WSSD-RUSSIA:
NGOs Challenge Tall Claims
by Sergei Blagov
MOSCOW, Aug 21 (IPS) - The Russian government
is preparing to paint an upbeat picture of the country's contribution
to sustainable development at the world summit in Johannesburg.
But non-governmental organisations say the official position
lack coherence, and are urging the government to rethink its
development priorities.
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov
is expected to travel to the World Summit on Sustainable Development
(WSSD) to be held in Johannesburg from August 26 to September
4. He is expected to highlight Russia's unique position in
global environmental processes.
Russia believes that its natural resources
play a significant role in preservation of the environmental
equilibrium. It has a quarter of the world's fresh water reserves,
and its forests absorb more than 200 million tonnes of carbon
from the atmosphere every year, officials say.
The authorities have approved a blueprint
for sustainable development called ”Long-term guidelines
for national development.” The Kremlin has also worked
out a new energy strategy until 2020 that aims at sustainable
development of vast hydrocarbon reserves and of the energy
sector, while reducing pressure on the environment.
The government says it is keen to fulfil
its Rio commitments despite ”serious difficulties of
the transition period.” Officials claim that emission
of greenhouse gases in Russia has been reduced by 25 per cent
compared to 1990, and that protected forest areas have increased
70 per cent since 1992.
Russia has pledged that it will allocate
at least 3 per cent of its Gross National Income (GNI) for
protection of the environment. But environmentalists say actual
disbursements are just 0.01 per cent of GNI.
Russian officials are yet to come up
with a comprehensive assessment of the past decade, or with
a clear-cut sustainable development strategy for the future,
says Olga Ponizova from the Eco-Accord Centre, a Moscow-based
non-governmental organisation (NGO). Only such a strategy
could give Russia a chance to make a difference in environmental
protection, she told IPS.
On the eve of the summit, nine leading
NGOs urged the summit to take a critical look at RussiaâÇÖs
official pledges. The NGOs, including the Russian units of
Greenpeace and the WWF, and the Glasnost Defence Foundation,
issued a statement claiming that Russia's environmental policy
is unsustainable. The NGOs said the authorities disregard
public opinion and did not allow a referendum on environmental
policy.
The statement condemned particularly
the Natural Resources Ministry for its failure to protect
the environment, and said greenhouse emissions had risen since
2000. The authorities see the environment as a mere resource,
while environmental protection remains largely on paper, they
said.
While claiming a vast increase in the
area of protected forests, the government acknowledges that
it is losing its timber forests rapidly. The forested area
”borders a state of crisis,” Prime Minister Kasyanov
said in June. President Vladimir Putin spoke of the decline
of Russia's timber industry, which has contracted sharply
over the last decade. Putin said new legislation was needed
to protect and manage timber resources. On June 18, the Russian
government approved a blueprint for development of the timber
sector through 2010. The plan to raise the output of timber
four times requires an investment of 20 billion dollars. Officials
did not say where the money would come from.
Experts have called for reopening of
the forest ministry. President Putin had ordered closure of
the 202-year-old Forestry Service in May 2000. Axing of that
ministry was among Putin's first decisions, and officials
are reluctant to undo it.
Environmentalists question the current
arrangement that replaced the forestry service. They argue
that the same government agency, the Natural Resources Ministry,
should not simultaneously oversee protection of the environment
and exploitation of natural resources, because such an arrangement
inevitably creates conflict of interests. (END/2002)
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