Russian Forest Threatened, Government Abolished Forest Protection Agencies
Leavenworth Audubon Adopt-a-Forest, Leavenworth, WA USA
ALERT!! Russian Forest Threatened by Abolition of the Federal Forest Service and State Committee for Environmental Protection
SIGN ON LETTER TO THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN SOLIDARITY WITH OUR RUSSIAN COLLEAGUES
Background:
In May of this year, Russian President Putin abolished the country's Federal Forest Service and State Committee for Environmental Protection. In so doing, Putin placed the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources, which has a tradition of aggressive resource exploitation, in charge of the abolished agencies' environmental protection functions. With this move, Russia's system of independent government environmental enforcement was effectively halted. Despite this draconian move, seven days later the World Bank approved a $60 million loan to the abolished Forest Service, then, on September 13, announced the approval of $200 million in loan guarantees to Russia's coal and forestry sectors.
In July, over 60 Russian environmental leaders, including former environmental advisor to Boris Yeltsin, Alexei Yablokov, sent a letter of protest over the situation to World Bank President James Wolfensohn. "It was demolished," Washington Post later quoted Yablokov saying about the environmental agency abolishment.
Four months after the agency abolishments, there is ample evidence that the reform effort is damaging the country's already compromised ability to protect the environment. There have been numerous staff cuts. Some employees of the agency have changed their stand on issues in order to retain their jobs in the Ministry of Natural Resources. For instance, one regional head in Kamchatka recently abandoned his support for a United Nations program protecting two key salmon watersheds that are also coveted by the Ministry of Natural Resources for their gold and gas deposits. The reason, local activists say, is that he is concerned about keeping his job under the Ministry of Natural Resources.
Meanwhile, Russia's leading environmental law firm, Ecojuris, is suing the government, calling the agencies' abolishment unconstitutional. "By supporting the abolishment of these agencies and the inferior restructuring of their functions under the Natural Resource Ministry, the World Bank is undermining environmental protection and the rule of law in Russia," said Jozsef Feiler, Policy Coordinator, CEE Bankwatch Network.
Alarmed by the dangerous direction the government is taking, Russian NGOs throughout the country are gathering signatures to initiate a Referendum, demanding that the Russian government:
1) Restore an independent Federal Forest Service; 2) Restore an independent environmental protection agency; and 3) Allow no movement of nuclear waste into Russia from abroad.
Russians must gather 2 million signatures by October 26. Currently they have over 1.5 million.
WE CAN HELP BY APPLYING INTERNATIONAL PRESSURE:
SIGN ON to the following letter to the Russian government that supports the Russian peoples' demands. To sign on, e-mail your name, organization (if you have one), city, state and country by October 26 to Pat Rasmussen
And/or WRITE YOUR OWN LETTER.
SIGN ON LETTER:
Vladimir Putin
Egor Stroev
Mr. Genady Seleznev
Mikhail Kasyanov
Dear Sirs,
We, the undersigned environmental organizations and individuals, support our Russian colleagues' call for restoration of forest protection agencies independent of the Department of Natural Resources.
Forests of the Russian Federation, which make up more than 20% of the world's forests, play a very important part in the conservation of biological diversity, as well as in the regulation of global climate.
Ancient old-growth taiga forests of Karelia, the Arkhangelsk Region, Komi, old-growth broad-leaf forests in Tula felled-tree barriers of oak forests of Chuvashiya represent the last remaining examples of biodiversity on the ecosystem level, and these forests are unique not only in Europe but for the whole world community as well. The forests growing on the shores of Lake Baikal keep this world's largest reservoir of fresh water clean. The ecosystems of the Usury taiga in the Russian Far East are home to the largest wild cat in the world - the Amur tiger.
The ecosystems of Russian forests store billions of tons of carbon, which, if these forests are destroyed by forest fires, diseases and pest outbreaks, will be emitted into the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide which is a green-house gas contributing to global climate change.
These forests provide non-timber forest products that sustain the lives of indigenous people and local communities who live in them.
The universal importance of conservation of biodiversity and the need for joint action by the whole world community to address these issues is reflected in the Convention on Biological Diversity and ratified by 177 countries and the EU.
We support the initiative of a Referendum by the Russian people that calls for:
1) Restoration of an independent Federal Forest Service; 2) Restoration of an independent environmental protection agency; and 3) No movement of nuclear waste into Russia from abroad.
We further support the Resolution of the Fifth Biennial Conference of the Taiga Rescue Network signed in Moscow on September 22, 2000 that calls for protection of this vast global treasure, the Russian forest.
And we support the July letter of protest sent to World Bank President James Wolfensohn by 60 Russian environmental leaders, including former environmental adviser to Boris Yeltsin, Alexei Yablokov. This letter calls upon the World Bank to halt loans to Russia until independent environmental protection agencies are re-established.
Sincerely,
Name, Organization, City, State, Country
Pat Rasmussen,
Pat Rasmussen
President of the Russian Federation
Staraya Pl. 4
103132 Moscow, Russia
FAX: 7-095-206-0766
Chairman of the Council of Federation
26 B. Dmitrovka
103426 Moscow, Russia
FAX: 7-095-292-6545
Chairman of the Duma
Okhotny Ryad 1
103265 Moscow, Russia
FAX: 7-095-292-8600
Prime Minister
Krasnopresnenskaya Nab. 2
Moscow, Russia
Phone: 7-095-205-5055