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Osteuropa-Rundbrief BUND (Bund f�r Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland)
Newsletter on Environment in Eastern Europe
Teil 2: In English language / in englischer Sprache
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ALBANIEN

Albanian civil Society Foundation

(by Steven Sampson) Albania has about 350 NGOs. The First
Albanian NGOs were started in 1991 most of the Albanian NGOs are
weak, as they lack essential resources, have inadequate
coordination among each other and weak links to the
international NGO community. NGOs and the government are unaware
of how to work with each other (or unwilling), and the image of
Albanian NGOs in the public is weak and not always positive. The
Albanian Civil Society Foundation (ACSF) has been established in
order to improve this situation. Located in Tirana and with a
five-member staff, the ACSF has been operating since March 1995.
Funding comes from a 1 million dollar grant from the Danish
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Danida) to last until the end of
1997. The goal of the ACSF is to strengthen the development of
civil society in Albania, mainly through support to Albanian
NGOs through training and project grants. ACSF is furthermore
providing information to Albanian NGOs, between NGOs and the
government, and especially to link Albanian NGOs with foreign
counterparts and donors. The ACSF is the only foundation in
Albania providing support to the full spectrum of Albanian NGOs.
ACSF has the following programs:

Grant Making to NGOs: The ACSF has disbursed about 80 grants to
Albanian NGOs in all sectors (including environment, women,
youth, human rights, ethnic minority, agricultural development,
business/commerce, civic education, social service). In granting
activities, the ACSF collaborates closely with other NGO support
programs, including UNDP, the Soros Foundation, ORT Democracy
Network Program and the Albanian NGO Forum.

Training Activities: The ACSF also conducts and funds training
courses for Albanian NGO on a wide range of topics such as
fund-raising, management issues, media relations, government
relations, etc. The ACSF has commissioned a survey (in
collaboration with the Washington based International Center for
Non-Profit Law) of the legal framework of Albanian NGOs. This
will lead to a range of seminars and handbooks on legal issues.

A Citizens Center: A major activity for the foundation in 1996
is the newly created "Citizens Center" in which Albanian NGO
members and individuals can meet, get information, arrange
courses, receive phone calls, faxes, mail, and (hopefully by
June 1996) e-mail, make photocopies, and utilize the computer
equipment.

Information Services: A part of the Albanian Civil Society
Foundation is an Information Office that shall facilitate
linkages between Albanian NGOs and their potential partners,
such as donors, foreign visitors, agencies seeking contacts with
an Albanian NGO, other Albanian NGOs, Government authorities,
the general public, etc. The Albanian Civil Society Foundation
publishes a quarterly Newsletters in Albanian and English, and
publishes the first comprehensive, frequently updated Guide to
Albanian Non-Governmental Organisations.

Organization: The Albanian Civil Society Foundation is
registered as an Albanian NGO and is governed by a nine-member
board, eight of whom are Albanians. Board meetings are held
about every 6 weeks. The staff is headed by executive Director
Rolanda Dhimitri. The Information Officer is Elvis Toci. The
ACSF's budget derives from the Danish Government aid to Albania.
It is planned that the foundation can become self-sustaining.

Contacts: Rolanda Dhimitri's home number: Phn/fax +3 55 42
26497, or via Steven Sampson, Project coordinator, Phn: +45 3332
0251, Fax: +45 3332 1345, E-mail: sting@inet.uni-c.dk


BALLERINA Workshop For Baltic Sea Environmental Cooperation

Stockholm - The first BALLERINA (BALtic Sea Region On-line
Environmental Information Resources for INternet Access)
workshop brought together about 65 representatives of a wide
variety of government, academic, and non-government
organizations from the Baltic Sea region to Swedish
Environmental Protection Agency headquarters on June 13-14 to
discuss the development of an Internet-based environmental
network in the region. Participants at the workshop expressed
unanimous support for the BALLERINA initiative. The aim of the
workshop was to discuss and provide guidelines on how to make
the BALLERINA initiative the gateway for environmental
information on the Baltic Sea region on the Internet through the
use of a series of World Wide Web pages with a coordinating
function of the many existing information sources now available
about the environment in the Baltic Sea region. A representative
from the Great Lakes Commission, Carol Cratza, presented the
experience of the Great Lakes Information Network (GLIN). The
BALLERINA initiative will be able to draw on the example of GLIN
as a successful electronic network concerning the environmental
issues of international waterbodies. An ad hoc committee was
designated and approved by the workshop for further organization
and realization of the BALLERINA initiative. A first general
assembly of BALLERINA participants is now planned for early 1997.

Dr. Sindre Langaas, phone +46-8-161737, e-mail
<langaas@grida.no>. Internet: http://www.grida.no/ballerina/

Kurzmeldungen: (Ecodefense; Infobalt; X-USSR Nuke News)

Baltic State Leaders have sverely criticized a proposed
agreement between Russia and the United States 

for Russians to station 600 armored vehicles in the Pskov region
at Russia's border with Estonia and Latvia, in place of the 180
vehicles there at present. The desire of Russia to increase its
forces in this area is considered to be a counter measure to
NATO expansion. Russia, as a result of the proposed agreement,
would be allowed to station arms at its boundaries with the
Baltic and Nordic states in 5 times higher numbers than the
conventional arms agreements allow. (ELTA)

Baltic Sea States Adopt Cooperation Programme:

(Kalmar) - The foreign ministers of the Baltic Sea states on
Wednesday adopted an action programme to boost regional
cooperation in crime-fighting, the economy, the environment and
nuclear safety. The 11 foreign ministers, representing nine
states around the Baltic Sea plus Norway and Iceland, hammered
out the details of the 17-page document on Tuesday evening and
Wednesday morning. Several investments in the region are
planned, including road and railway maintenance and harbour
developments, totalling 40 billion kronor ($6,01 billion) for
the 1995-1999 repiod. Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and
Russia will receive assistance in cleaning up the environment,
particularly with regard to treating toxic waste.

Russia-Baltics-Poland - The Highway Project "Via Hanseatic"
between St.Petersburg and Gdansk,

which would link several former Hanseatic cities, is to be
supported by funds from the European Union. More than 900
million ECU are expected to be invested in project before 1999.
This project would complement "Via Baltica", which is to lead
between Helsinki, Tallinn, and Warsaw. (Vecher. Peterburg)

Estonian Ministries Of Finance And Transport And Communication

have publicly disagreed on a highway project to connect Tallinn,
through Tartu and Voru, with the existing St. Petersburg-Kiev
Highway. Ministry of Transport representative Lembit Kiviloo
stated that the project is without perspective for Estonia. The
Via Russica project would include upgrading the existing
Tallinn-Tartu road into a highway, connecting Tartu with Voru
via Petseri (Pechora), and renovating the railway link from
Valga to Pihkva (Pskov). Southeastern Estonia would in this way
become a transit point from Russia to Scandinavia. The Ministry
of Transport representative believes that the development of
railways should be the sole main priority, as today only five
percent of cargo traffic goes by highway. (ETA, 26 Apr.)

Latvia Spent Significntly Less Last Year On Environmental
Protection 

than in the previous year, according to the Central Statistical
Bureau of Latvia. About 36 million U.S. dollars were spent on
environmental protection and the rational utilization of natural
resources in Latvia in 1995, which represents a decrease of 45
percent in comparison with 1994, according to the Statistical
Bureau. (LETA)

Construction Of A New Hydro Electric Power Plant

on the Daugava River in the vicinity of Daugavpils is under
consideration. Scientists from the Latvian Environmental
Protection center, members of the organization Daugavas Loki,
and local farmers are all opposed to the project. They argue
that environmental damage will exceed any economic advantage
gained from the new power plant. Local government and business
interests are in favor of the construction to provide relatively
inexpensive electric power and to create new job opportunities
in the region. (LETA, 14 May)

ECAT-Riga officially closed his office on 1st June 1996 but
there are still some westerners 

working in the Latvian Environmental Consulting and Monitoring
Centre (ECMC) which is the successor of ECAT-Riga. The European
Union funding for ECAT-Riga has run out and the Latvian staff of
the ECMC is paid by the Latvian state. The ECMC is subordinated
to the Latvian Ministry for Environmental Protection and
Regional Development. Although there will be in the future a new
ECAT-Riga-office which will be responsible for environmental
projects which are financed by foreign institutions the old
e-mail adress will not exist anymore. You can reach the ECMC by
ist new e-mail adress vkmc@main.vvi.gov.lv.

A nuclear Fuel Storage Facility is planned at the Ignalina power
plant 

and will be financed by Ontario Hydro Company together with
tenders from Canadian AECL and German GNB companies. Spent
nuclear fuel in Ignalina is stored today in underwater
reservoirs situated under the plant reactors. The reservoirs
will soon be full. (ELTA)

Lithuania's Ignalina nuclear Power Plant,

the home of two Chernobyl-type reactors, remains a major source
of concern to the Baltic state's Nordic neighbors, stated one
Scandinavian diplomat in Vilnius. "There is a general level of
concern in the Nordic countries about the possibility of an
accident at Ignalina," he said. Ignalina supplies about 80
percent of Lithuania's electricity, making Lithuania the most
nuclear-power dependent country in the world. Four reactors were
originally planned for Ignalina, but construction on the third
was halted in 1987 by massive public protests in the wake of the
Chernobyl disaster.

Police In Lithuania Have Seized Ten Kg Of Caesium-133

and arrested two men who were trying to sell it, the country's
prosecutor's office said. Lithuania and Baltic neighbors Latvia
and Estonia are suspected of being key gateways for the
smuggling to the West of radioactive and rare metals pilfered
from the former Soviet bloc. Caesium can be produced as a deadly
by-product of nuclear fission but the prosecutor's office said
the caesium-133 variety is not radioactive. It is, however, very
poisonous. The two men were arrested in Kaunas after they tried
to sell the metal, a prosecution statement said.

A $ 6.7 million loan from the Nordic Investment Bank for
Lithuania shall help finance 

the construction of the Via Baltica trans-European highway.
Lithuanian deputy communication minister Algirdas Sakalys told
Interfax that final results were expected from loan talks by
Tuesday. Lithuania is planning to build 100-km of the highway by
the year 2000 for $60 million.

The Lithuanian Parliament has ratified the Berne Convention, the
European Agreement on Wild Nature 

and Natural Environment Protection. Lithuanian Minister of the
Environment Bronius Bradauskas said ratification of this
document was a significant step for Lithuania in its integration
into European Union environmental structures. The Berne
Convention came into force on July 1, 1982. It has been signed
by 31 European states and is an important international
agreement for the preservation of nature, wild vegetation, and
rare animals. (ELTA)

The Environmental Threat to the Lithuanian forests is serious
today, but not catastrophic, 

said Forestry Minister Albertas Vasiliauskas at a news
conference. Up to 3,000-3,200 cubic meters of wood have been
felled annually in Lithuania's forests since 1961, whereas the
maximum possible output could reach 5,000 cubic meters without a
harm to the forest resources, he said. A 1.5-fold increase in
wood production, followed by its export, is expected over the
course of the next five years. He described new plans to build a
new modern pulp mill in Lithuania to produce about 300 thousand
tons of pulp per year, which would satisfy Lithuania's own
demand and allow exports of about 100 thousand tons. (ELTA)


Lukashenka calls For Nuclear-Free Zone

(aus: X-USSR Nuke News) Minsk - The president of Belarus on
Wednesday said the nations of central and eastern Europe should
be kept free of nuclear weapons. Belarus inherited part of
Moscow's nuclear arsenal after 1991 Soviet collapse, along mwith
Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. Belarus promised to disarm by
the end of 1996. "I propose that the former socialist countries
of eastern Europe, Belarus, Ukraine and the Baltic countries
should set up a nuclear free zone," President Alexander
Lukashenka said. But he added that "a unilateral step toward
nuclear disarmament is not enough" and expressed concern about
NATO's eastward expansion.

Bulgarien

Eu and Bulgaria sign agreement On nuclear power plant

(Based on Commission Press Release IP/96/431 of 5/21/1996)
Following a signed agreement between the European Commission and
the government of Bulgaria, Unit 1 of Kozloduy Nuclear Power
Plant was shut down for safety tests on 15 May 1996. Last
winter, concern was expressed when Unit 1 was restarted by the
Bulgarian government despite advice from EU experts that tests
were needed to ensure that the reactor was safe. If the present
tests show that the safety of Unit 1 needs to be improved, the
necessary work will be carried out. The decision on whether to
restart Unit 1 will be taken on the basis of common agreement
between the main designer and Bulgarian and EU experts. The
Commission will provide assistance from the PHARE technical
assistance programme for the Central and East European countries
for the tests and for helping with alternative energy supplies
for winter 1996/1997. The Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant generates
around 40% of Bulgaria's electricity. The power plant has six
nuclear reactors, of which Units 1 to 4 are of the oldest type
of Soviet-designed pressurized water reactors. Units 5 and 6 on
the other hand are the most modern type of Soviet nuclear
reactors. In 1994 European experts expressed the opinion that
the reactor pressure vessel (the reinforced container within
which the nuclear reactions take place) of Kozloduy Unit 1 had
to be tested to assess its safety. The Commission has been
working closely with the Bulgarian government to ensure that
until these reactors are permanently closed they are operated in
the safest possible conditions.

MOLDOVA

Folgende Informationen ueber Moldavien aus: News From Moldova,
#4, April 1996, #5, May 1996, #6, June 1996.

Sergiu Fandofan on Ecological Problems in Moldova

(Sergiu Fandofan is General Director of the Department on the
Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of the Republic
of Moldova) - First of all it refers to the water resources
preservation and water use problem. The problem of water supply
for the population, especially in the southern regions of the
country, is closely connected with the health of the nation. We
even had to appeal to the foreign experts and international
organizations for help. The latter, by the way, expressed their
willingness to assist to Moldova with a complex programme "APELE
MOLDOVEI" working out. The experts of the Danube convention have
joined this project so far, as Moldova enjoys the rights as its
member. Till recent time, the Department has been mainly
concerned about the spring floods situation. According to the
local experts' estimation, the main water artery of Moldova, the
Dniester river, was under a threat of pollution, because of the
heavy snow melting.In the neighboring Ukraine a threatening
situation might appear in the region, because of probability of
the upper Dniester tank floods. It could lead to the necessity
of letting out an artificial sea, which took the main blow of
the accident at the Stebnikovsky Chemical Complex in 1983, when
a considerable part of the harmful emission was managed to be
kept in the alignment of the dike. Every time when speaking
about water resources conservation in Moldova, a question of "a
building of the century", an oil terminal in Gurgulesti, appears
to be inevitably. Not only ecologists were frightened by the
scope of so-called "giantmania". This syndrome is still kept
going nowadays. However, as the western experience shows, even
those industrial monsters could work normally without any
environmental impacts, if the strict ecological requirements are
observed thoroughly. Today the economy of Moldova needs some
alternative sources of power supply. The terminal building in
Gurgulesti undoubtedly is one of the real ways of this uneasy
problem solution. Nevertheless, taking into consideration the
mistakes of the past, one should definitely remember
indisputable truth: no economical necessity of a certain project
could prevail over the ecological safety considerations and the
international obligations of Moldova before the neighboring
states. As to the building of the oil terminal, its
environmental impact assessment will be surely done. This
tedious work is entrusted to the scientific center of the same
profile - the National Institute of Ecology, said Sergiu
Fandofan in conclusion.

Dendroparks: Hard Times

by Valentina Malikova, IEA "Altair" - During a voluntary day of
work in the dendropark the citizens of Chisinau fixed more than
five hectares of the unique plantations. On the National Day of
Trees Planting forty volunteers came to the park: people of
different professions, schoolchildren, pensioners. Together with
the officials of the dendropark they cleaned flower-beds from
the last year's leaves and helped to refresh the trees'
saplings. The dendropark is a famous sight of Moldova's capital.
It captures visitors by its inimitable beauty, recognized as a
landmark of landscape architecture. Situated in the place of the
busy freeways almost in the centre of the city this green area
clears the air and absorbs traffic noise. Not accidentally a
small lake here was chosen by wild ducks for a winter stay while
nightingales got accustomed to living in brushwood of the
bushes. The dendropark of Chisinau was set up forty five years
ago by the scientists of the Botanical Garden of the Republican
Academy of Sciences. Now flora representatives from almost all
the continents grow and fruit here. (...) The shortage of
finances causes high staff fluidity. For the same reason it's
quite hard to provide protection of green plants as well as the
proper care of them. Many (...) people (...) use this
unfavourable situation to destroy shrubs' and trees' collection.
The State Department for Environmental Protection and Natural
Resources hopes for the improvement of the situation in the
dendroparks with the adoption of the Law on Protected Natural
Territories. Well, we shall see the outcome.

A Right To Informaton

by Natalya Sinyaeva - The working group of the Ecological
Society "Biotica" started the elaboration of the draft law of
Moldova on the Right to Ecological Information. "The work
supported by the USAID through Eurasia Foundation is planned to
be over this September," Petr Gorbunenko, the president of
Biotica, reported. The importance of the legislative regulation
of the right to get the ecological information is explained by
the fact that despite the right reflected in the Constitution of
Moldova neither citizens, nor their organizations or journalists
could use it to the full advantage as the mechanism of its
realization has not been worked out properly. Whereas in 1990
the countries of the European Union worked out the minimal rules
on getting the information about the environmental conditions.
The inculcation of these rules into the national legislation is
being finished this year. Moldova took the commitment of
providing this right after signing the Declaration of Sofia
Conference of the Environmental Protection European Ministers
(1995). The realization of the right to the ecological
information should permit NGOs and citizens a possibility of
getting full information about potentially dangerous enterprises
and to make a proper public environmental impact assessment.
Certainly some resistance on the part of the authorities towards
the adoption of the effective law could be awaited still the
initiators hope to overcome these obstacles. In case of success
it will be the first law of the kind in CIS countries.

Ecological Society "Biotica", e-mail: bio@mdearn.cri.md

Pollution And Infections

by Valentina Malikova, IEA "Altair" - With summer coming to
Moldova, microbe pollution monitoring of the rivers, lakes and
other open reservoirs has been reinforced. The systematic
laboratory tests of water samples for timely exposure of the
acute intestinal infections, including a vibrio of cholera have
been set. "The acute intestinal infections present a serious
problem for the health of the population of our republic",- said
V.P. Chicu, Candidate of Medical Sciences, Assistant Professor,
a Deputy Director of the National Scientific- Practical Center
of Hygiene and Epidemiology. "As a matter of fact, 19,843
patients with the diseases of that profile were registered last
year, that is 457 people for 100,000 local residents. The most
prevailing diseases were dysentery, enterocolitis,
gastroentercolitis, food toxic infections, salmonellosis. In
addition, 1995 was registered as a year of critical rise in
cholera infection - 240 cases all in all. Among the most
affected places were Tiraspol, the regions of Slobozea, Stefan
Voda, Comrat, Ungheni. The highest level of the intestinal
infections spreading was registered in the regions of Ribnita,
Dubosari, Cahul, Stefan Voda and Causeni. In the region of
Transnistria this index was 1.6- 2.6 times higher than the
average republican level. And, everywhere children under six
years were, as usual, the main victims of these diseases. A risk
of the intestinal infections in Moldova is aggravated by the
biological pollution of the environment, especially of natural
reservoirs. Certainly, a threat of the acute epidemic outbreaks
is increased when contaminated waste waters got into these
reservoirs. In 1994 there was such an outbreak in the town of
Straseni after the pouring rains and heavy flooding. Microbe
pollution of the local centralized water supply sources promoted
the epidemic acceleration. There was also a dysentery outbreak
in the first term of 1996 in the town of Falesti, caused by the
drinking water pollution. The epidemiological troubles caused by
these infections are a direct pollution effect of the natural
objects by the wastes waters which are not managed effectively
by the majority of purification works. Whereas a cholera vibrio
manifests miracles of survival. It can circulate in different
hydrobionts throughout many years, for example, in the bodies of
fish and molluscs, becoming an element of the ecosystems chosen.
So, the water basins turn into reservoirs of the constant threat
of cholera spreading, which can influence the human health and
cause the death outcome. The situation seems to be likely in
Moldova against the background of the drinking water quality
worsening and activities reduction concerning the environmental
protection from the biological pollutants. In addition, many
water pipes functionate spasmodically, because they are
exhausted. The sanitary-technical conditions of wells are
absolutely unsatisfactory. As a result, in 1995 about 10 per
cent of water samples from the centralized sources and
practically every fourth sample taken from the wells didn't meet
the requirements of the state standards according to the
microbiologic indices. Meanwhile, there is a definite
correlation between the rate of water basins pollution and the
intestinal infections morbidity growth among the local
residents. It stands to reason, that in order to determine and
eliminate a microbe pollution of the environment, it is
necessary to reinforce activities of all the services,
departments and residents' groups. (...)

The Doctors Of Geneva Advise

by Tatyana Dobrynina (Nezavisimaya Moldova, N97, April 1996)
Recently in the framework of "Eurohealth" programme our republic
has been visited by the WHO mission. For several days the
members of the delegation were studying the situation regarding
the public health services in Moldova of the last years. They
visited the Republican Clinical Hospital and Children's Clinical
Hospital, the Yaloveni Regional Hospital and one of the regional
health centers. The delegates met the President of Moldova and
ministers of public health, finance and economy. The WHO experts
confirmed the preliminary information that the health services
expenses per capita have been reduced in the republic 7 times in
comparison to 1970. They paid attention to the low living
standard of the citizens of Moldova, because of insufficient and
low calories nutrition, psychological unsteadiness and
ecological impact, which cause many diseases. A critical
worsening in the demographic indices was registered, stating
that the general, and especially children's mortality increases,
while the birth-rate decreases. For example, 5 years ago a
national increase of population made up 8 for 1000, the last
year it was registered only 1.8 for 1,000, while in the majority
of the regions of the republic this increase is equal to zero,
and sometimes is even below zero. As far as different programmes
of aid to the states with the similar problems have been worked
out by the WHO head office in Geneva, the members of the
delegation needed only to arrange preliminary coordination of
the future mutual activities in order not to dispense efforts,
but concentrate them on the key hot problems of the day, working
on the public health protection development in Moldova.
"Together with the WHO experts", - T. Mosneaga, Minister of the
Public Health of Moldova, said, - "we managed to determine the
public health development priorities in the republic. First of
all, it is a mother-and-child health protection, family
planning, hygienic and sexual education problems solution.
Besides, we are going to introduce medical insurance, which
helps to provide medical aid to the pensioners, expectant
mothers and children. The visit of such an authoritative
delegation let us to create a programme of aid to the Republic
of Moldova. The Ministry of Public Health appealed to the WHO
with a request to examine the situation in the republic, to
admit its pitiful state in order to render assistance in
specialists training and partnerships establishing with medical
men of other countries.

Don't Destroy The Living Beauty

It happened so that the beauty of primroses became a reason for
their death, so far as being taken from the awakening ground
they immediately lose the life-giving threads and die. (...)
Among the first spring flowers 24 kinds are rare, 16 of the list
are included into the Red Book of Moldova. (...) In the
framework of their project on primroses protection in Moldova,
the ecological group FAUNA have published several articles in
the local papers realizing the goal to raise the population's
ecological culture and awareness on this point. The group also
appealed to the residents of Moldova not to destroy wild spring
flowers as well as not to buy them.

USAID-Activities on Environmental Problems in Moldova

As a part of the U.S.-Government's program of assistance and
cooperation with Moldova, the Agency for International
Development (USAID) is sponsoring a program of technical
assistance, training, and the provision of equipment for
environmental improvements. The purpose of the "Environmental
Policy and Technology Project (EPT)" is to address environmental
concerns related to agricultural practices and provide an
opportunity for the agricultural, ecological and public health
communities to utilize modern concepts of risk decision making
and, through cooperative efforts with improved technical
capabilities, provide solutions for environmental improvement
and address public health concerns relating to agricultural
production. The project began in January 1995, implementing a
number of valuable activities, including the support of Moldovan
ecological research institutions (NGOs and GOs), organization of
number of workshops on introducing the methodology of
environmental risk assessment, on improved agricultural
production practices, a Soil Erosion Modeling Training workshop,
and computer application training. A special course on risk
assessment has been introduced at six Universities during
Winter-Spring of 1996. In order to ensure the opportunities and
avenues for cooperation three localities-farms have been
selected in three different zones of Moldova to serve as
tangible settings for introducing alternative agricultural
practices that reduce environmental contamination (and,
subsequently, environmental risk) supported by improved
analytical capabilities. These sites are also to provide a
setting for technical training in improved agricultural
production techniques and practices, and in advanced soil
erosion monitoring. The sites are also utilized in initiating an
educational outreach campaign on the relationships between
agricultural production, environmental protection and public
health. (...) More activities are planned for the rest of 1996.
The main concern is demonstrating reduction in soil degradation
and pollution prevention methods. Several technical seminars and
training workshops, educational field tours to the demonstration
sites for children and students, publication of public awareness
brochures on ecological issues, including sustainable
agriculture are to occur by the end of the Project. (...)

For more information, please, contact: EPT Moldova Field Office
Chisinau, MOLDOVA 31 August str., 98, #411 Ph: (373-2) 248 762
Fax: (373-2) 248 478 E-mail: root@ept.moldova.su

GTZ-Activities on Environmental Problems in Moldova

On April 27- 30, 1996 in Chisinau the second seminar on the
project management for ecological NGOs of Moldova was held. It
was organized in the framework of the project "The Sphere of
Ecology Development in Moldova", supported by GTZ ( The German
Society on Technical Cooperation). Udo Heitmann, a GTZ
independent consultant, was the moderator of the seminar. 12
ecological organizations took an active part in the work of the
seminar. 5 projects on biodiversity preservation and 1 project
on the ecological NGOs of Moldova organizational development
have been worked out. Besides, the participants of the seminar
got acquainted with the GTZ information services in applied
technologies "Information and Advisory Service on Appropriate
Technology (ISAT)", along with the ecological literature and
information about the activities of some German NGOs, which
could be potential partners for the NGOs of Moldova. During the
work of the seminar a regular meeting of the NGO coordination
council took place. At this meeting a strategy of the further
project development and planned activities have been discussed.
There groups discussed also the council members' actions
coordination and other current organizational issues. A library,
organized on the basis of the Association of Ecological
Education and Information " TERRA NOSTRA", began its work. Here
one can find methodical materials, literature and other
documents, represented at the conference.

Contact person: Lidia Romanchiuk, Ecological Education and
Information " TERRA NOSTRA", Address: 60, Mateevich str.,
Chisinau 2009, MOLDOVA, Tel: (3732) 240043, E-mail:
duca@TERRANOS.moldova.su

Milieaukontakt is Developing Contacts to NGOs in Moldova

On the 1-st of May, 1996 the meeting of the representatives of
Milieukontakt Oost-Europa, an NGO from the Netherlands, Math
Noortmann and Itske Lulof with ecological NGOs of Moldova took
place. The goal of the meeting was to get acquainted with the
local NGOs activities, to study the local situation and problems
the NGOs face, to get contact information in addition with some
questionnaire data. The meeting was organized within the
framework of a feasibility study. The objective of the
feasibility study was to find out whether and if, in which way,
Milieukontakt Oost-Europa could support the capacity building of
the Moldovan environmental movement. In our previous issue we
informed our readers about the expected visit of the
Milieukontakt representatives to Moldova. Unfortunately, the
information the correspondent of ALTAIR received concerning the
intentions of Milieukontakt in Moldova was not quite accurate.
As it became known after the meeting with the representatives of
this organization, presently there is no any definite project.
On the basis of the analysis and evaluation of the information
gathered during the trip to Moldova, a report will be published,
which will contain the conclusions and recommendations. On the
basis of this report a decision concerning a project in Moldova
will be taken. 

Giurgiulesti Oil-Terminal: Appeal For the Protection Of The
Danube

By the order of the government of the Republic of Moldova the
design works on the purified oil products terminal are being
finished. The terminal will be located in the south of the
republic in the place of the confluence zone of the Prut and the
Danube rivers. It is near the village of Giurgiulesti on the 400
m length of the Danube littoral. In the end of May the project
is to be approved and presented to the European Bank for
Reconstruction and Development with the purpose of getting
credit in the amount of 30 million US dollars. The terminal will
operate in the ecologically vulnerable location in immediate
proximity to the biosphere reserve "DELTA DUNARII", a territory
protected by UNESCO, and to the nature reserve "PRUTUL DE JOS",
protected by the state. One oil terminal has been already
functioning in this region, namely, in Reni, Ukraine. The
Giurgiulesti terminal differs from the latter in the following
way: it will deliver processed fuel (like gasoline, diesel oil,
tar, etc.) and it will be equipped with a 173 m length wharf
with a berth for tankers of 5-10 thousand tons capacity running
in the Sumena branch. In 1994, ecological NGOs of the Republic
of Moldova were invited to two meetings, at which the experts of
the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development were
discussing technical and economical substantiation of the
temporary wharf building for processed oil products. Then we
established the following: 1. The papers presented were not
subjected to the thorough ecological examination. 2. The
population residing the area of the terminal construction and
operation was not fully informed about the advantages and
shortcomings of this industrial object, supposed to be located
on the territory of the Giurgiulesti municipality.
Social-ecological problems were not touched upon in the papers
properly. Today it is proposed to carry out the work on the
project along with the experts' examination. This procedure is
permitted, but it can't replace a complex examination and
environment impact assessment of the project. We consider, that
after the preparatory works on the project it must be subjected
to the complex ecological examination on the part of the state
bodies and non-governmental organizations with the participation
of the specialists of the Republic of Moldova and neighbouring
countries on the national, regional and international levels in
different spheres: water and atmosphere resources; biodiversity,
landmarks and reserves; economic ecology; soil condition,
geological and hydrological situation; social and human ecology;
water transport; and international ecological legislation and
agreements ratified with neighbouring countries. We would like
to ask you to take into consideration the fact that the world
practice knows the cases when serious accidents on the terminals
located in the protected areas took place. It is not excepted
either that as a result of construction and exploitation of the
Giurgiulesti terminal there could take place a large-scale
ecological disbalance both in the mouth of the Danube and the
Prut rivers.

Association of University and Postgraduate Ecological Education,
Alla Ciumac, Dr. of Agriculture; "MOLDOVA-ECO" Foundation,
Valeriu Briceag; Association "AGRO-ECO", Efim Sergentu, Dr. of
Agriculture; Public Republican Association "ACME", Professor
Sergiu Cuznetov, Dr. Habilitat of Biology; Association of
Ecological Journalists and Tourism of Moldova, Alecu Renita;
"PRO NATURA" Foundation, Professor Petru Obuh, Dr. Habilitat of
Biology; Ecological Movement of Moldova, Petru Cocarta, Dr. of
Biology; Association "TERRA NOSTRA", Professor Gheorghe Duca,
Dr. Habilitat of Chemistry, Correspondent Member of the Academy
of Sciences of the Republic of Moldova; Association "AVE
NATURA", Valeriu Ropot, Dr. of Chemistry; Andrei Dumbraveanu, an
engineer, member of the Cinematographists' Union of Moldova;
Association "ECO-LABORATOR", Leonid Cerevatai; Association
"INQUA-MOLDOVA", Constantin Mihailescu, Dr. of Geography;
"Prirodnoye Naslediye" Foundation, Reni, Ukraine, Alexander
Potapov; Eco Center of Ukraine, Bukovina Branch, Chernovtsy,
Viktor Gorbunov; "AVE" Studio, Ion Mija, Art Worker.

New Law On Ecological Examination And Impact Assessment

by Ilya Trombitskiy (Member of the Parliament of the Republic of
Moldova) On May 29, 1996, the Parliament of Moldova has adopted
the Law on Ecological Examination and Environmental Impact
Assessment. Since coming to the Parliamentary Commission from
the Government the draft law has undergone some principal
changes, connected with the necessity of turning it into a
document, meeting the international requirements concerning the
environmental impact assessment procedures. Primarily, the
project was called "About the State Ecological Examination", and
it didn't contain any description of the public and NGO
participation procedure in the future economic activities
decisions, while the Environmental Impact Assessment was not
envisaged at all. At the members' of the Commission urgent
request a separate chapter has been included into the bill,
explaining in details the ecological NGOs' and initiative
groups' participation procedure in case they wish to get
information about any ecologically dangerous activities planned
and the officials' responsibility who prevent these groups from
examination. To realize a public ecological examination an NGO
should apply to the local authorities where the object
construction is planned. In their application the NGO should
indicate information on the expert commission staff along with
the information on the object of examination, terms of its
undertaking, an extract from the NGO's regulations stating that
it stipulates such kind of activities. In case when applications
came from two or more public associations, a mixed commission is
formed. The local authorities are to present the project
documentation. The results of the public ecological examination
should bear a recommending character till their approval by the
state ecological examination. In case when a supposed object is
a large-scaled one or it is potentially ecologically dangerous,
according to the law, the environmental impact assessment
procedure should be prior to the state ecological examination.
Both registered public nongovernmental associations and
initiative groups of residents, including not less than 100
people, could take part in examination. However, at greater
length the law regulates the state ecological examination. The
projects of the legislative, normative and instructive
documents, the projects dealing with the problems of
environmental pollution, international and concessive
agreements, social development plans, economic activities are
subjected to this examination. The system of the state
ecological examination includes subdivisions and organizations
of the central ecological department, which activities are
determined by the department documents. A representative of the
customer or the elaborator of the project, also representatives
of the ministries and organizations whose activities are related
to the object examined, cannot act as the state ecological
examination experts. The document adopted seems to have a number
of shortcomings. Firstly, it contains a rule according to which
only a specialist having no less than five years of experience
in the industrial objects projecting can be a state ecological
examination expert; this fact makes an examination a kind of
one-sided technically in advance. Secondly, the standard,
according to which an NGO presenting a public examination
application should form a mixed expert commission by a forced
order, is obviously non-democratic. At last, a public ecological
examination of one industrial object cannot be undertaken more
than twice, what allows a more informed NGO to use efficiently
both opportunities (possibly - even a customer himself can use
them). Besides, an expediency of making a state ecological
examination procedure regulation exclusively by the department
instructions, not by the law, is rather doubtful. Nevertheless,
the adopted law makes grounds for civilized settlement of
collisions, which are likely to appear among ecologists,
producers and community during any possible planning of new
economic projects.


Conservation Management Support Network

A joint undertaking of the Dutch Karkonosze Foundation
(established in 1990 as a facilitating organisation for
cooperation with Central European institutes, GOs and NGOs), the
Board for Polish National Parks (NP) and all national park
administrations in Poland

by Henry Baumgartl 17.06.96 - The motivation for establishing
CMSN is the recognised need to substantially strengthen the
(organisational) capacity of national parks in Poland if they
are to effectively fulfil their role as corner stones of the
Polish strategy to conserve the still substantial landscape and
biological diversity in Poland, take action to prevent the
irreversible loss of currently threatened values and, where
possible, prepare for the restoration of lost biodiversity. And,
to create circumstances for the future of sensitive areas to
become truly sustainable. Establishing CMSN is to provide a
solid structure and model for effective communication /
co-ordination / co-operation among peers and relevant
stakeholders. And, to create the right infrastructure to build a
practical National Park Information System for the Polish
national park system (Poland has, at present, 21 national parks
(276 000 hectares) of which 6 are designated Biosphere Reserves
in the UNESCO MaB programme) which may, then, be easily adopted
by similar organisations (particularly in Central Europe).
Element of an ongoing process of landscape and biological
diversity protection efforts, developing the concepts for CMSN /
NPIS has been integrated in a number of closely related and
coordinated projects in Poland and countries to the South and
East of Poland. CMSN in particular, represents an innovative,
joint effort of Intergovernmental (IGO), governmental (GO), non
governmental (NGO) organisations, institutes and corporations to
participate in long term Biodiversity Protection efforts. In
practical terms, CMSN is part of the work programme of the
National Parks Component for which the Polish government has
borrowed two million US dollars from the World Bank under a
Polish Forestry Development Project financed by the World Bank
and the European Investment Bank. The additional funding
required for the realisation of the full NP Component will be
generated by applying a number of equally innovative strategies,
involving an even wider variety of sources than CMSN. The
initiators of CMSN are three organisations, whereby the
Karkonosze Foundation will initiate international, the Board for
Polish National Parks national (i.e. government, national
foundations / funds), and the national park administrations
local (i.e. regional and local governments, institutes, local
NGOs) input to CSMN. Any reader having had experience in the
management of conserving landscape and biological diversity,
will be well aware of the complexity of the described effort,
and I sincerely hope many of you will find the concept
interesting and challenging enough to become one of many active
participants in its realisation. The entire (development)
project will continue until the year 2000. As we hope to involve
a number of students / graduates in interdisciplinary workgroups
to realise specific tasks, do not hesitate to contact me to see
if this effort could be of help to you as well as to the
development process.

Henry Baumgartl, Karkonosze Foundation P.O.Box 2298 NL - 1620 EG
Hoorn The Netherlands, Tel & Fax +31 229 241992, Email:
H.Baumgartl@inter.NL.net

Institute for Sustainable Development (Warsaw)

(aus: WWF-US CEE Environmental Affairs Newsletter, June '96) The
Institute for Sustainable Development in Warsaw was founded in
1991 by Andrzej Kassenberg, Krzysztof Kamieniecki, and Zbigniew
Bochniarz. The Institute has compiled an extraordinary record of
accomplishments, addressing such pressing issues as
privatization and the environment, environmental impact
assessment, sustainable development in the "Green Lungs of
Poland", financing mechanisms and the environment, sustainable
tourism, agriculture and the environment, and transportation and
the environment. The author of the following report, on behalf
of the Polish Ecological Club, arranged the editor's initial
visit to Poland in April 1989. For further information, contact
The Institute for Sustainable Development (Instytut na rzecz
Ekorozwoju), ul. Lowicka 31, 02-052 Warsaw, Poland.

by Krzysztof Kamieniecki (October 1995) - Major Accomplishments:
For me, the greatest achievement of recent years is the founding
of the Institute, together with Andrzej and Zbyszek. It was
established as the end product of the thoughts and activities as
well as the frustrations of its founders through the 1980s.
Between 1991 and 1995, we managed to create a modern
institution, generating views, opinions, and inspiration for
politicians and high ranking State officials favorably inclined
towards proenvironmental transformations. The ease with which
the Institute reaches environmental organizations makes it
impossible for politicians and the administration antagonistic
to sustainable development to ignore the results of the studies
we conduct. The strength of the Institute lies in the
currentness of its actions, its professionalism, and the care
with which it engenders ties with NGOs. (...)

Major Pressing Issues: The question of constitutional order. I
place great weight on the question of how the newly emerging
Polish Constitution will relate to matters important to
sustainable development - the responsibility of the State for
the use of resources, the rights of present and future
generations to nature, the "right to know," and the obligations
of the public to the environment. The Institute initiated
discussions on ecology and the new Constitution; today is the
time to undertake more determined actions (lobbying,
campaigning) to guarantee a place for this topic in the basic
law of the land. Unfortunately, the atmosphere pervading work on
the draft Constitution does not promote such activities - a
greater organizational effort is needed. With respect to
regional issues, transportation is crucial. The Institute
started a project in 1995 on a proenvironmental concept for
transportation in Poland. There is an absence of a comprehensive
program of action for NGOs and pro-environmental politicians
throughout the whole of Europe to bring about change in the
transportation system. (...)

Unaddressed Needs: Developing an ability to communicate with the
community. I get the impression that local government, like the
NGOs, though in a different dimension, is having problems with
maintaining collaboration with the public among which and for
whom it acts.

Major Positive Surprises: The possibility of cooperation with
foreign institutions for sustainable development in developing
and implementing the concept of sustainable development is
exciting. Such collaboration is easy and interesting in the case
of American institutions, significantly more difficult among
European ones, and almost non-existent when speaking of Latin
American institutions.

Major Unexpected Problems and Possible Solutions: Difficulties
in embarking on collaboration with medium- and large-scale
business. Polish business fails to see benefits in participating
in the process of pro-environmental transformations of the
economy. (...)

Major Changes Impacting Our Work Positively and Negatively:
There can be no doubt that the return of democracy for Poland is
a good thing. We are living in a different country and hopefully
this will remain true for as long as possible. The existence and
activities of the Polish Ecological Club (PKE) are a continuing
phenomenon. I am concerned about the appearance of unemployment
and the lack of any proposal for its amelioration through
sustainable development. European works on this point, though
interesting, are fragmentary. Should eco-politicians be
successful in creating a program significantly decreasing
unemployment, then there will be a breakthrough in the
implementation of sustainable development. Local government will
open up to it, and NGOs will have a new, creative field for
action.

Russia

MINATOM of Russia Has Discussed The New NPP Projects

by Oleg Bodrov, Sankt-Petersburgh (According to the materials of
Russian MinAtom collegium) - Giving the opportunity to EBRD to
be engaged in the questions of safety of old Russian NPPs,
MinAtom of Russia has considered the new projects. The
worth-while NPPs are seemed to be V-407 and V-392. The first of
reactors, known as NP-500 or WWER-640, is intended to be built
in Sosnovy Bor (the main power unit) and also, in Kola NPP (3
nuclear power units), and in Far East of Russia (4 nuclear power
units). The project has gained interest in Bulgaria and
Byelorussia. The reactor of large power B-392 is intended to
inculcate in Novovoronezh (2 nuclear power units). To obtain the
permission to build new reactors in Sosnovy Bor and Novovoronezh
is considered to be the main task of MinAtom for the 1995 year.
The designers of nuclear power submarines from Nizhny Novgorod
will get the minimal financial support, too. The NPP project
proposed by them with new reactor WPBER-800 accumulated the
experience of creating of more than 300 reactors for nuclear
submarines. New technical decisions for this NPP will be tested
on the new stand KV-2. The designers of brider reactors BN-800
are advised "to persistently knock at the region doors. "The
most perspective place for this knocking is Chelyabinsk "Mayak".
As for channel-type reactor MKER-800, that is proposed to
substitute old RBMK-1000, it already has the source of
financing. The source is... the sold electrical energy of
operating RBMK-1000 power units, and, to some extent, EBRD
support. 

Storm over nuclear waste brewing in Russian Far East

By Philippa Fletcher (Vladivostok, April 18, Reuter) - (...) The
people of the Far Eastern port city Vladisvostok have mixed
feelings about the ban on dumping radioactive waste at sea,
despite the fact that the latest culprit was the Pacific Fleet,
based right on their doorstep. Officials, ecologists and
journalists here share the view that little harm was done by
liquid nuclear waste once poured into the sea by many countries
and dumped here quietly and regularly until 1993, when the world
found out and protested. What bothers them more is that other
countries might now send their radioactive waste to Russia for
reprocessing. (...) After the latest dumping became public,
Russia called for help to solve the problem so that it could
turn a hastily imposed temporary ban into a permanent one.
Japan, where fish prices had plummeted on news that the Russian
navy had poured 800 tonnes of radioactive waste into nearby
seas, quickly offered $25 million to fund a nuclear reprocessing
facility. At the beginning of this year, a contract was finally
signed with an international consortium led by Japan's Tomen
Corporation. Local ecologists were suspicious of the large
planned capacity which they argue exceeds the Fleet's needs.
Their fears multiplied after a radio interview early this year
with the head of the Taiwan power company who said he was
negotiating to dispose of low level nuclear waste in Russia.
Officials have denied repeatedly that any such agreement exists
with Taiwan or any other country, although the environmental
group Greenpeace reported last month that it had won a court
case to stop a plan to deliver foreign waste to a plant further
west in Siberia. The Vladivostok newspaper Vremya summed up
local concerns: "Japanese taxpayers' money will be put into a
project which is totally unnecessary for their safety and which
will probably be used by Russian officials as a source of income
from reprocessing foreign waste," it said. Mixed up amid the
allegations and denials is a separate row between the local
authorities in Vladivostok and Moscow, seven time zones further
west. This one could scuttle the project. The locals, who
complained they were not consulted over the project, insist that
Marubeni Corporation should process the waste, because its offer
was cheaper and more efficient. They feel so strongly about it
that they are planning to catch Moscow out on one of its own
regulations -- the environmental requirements for any project
dealing with radioactivity. "They are so strict that they have
never once been followed ...but they create a hook to catch
people on," said Anatoly Lebedev, an ecologist from the Far
Eastern Academy of Sciences. Yevgeny Simatyuk, the local
official dealing with the nuclear waste issue, is behind plans
to lodge a protest against the contract with the prosecutor
general. He is recovering from an assault by unknown attackers
outside his home which left him with a fractured skull. In the
meantime, the Fleet has been forced to introduce an alternative
way of dealing with the nuclear waste, stored since 1993 in
rusting tankers. Environmentalists say the Russian design system
is coping for the time being although it creates the problem of
dealing with the filters contaminated in the process. Where all
the attention is focused on the liquid waste problem, the issue
of how to deal with the far more dangerous solid nuclear waste
has taken a back seat. Valery Denilyan, head of the Pacific
Fleet's chemical defence service, said three badly damaged
nuclear submarines are moored off the coast. The reactor in one
exploded in 1985 in an accident similar to the nuclear disaster
at Chernobyl less than a year later. (...) There are up to 10
more dismantled reactors on pontoons and another 50 submarines
awaiting decomissioning by 2010. The Star repair and
decommissioning plant in Bolshoi Kamen, on the opposite side of
the bay from Vladivostok, takes apart barely more than one
submarine a year. "It's a question of financing, then there's
the problem of what to do with the spent nuclear fuel. (...)
With problems like these, Denilyan welcomed international help
but not everyone in the Russian military feels the same. When
the European Union launched a tender to investigate the "Lepse"
vessel in Russia's far north, a problem as serious as Denilyan's
three submarines -- it became caught in a row over alleged
military secrets contained in the tender document. (...)

Radioactive water threatens Russian region of Chelyabinsk

By Timothy Heritage (Moscow, April 11, Reuter) - An official
ecology commission said a new environmental disaster could hit
Russia's Chelyabinsk region, one of the most radioactive places
on Earth, and asked the government to investigate. Alexei
Yablokov, who chairs the ecological safety commission in
President Boris Yeltsin's advisory Security Council, called for
a government review of the potential threat posed by a series of
reservoirs contaminated by liquid radioactive waste. He told a
news conference there was a risk that the water, polluted by
emissions from the nearby Mayak nuclear plant, could overflow
the reservoirs' walls in the River Techa and endanger the local
environment and population. The Chelyabinsk region, in the
southern Ural mountains, is already scarred after a nuclear
accident in 1957 which Yablokov said had made a lake near Mayak
"the most radiation-polluted place on Earth." "If anything
happens to the reservoir walls, all the population living
downstream could be in a critical condition," Yablokov, an
anti-nuclear campaigner, said. Yablokov issued a document drawn
up by his commission asking the Russian government to review the
likely dangers if an accident hit the reservoirs. The commission
said it considered it a priority to remove any risk of disaster
and that a plan should be worked out to evacuate the local
population if there were an accident. Yablokov said 400 million
cubic metres (14.14 billion cubic feet) of poisoned water were
contained in the reservoirs. He did not say how many people
might be affected if the water overflowed but towns downstream
from Mayak, such as Muslyumovo, are still inhabited. For decades
the Soviet government hushed up a series of nuclear disasters in
the Chelyabinsk area, about 1,500 km (950 miles) east of Moscow,
when Mayak was a top secret centre of the Soviet Cold War
weapons programme. Officials say that in the first seven years
of its operation, from 1949 to 1956, the Mayak plutonium plant
poured 76 million cubic metres (2.68 billion cubic feet) of
liquid radioactive waste straight into the Techa. In 1957, an
explosion at a reservoir containing nuclear waste blasted
radiation over an area of 20,000 sq km (7,723 sq miles) of the
lakeland region. The full effects of the accident remain
uncertain to this day because victims were evacuated to distant
parts of the Soviet Union and no records were kept of where they
went. About 44,000 people have responded to requests to complete
a register of those who were in the area at the time, Yablokov
said. But this represented only about one in 10 of the total.
Yablokov said 120 million curies of radiation had polluted the
nearby Karachai Lake, more than twice the amount of radiation
spewed out in the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Much of Karachai
has been sealed with concrete but Yablokov said the 300,000
curies of radiation in the Techa posed a greater threat. "We
think this is now a bigger danger than the Karachai," he said.

Norway, Russia to cooperate on nuclear waste

By Philippa Fletcher MOSCOW, Dec 15 (Reuter) - Russia and Norway
agreed on December 15, 1995, to work together to dispose of
military waste, including spent nuclear fuel dumped by Russia in
areas close to the Norwegian border. But the deal, signed by the
two countries' defence ministers was short on substance and
clouded by Russia's charge of spying against the work of the
Norwegian environmental group which has drawn most attention to
the nuclear dumping problem. Grachev said reporters concerns
about radioactive pollution from nuclear waste buried on
Russia's Arctic Novaya Zemlya island or stored in vessels moored
off the Kola Peninsula were unfounded. "The level of
radioactivity on Novaya Zemlya is lower than in my office in the
defence ministry," he said, blaming the media for whipping up
the problem with distorted information. "In order to convince
people that it is safe we decided to work more closely on
checking and informing the population...I suggested to Minister
Kosmo to...fly together to Novaya Zemlya with a Geiger counter
and fly wherever my guest wants." Norwegian scientists
previously invited to check radiation levels in the region have
said they are not above normal. But they have been stopped from
going to certain areas deemed to be militarily sensitive and
remain concerned about the danger. Siri Engesaeth, activist of
the Norwegian environmental group Bellona, told by telephone
from Oslo that the only available technology the Russians have
to remove the military nuclear waste would involve exposing
5,000 people to deadly levels of radiation. "They want to tow it
to Novaya Zemlya and store it there," she said, adding that
project's future was now unclear.

Dismantling Of Nuclear Submarines May Increase Pollution

by Christian Rekkedal (Oslo/Norway, 04.07.96) - (...) Kvaerner
Moss Technology have made the pre-study to a project dealing
with dismantling of decommissioned nuclear submarines. Norway
shall use 150 million NOK. The negotiations on a
Norwegian-Russian agreement shall be finished within June 30.
"The plan presumes, among other things, that the storages for
spent fuel at the Andrejeva bay shall be emptied. The fuel are
to be sent to the reprocessing facilities at Mayak. (Norway
shall eventually also contribute to building a temporarly
storage plant in Majak.) "Bellona asks the Foreign department to
forget the plans. The foundation states that the venture will
not contribute to a betterment of the environmental situation in
Russia. On the contrary they point to the huge problems in
association with the waste and emmissions from the reprocessing
plant at Mayak. "If the authorities goes forth with this
problem, it will mean increased emissions and direct health
consequences for the populace in the area," states Thomas Nilsen
at Bellona. (...)

Russian Citizens Are Fighting A U.S. Co-Funded Reprocessing Plant

Citizens of the Russian town of Sergei Posad are fighting a
government plan to build a U.S. co-funded plant in their town to
reprocess thousands of tons of heptyl, a highly toxic chemical
used as liquid rocket fuel. There are unwanted stocks of heptyl
(dimethylhydrazine) at various military installations around
Russia where missiles and rockets are made and launched. Russia
continued to use liquid rocket fuel long after America switched
to solid fuel, largely because it was cheaper. However, heptyl
is highly toxic, carcinogenic, easily soluble in water (which
means in the event of a leak it can spread quickly and easily)
and, of course, very volatile. Estimates of how much heptyl is
stored in Russia's former "closed cities," the Soviet-era secret
towns like Sergei Posad, in Soviet days known as Zagorsk, range
from 50,000 tons to 150,000 tons. At the Scientific Research
Institute of Chemical and Construction Machines (SRICCM) based
in Sergei Posad, there are over 100 tons of heptyl in storage.
And if the new reprocessing facility is installed, at least
another 10,000 tons will be brought there from the other sites
in Russia. Hundreds of signatures have been collected on
petitions protesting about the plans. "The people of this town
object to these plans, and rightly so," says the mayor of Sergei
Posad, Vasili Goncharov, who is leading the protests. "We
already have enough problems to contend with in this area,
including a radon depository and a testing site for storage of
pesticides and household waste." (...) The facility to be built
in Sergei Posad, some 70 kilometers from Moscow, will be
constructed with U.S. aid under the Congress-backed Nunn-Lugar
technical assistance program. This has raised fears that foreign
heptyl will also be brought in for treatment. "The reprocessing
project is tied to deliveries of heptyl from abroad, especially
from the United States," alleges Goncharov. "This is part of a
wider policy of dumping dangerous and harmful production
processes on us here in Russia." Henryk Matysyak, Director of
SRICCM, absolutely denies this. "Only Russian heptyl will be
processed in Sergei Posad," he insists. (...) Matysyak is
certain that the town's people will eventually accept the
facility. He cited earlier protests against the dismantling of
naval missiles, which rapidly abated. "Given the high level of
unemployment today and the fact that the reprocessing project
will create good jobs, I do not expect the opposition to last
long," he explains. "The facility will give workers the
opportunity of earning up to 500,000 rubles ($100) a month with
no payment arrears." Average wages paid by cash-strapped
employers are significantly lower than this in Russia. (...)
Viewed in the wider context, however, the project is causing
concern to environmentalists who fear that Russia may rapidly be
becoming the world's toxic waste dump. Last year the
environmental commission of Russia's Security Council found that
over 2,000 tons of dangerous wastes from abroad were being
brought into the country every day. (...)

RUSSIA NEEDS FOREIGN ASSISTANCE TO DESTROY CHEMICAL WEAPONS

by Scott Parrish (24.7.96) - Nikolai Bezborodov, deputy chairman
of the Duma Defense Committee, said that Russia will need
significant financial assistance to destroy its stock of some
40,000 tons of chemical weapons, ITAR-TASS reported on 22 July.
He was commenting on the latest session of the Preparatory
Commission for the Establishment of an Organisation for the
Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in the Hague, which is
reviewing progress toward implementing the 1993 Chemical Weapons
Convention. Bezborodov said Russia would need 17 trillion rubles
($3.3 billion) to liquidate its chemical weapons stockpile,
adding: "I think we will not manage without serious foreign
aid." Russia has still not ratified the convention, and
Bezborodov said it would not do so until after the "material,
legislative, and other preconditions for its implementation are
in place."

Phenol poisoning hits Russian region after crash

Moscow, May 20 (Reuter) - Highly toxic phenol released in a
train crash last week has caused an ecological disaster in
central Russia, putting more than 100 people in hospital and
threatening many more, Itar-Tass news agency said on Monday. It
said those taken ill had been involved in clearing up after
several freight wagons were derailed near the town of Shumerlya,
600 km (375 miles) east of Moscow, on May 14. Health authorities
said a further 100 people still working at the accident site
were at risk and there was also a threat of a "mass poisoning"
of the local population, Tass reported. Phenol, also known as
carbolic acid, seeped into streams, causing widespread
ecological damage, and had polluted the Sura river, which flows
north into the Volga. Vapours, which damage the liver and
kidneys, had also been released into the air. (...) Environment
Minister Viktor Danilov-Danilyan was quoted as saying on Monday
that of a stockpile of 80 billion tonnes of industrial and
consumer waste in Russia, 1.6 billion tonnes of it posed a
threat to human health and the environment. The country created
around 800 kg of dangerous waste per head of population every
year, Tass reported him as saying. 

Informations and Scientific Work On Lake Baikal Needed.

In March of 1996 USAID informed represantatives of Russian
environmental NGOs that a grant to provide assistance to solve a
problem related to the Baikalsk Pulp and Paper Mill. CH2MHill
was chosen as a contractor to carry out this project. Director
of the Project Dennis Whelan asked us to help with distribution
of the following letter:

"(May 8, 1996) Dear Colleagues: I am writing for help in
developing background information on environmental issues
relating to Lake Baikal. (...) In coordination with ongoing
Gore-Chernomyrdin-Commission activites, the Ministry of the
Environment of the R.F. asked USAID to help with evaluations of
various proposals to restructure / reprofile the Baikalsk Pulp
and Paper Mill (BPPM). USAID, in turn, has asked CH2M Hill to
work on this task in its role as a contractor for the
Environmental Policy and Technology Project. In this regard, I
am writing for your help in securing the names and contact
information for international scholars and experts who have done
previous work on Lake Baikal in general and on environmental
issues related to the Baikalsk Pulp and Paper Mill in
particular. We know that there are many independent Russian and
international teams that have worked the limnology of the lake,
the effects of human activity upon the lake, and alternatives to
pulp production at the BPPM. We would greatly appreciate any
help that you can give us in contacting these individuals and in
accessing the vast body of data and information that already
exists in connection with these problems, including the names
and contact information for individuals and groups that have
information and experience relating to Baikal and the BPPM.
Thank you for your anticipated help. Dennis Whelan Deputy
Regional Director EPT Project/CH2M Hill International"

Greenpeace Russia's World Heritage Project

(Greenpeace International, Patrick Anderson, (GP) December 8,
1995) As part of a major nature conservation project centered in
Russia, Greenpeace has announced the first of a set of
territories to be included in the World Natural Heritage List,
UNESCO's "Nobel Prize" of natural objects. The Project's intent
is the full protection of Russia's most valuable and extensive
funds of biodiversity both in the short term as Russia suffers
an environmental-economic crisis and in the long term as
catalysts in the search for environmentally sound alternative
investment projects. After six years of unsuccesful attempts by
the government to prepare the nomination for Lake Baikal and at
the same time risking the environmental balance of the lake and,
in fact, the majority of intact ecosystems left in Russia, this
ambitious project aims to protect some of Russia's most valuable
natural spaces. Greenpeace Russia has taken the lead in
organising the nominations of several natural areas to the List
by tapping into the resources and guiding the efforts of dozens
of local and national conservation groups, indigenous peoples
and government agencies. The list, administered by the United
Nations' organisation, UNESCO, also contains such natural
wonders as the Grand Canyon and the Great Barrier Reef and
provides a forum for protection and recognition of the world's
most important natural and cultural sites. In order to carry out
the project, Greenpeace has had push for the creation of entire
new park and conservation zone systems, lobby local governments
to devote the areas and promise to conserve them and animate
researchers and conservation planners to make the project
effective. Indigenous peoples and local communities have played
an important and leading role in the development of nearly all
of the sites, demonstrating the need for a fuller consideration
of the sustainability of life-styles outside of both Western and
Eastern industrial paradigms and based on closer relationships
to nature. Greenpeace has already made the first nomination to
the list, the Virgin Komi Forests, 3.2 million hectares of
pristine forest along the Ural Mountains in the Republic of Komi
in the Russian Far North. Current proposed nomination sites for
the list: Primorsky Kray, Far East: a vital habitat of the
endangered Amur tiger and the Far East leopard, 4 million
hectares including the Sikhote-Alin Natural Complex and the
Bikin Valley, the home of the Udege Indigenous people. The
Volcanoes of Kamchatka: active and dormant volcanoes, geysers,
thermal and mineral springs and bubbling mud cauldrons among
perfectly conserved transforming coastal and forest ecosystems.
4 million hectares. The Sources of the Great Ob, Altai
Mountains, Central Siberia: 6.5 million hectares of virgin
mountain taiga, glaciers and the sacred Telestkoye Lake.
Vodlozero Park, Northwest of European Russia: Europe's largest
intact old-growth boreal forests and pristine wetlands. 1
million hectares. Ubsunur Hollow, Tuva Republic: a
Cultural-Natural project carried out in conjunction with the
Mongolian government, 7.5 million hectares, one of the largest
intact watersheds in Central Asia where 40,000 archeological
sites can be found from histroically famous nomadic tribes such
as the Scythians, the Turks and the Huns.

The Virgin Komi Forests: Forming Europe's natural eastern border
along the Ural Mountains, the Virgin Komi Forests are the
continent's largest unfragmented old-growth forests representing
a wide variety of integrated ecosystems ranging from boreal
forests in the southern part of the territory to subarctic taiga
in the north. The forests, mountains, wetlands and river valleys
that make up the system are a haven for dozens of rare species
and contain one of Europe's most valuable stores of
biodiversity. The area counts 43 species of mammals, including
the brown bear, sable and the highly migratory elk, 204 species
of birds, including the Whitetailed eagle, and 16 species of
fish, the most valuable of which is the salmon that helps
sustain the economies downstream. The forests consist of spruce,
cedar and fir, filled with unique and rare slow-growth floral
species. Indigenous peoples Early Russian chronicles from the
tenth and eleventh centuries record the existence of native
peoples in the area of what is now the Komi Virgin Forests. Up
to the present day many place names as well record the passing
of these peoples: the Pechora River, for example, is named for a
tribe that has since either disappeared or has been incorporated
into larger groups. The peoples that still live in the area,
today known as the Komi, still depend upon the natural
surroundings as they have stood for thousands of years. The
herds of reindeer that need the vast forests to graze , the
salmon and other small-scale fisheries, the berries, nuts and
mushrooms that are collected seasonally, and the hunting of wild
hare and various wild forest birds all attest to the necessity
of keeping the forests in their present, virgin state. In 1994
these forests came under direct threat from many sides. A
foreign timber company began to carry out clearcut logging along
the Pechora and Ilych Rivers while one of the world's largest
oil spills destroyed the river and villages downstream. There
was no help in sight: park officials can go months without pay
and nature conservation has been forgotten in the economic
crisis. While Greenpeace campaigners decried the destruction
downstream, Greenpeace researchers got to work upstream to
organise a nomination to UNESCO's World Natural Heritage List.
In making the nomination, Greenpeace completed its successful
campaign to stop French and Austrian logging companies from
using destructive and unsustainable clearcut methods on Komi
territory and demonstrated the need to assure protection for
these vital natural areas.

Siberian tigers future threatened by cash crunch

Vladivostok, Russia, April 16 (Reuter) - An anti-poaching team
set up to protect endangered Siberian tigers in Russia's Far
East is set to be disbanded in July because the regional nature
protection committee can no longer afford to fund it. Committee
chairman Mikhail Bibikov said instructions from Moscow to cut
back on staff left him no choice but to lay off the team,
despite the threat to the remaining tigers, who number no more
than 230. "How can I keep them on? There's no money. I have to
cut back 62 staff and the brigade will be among them," Bibikov
told Reuters. Bibikov's committee is part of the Environment
Ministry. "The government signed a resolution to defend the
tigers but they did not give us a kopeck," he said. "I found the
money from somewhere but I cannot any longer." The brigade, set
up in 1994, got $180,000 in annual international donations last
July, mainly from the German branch of the World Wildlife Fund
and U.S.-based Global Security Network. But that alone was not
enough. "The foreigners do not want to let the tigers disappear.
But the government does not seem to care about Russia's natural
riches," he said. Most of the Siberian, or Amur, tigers live in
the taiga of the Primorsky region in Russia's far southeastern
corner sandwiched between China and Sea of Japan. "There is very
strong pressure on the tigers today because there is great
demand in China for their skins, their bones, their meat. As a
result their number has been reduced by half," said Bibikov. "If
the team is not there, then anyone would be able to shoot
anything they like in the taiga," he said. Bibikov said the team
has confiscated 16 tiger skins last year as well several
leotards and many bear skins. They also made a string of arrests
and confiscated weapons. "They worked well, got good results.
It's a shame," said Bibikov.


Diamond mining in Sakha - need for environmental protection

By Nina A. Trofimova (29.04.96) - (...) Russia's industrial
"progress" has taken a particular toll on the fragile ecosystems
of the North. Two hundred miles of radiation-poisoned riverbank
near Aikhal in Siberia bear the scars of repeated nuclear tests,
as does the lunar landscape carved out by extensive mining
operations in the Vilyui River Basin. Pollution from mining The
largest mining company operating in Sakha, Almazy Rossii-Sakha
(Russia-Sakha Diamonds), was originally established in the '50s
as part of an industrialization strategy for the Vilyui basin.
Under the plan, a series of mining towns sprouted up almost
overnight, including the city of Mirny and the towns of Aikhal
and Udachny. Near these boomtowns, numerous large-scale quarries
were gouged out of the land. One such mine is the Mir complex,
525 meters deep and 1.5 kilometers in diameter. Today mining
operations occupy 1,655 hectares of land in Sakha. Accidental,
but nonetheless frequent, releases of untreated mineralized
water (with concentrations of up to 100 grams per liter) into
surface watercourses over the last 10 years have resulted in
average annual contamination levels as much as eight times the
maximum allowed. The impact on mortality rates in polluted areas
is undeniable: the average life span in the Vilyui region is
less than 58.9 years for men and 67.1 years for women, far below
the average for Sakha as a whole. Infant mortality in the area,
38.1 percent in 1993, is also significantly higher than the
republic-wide rate of 23 percent. While mining severely pollutes
waterways and defaces natural landscapes wherever it occurs, the
effects of mining are especially pronounced in the Arctic
regions of the republic. Despite a significant reduction in
mining activity in recent years, landscape degradation and water
pollution due to diamond mining in the Vilyui River Basin remain
high especially since exhausted mines continue to contaminate
their surroundings with toxic by-products for up to 10 years
after they cease operating. As a result, in 1992 the Russian
Federation declared the Vilyui Basin an important part of the
Lena River watershed, an environmental disaster area. Regulatory
disarray Russia's worsening economic situation exacerbates
Sakha's environmental crisis. The desire for rapid prosperity
has prompted a frenzied rush for resources despite the fact that
the outdated industrial technologies in use throughout the
region are ravaging the land. (...) (Nina A. Trofimova is the
specialist on independent environmental impact statements for
the Association of Humanitarian Initiatives. Translated by
Herrick Fox.)

Overflight Of The Sukpai, Samarga and Khor Watersheds

by Dale Miquelle (RFE EPT Biodiversity Manager) April 13, 1996
The upper portion of the Samarga, Bikin and adjacent sections of
the watersheds in Khabarovsk Krai are the last intact remnants
of the central Sikhote-Alin bioregion and with the exception of
minimal native impact on sustainable replenishable resources,
these regions are wilderness in the classic sense of the
concept. This could change very quickly, with pending road plans
and free market economics placing new pressures on these regions
and directly threatening the vitality of biodiversity upon which
local peoples are dependent for the traditional ways of life
that have evolved with region. Ecologically Sustainable
Development (ESD) booked an overflight of the Sukpai and Khor
River watersheds in southern Khabarovskii Krai and the Samarga
watershed in northern Primorskii Krai in order to check existing
land use patterns.(...) Flying across the 'Khabarovsk Nakhodka'
highway, that is now being constructed on the far side of the
Bikin River about 150 kilometers south of our flight line, and
skirting the villages of Obor, Durmin and Malaya Sidima on our
port side, the flatlands give way to quickly rising mountains
that are girded by an extensive road system. Intensive harvest
of these forests began around 50 years ago, in most part by
people held in rehabilitation camps before and after the second
world war. The approaches to the peaks have been heavily
harvested and a snowy background highlights where the forest has
been removed. We were told that relatively good natural
regeneration is occurring in these regions. We also saw a couple
of locations where logging roads 'illegally' cross over
watershed divides, a remnant of Soviet era forest management.
Heading east, we soon came to the confluence of the Khor and
Sukpai Rivers with the village of Sukpai to our port. As we
continued east up the Sukpai drainage, to our north, large snow
covered clear cuts came into view, the aftermath of harvesting
efforts by the Cubans who worked these forests until the early
'90's. According to forest service officials, these forests were
first clear cut and then burnt and since then have repeatedly
burnt; no significant effort has been made to restock the
cleared lands. There are also a large number of 'natural'
openings formed as a result of forest fires. The southern side
of the Sukpai is a patchwork of harvest areas that reveal no
apparent pattern, as the Cubans cut where they wanted and what
they wanted. There is little evidence of clear cuts. This area
also has many burned over sections. These forests are mixed
conifer (spruce-fir), with extensive stands of larch in the
Tagemu and Yaa drainages. North Koreans are now working in these
areas. A plan was forwarded in the '80's to develop a zakaznik
in the lower and middle drainages of the Sukpai because of its
extraordinary biodiversity values. However, forest management
decisions put these plans to bed and there are few reasons to
now argue for limits on timber harvest here. Since the lower and
middle Sukpai have lost their significance as a potential
protected territory, the current effort is to protect the Chuken
drainage whose confluence with the Khor is about 30 kilometers
downstream of the point where our flight line crossed the
latter. This does not mean, however, that lower and middle
drainages should be abandoned to industrial harvest and large
scale clear cutting. These forests are degraded and ground
truthing is need to determine how timber removal has affected
general forest species diversity. What should follow is a forest
management plan that allows for sustainable timber harvest and
that works to restore forest values so that a primary need for
timber can meet in conditions that also provide for wildlife and
human values intricately interwoven into the fabric of these
lands. And special attention should be given to any management
plans for the headwaters of the Sukpai. This forest is a vital
buffer zone for the Bikin and Samarga watersheds. Any effort to
develop the upper Sukpai will create additional incentives to
open up these other watersheds, especially once a road system is
in place to remove timber from the headwaters. So of particular,
immediate interest is the current status of the east/southeast
road that runs north of the Sukpai in a valley between this
river and the Kabuli drainage. The road draws close to the
Sukpai, and crosses it with the river via a major concrete
bridge, about 30 kilometers downstream of its confluence with
the Tagemu drainage. Given the capital expense to construct such
a structure, there is apparent strong interest in harvesting
timber in the headwaters of the Sukpai. (...)