Russian Army, Environmentalists Agree on Conservation
http://forests.org/web/ -- Discuss Forest Conservation.txt
8/6/99
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Title: Russian Army, Environmentalists Agree on Conservation
Source: Environment News Service
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: August 6, 1999
Byline: Ekaterina Chistyakova
MOSCOW, Russia, August 6, 1999 (ENS) - The Russian Army is
taking an active part in conserving "living nature." In a
first-ever meeting of conservationists, Army
representatives, officials from other government
organizations, scientists and journalists, a beginning was
made last week towards a new society-wide agreement to
protect Russia's environment.
A landmark Round Table dedicated to the subject "Role and
Potentialities of the Army in Conservation of Animate
Nature in Russia" was held July 30. The goal is to create
a Pubic Agreement that will conserve Russia's
environmental treasures.
In 1992 the Muraviovka Nature Park was [stork]
established in the Amur River Basin. It protects
critical wetlands habitat for 26 species of birds and
mammals listed in Russia's Endangered Red Data Book
including two species of cranes and the rare Oriental
White Stork shown here. (Photo courtesy Grus Expeditions)
Despite the existence of serious contradictions and
problems between environmentalists and the military in the
field of environmental protection, there is a wide range
of issues on which consensus can be reached among the
military, the scientific community, governmental and
nongovernmental environmental organizations. Serious
prospects of collaboration between the military and
environmentalists were indicated.
The Round Table was organized by the Environmental Safety
Department of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation,
the editorial board of the "Krasnaya Zvezda" newspaper,
the international press club and the inter-governmental
financing agency Global Environmental Facility's project
Conservation of Biodiversity.
[Baikal] Lake Baikal (Photo courtesy Russian National
Tourist Office)
Representatives of the State Committee for Environmental
Protection of the Russian Federation, scientists,
environmentalists, biologists, military equipment and
technology designers, representatives of the Ministry of
Defense of the Russian Federation and different armed
forces, and representatives of environmental organizations
took part in the meeting.
The draft Public Agreement was developed by Global
Environment Facility. The main idea of the Agreement is to
consolidate efforts of the entire society for conserving
national living nature.
A Public Consensus Declaration covering the field of
animate nature conservation is the framework of the Public
Agreement. The concrete content of the agreement is to be
developed by the participants themselves.
Liabilities of each acceded party form the second part of
the Public Agreement - a system of individual alignment
protocols.
[seal] Harp seal in the Russian Arctic (Photo courtesy
Russian National Tourist Office)
The Round Table was dedicated to discussing concrete
participation of the Army in the conservation of
biodiversity and the accession of the Ministry of Defense
to the Public Agreement.
In many areas formerly used by the Ministry of Defense as
testing grounds and armament dislocation points, unique
landscapes and biological diversity has been preserved,
thanks to withdrawal of these lands from economic
management. For instance, in 1990, Valdaisky National Park
was created in a region of combat missile deployment that
wound up in compliance with the disarmament program.
The Round Table covered the situation on the testing
ground in the Donguzskaya Steppe in the Orenburg Oblast.
This area contains a unique unploughed steppe landscape.
It is a habitat for animals and birds included in
IUCN-World Conservation Union endangered lists and
national Red Books, such as the bustard, little bustard,
steppe eagle and Demoiselle crane.
The testing ground administration treats conservation of
animate nature with understanding and is prepared to meet
the greens in using the territory as a special protected
area. The Round Table approached the Ministry of Defense
of the Russian Federation with a request to help in
organizing a Nature Protected Area there.
Russian spacecraft is launched (Photo courtesy [rocket]
Russian Space Agency)
Monitoring and prevention of negative effects of space
activity on the environment were discussed as issues that
might be included in the Public Agreement.
Environmental education and fostering caring attitude to
nature in the Armed Forces was another element of the
talks.
The participants noted that the activities of the military
in the field of animate nature conservation are virtually
unreported by the media, while any negative impact of the
Army on the environment is always in focus.
In the Round Table Resolution the participants appealed to
the Russian Ministry of Defense to start preparing
protocols on the alignment of military structures to the
Public Agreement on Conservation of Animate Nature in
Russia.
(c) Environment News Service (ENS) 1999. All Rights
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