« CURRENT EVENTS»

A CIVIL FORUM IN RUSSIA

On 21-22 November 2001, a Civil Forum took place in Moscow. The Forum was held to promote constructive dialogue between government authorities and public organizations. This was the first event of its kind and scale in modern-day Russia. Over 4,000 people attended; roughly 10% of the participants came from conservation and conservation-related organizations.

The Forum issued the following declaration:

An analysis of successes and failures with respect to conservation and to the regulation of natural resources exploitation in Russia and elsewhere has shown that the existence of civil institutions makes it easier to solve environmental problems and prevents many of them.

Russian conservation organizations note that there is a serious lack of connection between the public and the government in Russia. That is why the following government actions were possible:

• the abolition by President Putin in May 2000 of independent government conservation bodies (the State Ecology Committee and the Russian Forestry Committee) for whose establishment society had worked for decades;
• the decision in 2001 to import spent nuclear fuel despite the expressed opposition of a majority of Russian citizens;
• the revival of plans to build new nuclear power stations (including Primorskaya, Kostromskaya, Yuzhno-Uralskaya, Balakovskaya, and Bashkirskaya) and hydraulic power stations (Yumaguzinsk Reservoir, Katunsk Hydroelectric Station, etc.), as well as the starting up of the Rostov nuclear power station in February 2001;
• the tolerance of large-scale illegal cutting (including mountains and undisturbed forests) and poaching;
• the preparation for use of chemical weapons; the production, release and destruction of missiles and toxic fuel; the use of atomic submarines that violate safety standards; the classification of data on numerous environmentally hazardous operations in the past to destroy chemical weapons;
• the implementation of large-scale projects that are not environmentally or sometimes even economically viable;
• the prosecution of environmental activists for such far-fetched crimes as treason and espionage;
• violations of conservation legislation by natural resource users and the authorities with impunity;
• the reduction of school and study hours devoted to ecology-related disciplines.

Today citizens’ constitutional rights are being violated all over Russia, primarily:

• the right to a healthy environment;
• the right to reimbursement for damage resulting from environmental violations;
• the right to complete, objective, reliable and timely ecological information;
• the right to participate directly and indirectly in decisions influencing the environment and affecting citizens’ fundamental interests; the right to hold referendums;
• the right to defend citizens’ ecological interests and rights in court.

There exists an obvious threat to the security of present and future generations of Russians as well as to national security since:

• a significant part of Russia, where tens of millions of people live, has been turned into an environmentally hazardous zone as the result of pollution past and present;
• the influence of ecological factors on people’s health increases with each new generation, the length of human life decreases, new ecology-related illnesses and diseases appear;
• the dumping of toxic wastes into the water and atmosphere is increasing because the system of state management and control has broken down;
• policy governing the exploitation of natural resources reflects the interests of a small group of people who are pocketing spectacular profits from the unsustainable use of resources that are public property; the corruption in this sphere is so great that it now threatens the very future of Russia;
• the scale of environmental disasters and the threat of environmental terrorism (as a result of the ongoing implementation of environmentally dangerous projects) are increasing with every year;
• many natural areas in Russia that help to sustain the global ecological balance and many natural heritage sites that are national symbols of the peoples of Russia are deteriorating;
• in reviewing questions concerning the use of natural resources, the courts tend to favor government ministries and private industrial companies, while judgments in favor of the public are mostly never carried out;
• the rights of indigenous peoples to make traditional use of natural resources continue to be ignored;
• more and more decision-makers and young people have begun practicing ecological nihilism;
• Russia is being purposely de-environmentalized at all levels (legislative, economic, public awareness); organizations and individuals who try to stop this process are prosecuted.

1. To restore the system of government management of environmental protection (including the protection of forest resources) by creating specially authorized federal and regional bodies.

2. To punish all environmental offenses and demand compensation for damages to the environment and to people as the result of these offenses.

3. To establish federal and regional committees (including the authorities, public organizations, business and scientific circles) to work out solutions to such key ecological problems as:

• ensuring environmental safety and people’s health;
• developing nuclear power and importing nuclear waste;
• ensuring people’s safety during use of chemical weapons;
• developing economic and financial instruments for the sustainable use of renewable natural resources and fair distribution of income generated from exploitation of our natural heritage;
• making Russian legislative, executive and judicial bodies aware of the environment;
• making budget allocations for conservation and national health protection transparent;
• creating environmental training programs and making people environmentally aware;
• social and economic aspects of housing;
• international collaboration on conservation and sustainable development.

4. To promote the development of a civil society in the environmental sphere, we must:

• honor citizens’ constitutional ecological rights, including the right to a healthy environment, to information, to participate in the environmental decision-making process;
• improve economic and legislative mechanisms of developing public ecological organizations.

To find out more about the Civil Forum on environmental and related topics, visit the BCC at: www.biodiversity.ru and the International Socio-ecological Union: www.seu.ru

<< | contents | top | >>