithuanian participation was successful, however in the year 2001 the success rate was 31.5 %, and in the year 2002 it was 38 % (Fig. 1).

The number of institutions - the partners of ESD proposals has also increased. In the year 1999 only 7 Lithuanian institutions have participated in the consortia, however, in the year 2000 the number has increased till 18, in the year 2001 it has been 27, and in the first four months of the year 2002 it was 18. In the year 1999 only two consortia with Lithuanian partners have been successful, and two more such consortia have had success in the year 2000.

However, in the year 2001 the participation in ESD proposals was successful already for 10 Lithuanian institutions, and in the first four months of the year 2002 for 7 ones.

The results of analysis show that the number of partners firstly involved into ESD consortia was decreasing since the year 2000 (Fig. 3). Proposals of only 1-2 consortia with such inexperienced Lithuanian participants were successful. We may suggest that most of Lithuanian institutions with capacity level enabling their participation of the 5FP ESD have been already involved into this activity, consequently, we hardly may expect considerable future growth of the number of new Lithuanian participants in this sub-programme.

On the other hand, we have to note that even unsuccessful trials of participation in the ESD consortia are extremely useful experience: the success rate of proposals with the repeatedly participating Lithuanian institutions has approached to 50 % in the years 2001-2002 (Fig. 4).

The volume of work in the research projects of the ESD sub-programme (measured in kEuro) has also increased during the period of the 5FP (Fig. 5). Total financial support of Lithuanian partners is 2085 kEuro, nearly half of those (1013 KEuro) has been allocated in the year 2002.

The biggest proposals with Lithuanian partners have been selected for support in the year 2002. One of those is CRAFT project FLUOSENSE (1152 KEuro; the EC contribution for Lithuanian partners is 488 kEuro). The coordinator of the project is SME "UAB Ekspla", and one of partners is Institute of Physics, Vilnius. The second big project is the Excellence Centre COLAR, coordinated by the Coastal Research and Planning Institute of the Klaipeda university (356 KEuro).

Other successful proposals with the highest share of Lithuanian participants are ENTRUST (210 KEuro; partners are Vilnius Old Town Renewal Agency, and the Vilnius Municipality) and BEEP (204 KEuro; the Lithuanian partner is Institute of Ecology of the Vilnius University): see Fig. 6.

Out of the list of the Lithuanian institutions, the most efficient partner of the 5FP ESD projects is the Coastal Research and Planning Institute of the Klaipeda university. In addition to the mentioned Centre of Excellence, it conducts implementation of four other projects of the sub-programme, utilising for research activities more than 500 kEuro of EC support what makes more than one fourth of the total EC contribution to the ESD projects for Lithuania (Fig. 7).

The second biggest partner utilising the EC support is Institute of Ecology of the Vilnius University. It conducts research in 6 international projects of the ESD sub-programme (more than one third MEuro). Other Lithuanian partners participate in one or two projects of the sub-programme.

We may assume, that possibilities provided by the ESD sub-programme of the Fifth Framework Programme were appraised by multiple Lithuanian institutions, including universities, state research institutes, public entities, and governmental bodies, however single private firm. Obviously, the possibilities for the private companies to invest in environmental research and through 5FP to obtain substantial support from EU in the Lithuania are still little or completely unexploited.