Putin Axes Ecology Committee, Leads Russia Toward Environmental Crisis
Oakland, CA - Russian President Vladimir Putin abolished Russiaôs State
Committee on Ecology last weekend, effectively doing away with the only
government agency that had any regulatory power over the environment. The move
will fold the responsibilities of the Committee into the Ministry of Natural
Resources, an agency that has been responsible for facilitating the
extraction
of the countryôs large reserves of oil, gas, and minerals. The Russian Federal
Forest Service was also abolished, and that body will also be folded into the
Ministry of Natural Resources.
Russiaôs State Committee on Ecology was responsible for carrying out
environmental inspections and environmental impact reviews and enforcing the
countryôs environmental laws. It is unclear how these tasks will be handled by
the Ministry of Natural Resources, which has usually supported the most
environmentally destructive natural resource projects in Russia. Victor
Danilov-Danilyan, chair of the State Committee on Ecology, called the decision
an õabsurd step that does not comply with the spirit or the letter of Russian
law.æ
David Gordon, director of programs at California-based Pacific Environment and
Resources Center (PERC), voiced concern over the move. õThis is the equivalent
of abolishing our own Environmental Protection Agency and handing its
responsibilities to an industry-friendly body like the Department of Energy.
The agencies have two entirely different missions, and one is needed to
watchdog the other. This is the undoing of more than a decade of attempts at
getting some checks and balances into the Russian regulatory system.æ
PERC is a non-profit organization that supports citizensô environmental groups
throughout resource-rich Siberia and the Russian Far East, where the pressure
for natural resource development has been greatly increasing. This development
is often at odds with the areaôs rich biodiversity and vast wilderness.
Russian environmental groups have expressed concern that Putinôs restructuring
will leave the country without any environmental authority and will lead to a
worsening of Russiaôs ecological crisis. Led by the Russian Center for
Ecological Policy and the Socio-Ecological Union, these groups fear that the
decision could impact Russiaôs environmental security and lead to even more
harmful environmental projects, threatening Russiansô constitutional rights to
a healthy environment. They have asked President Putin to use this
opportunity
instead to strengthen Russiaôs federal environmental authorities.
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Ecological North West Line * St. Petersburg, Russia
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