Äîêóìåíò âçÿò èç êýøà ïîèñêîâîé ìàøèíû. Àäðåñ îðèãèíàëüíîãî äîêóìåíòà : http://www.geogr.msu.ru/science/projects/our/ross_swed/NewsLETTER/3_11.pdf Äàòà èçìåíåíèÿ: Wed Dec 21 13:17:28 2011 Äàòà èíäåêñèðîâàíèÿ: Tue Oct 2 12:22:09 2012 Êîäèðîâêà:

Education for Sustainable Development: Russian-Swedish Project

RUSSIAN SUSTAINABILITY NewsLETTER
Special Issue. March 2011
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

This issue includes...
Towards Ecological Stability Development of Environmental Legislation Managing the Use of Natural Resources: Rosprirodnadzor Who is who in Russia: Rosprirodnadzor Greening the Regions' Reporting The Trans-border Effect and Environmental Safety Monitoring «Nord Stream» Arctic Partnership The Geographical Context of Modernization A New Nature Sanctuary

Towards Ecological Stability
On March 30, 2011 a meeting chaired by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was held, titled "On the package of measures aimed at stabilizing the ecological situation in the Russian Federation". Opening the meeting, Putin noted that "according to environmental indicators about 15% of the territory of the Russian Federation is in critical condition". And inaction could lead to irreversible consequences for the environment. The main causes mentioned for these problems are the imperfect system of environmental governance, the ineffective management and control functions of the state, and weak incentives for the use of modern clean and, so-called, green technologies." To change the situation, Putin proposed to amend the legislation with a number of changes. These, above all, relate to the valuation of environmental impact due to the introduction of so-called best available technologies, i.e. technologies based on the latest developments in science and technology, aimed at reducing the negative impact on nature.

Government meeting on improving the environmental situation in Russia

An important condition, said Putin, is that such technology should be affordable for businesses and also cost-effective. He further noted that in the EU countries, the introduction of such technologies has been a requirement since 1996. 1


The Minister of Natural Resources and Environment of the Russian Federation, Yuri Trutnev, reported to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin about the reform of the environmental legislation and preparation of a package of relevant draft laws. Five of the eight draft laws prepared have been harmonized with the federal executive authorities, four in have been introduced to the Government in the prescribed manner. These are draft federal laws on preservation of the marine environment and its protection from oil pollution, improving the efficiency of state environmental monitoring and environmental control, as well as environmental auditing. In his speech, Yuri Trutnev elaborated on the draft laws in the final approval procedure, which requires the elimination of differences: "On improving the system of valuation and economic incentives in environmental protection", "On economic incentives in waste management", "On the elimination of environmental damage, including damage associated with economic activities", "On specially protected nature territories". The bill on the system of valuation involves the division of enterprises into three groups according to their degree of negative impact on the environment: for the first two groups with low and moderate impact, the procedure of payments is facilitated, for the last group - extremely hazardous environmental sites, transition to the best available technology (BAT) is envisaged. These enterprises are required to upgrade their facilities before 2020. The draft law also provides for increasing the fees for excess impact on the environment as well as a set of economic incentives. The bill "On wastes" defines the powers of municipalities and the subjects of the Russian Federation in the field of waste management, and free business entities that do not adversely impact on the environment from fees for waste disposal, and also introduces a "deposit mechanism" for the production of reusable products. According to Trutnev, the "deposit mechanism" worked perfectly in the Soviet Union. "We are laying down the opportunity to establish and identify industries and types of products for which it will work, that is, the cost of production will be put in the cost of recycling." The draft law "On the mitigation of environmental damage" has been developed in connection with the need to fulfill the order of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to address the accumulated environmental damage in different parts of our country. "This year we embark on the implementation of four such projects: Franz Josef Land, Wrangel Island, the Dzhidinsky tungsten-molybdenum factory on Lake Baikal and the Selenga River estuary, where oil has been accumulated. At the same time, there is no legal shell for this type of activity. Therefore, we simultaneously begin implementation of projects, and create a legal space. The bill was agreed upon by all yesterday, the last remark has been cleared", noted the Minister. The nex tourism tourism areas in t bill, "On Specially Protected Nature Areas (PNAs)", creates conditions for the construction of infrastructure in the recreation areas of national parks and allows ecoin nature reserves, and also eliminates the legal gaps related to the needs of existing protected areas of human settlements.

Summarizing the work done by the Russian Ministry of Nature Resources and Environment in preparing a package of measures to stabilize the ecological situation in Russia, Yuri Trutnev said: "We are confident that the proposed package of bills creates a new shell for the legal regulation of environmental protection in the Russian Federation ­ a modern one, based on worldwide experience, and that we create a system of instruments, introducing long-term incentives for transition to the principles of minimal impact on the environment, improved efficiency of use of natural resources, and increased competitiveness. The administrative barriers and corruption factors in the environmental field decrease, a waste management system is created, mechanisms to protect the marine environment from oil pollution are created, mechanisms in environmental auditing and environmental impact assessment 2


are introduced, the efficiency of state environmental monitoring and control is increased, and finally, conditions are created for the development of systems for protected areas."
More: http://premier.gov.ru/events/news/14655/

*****

Development of Environmental Legislation
On March 18, 2011 in the Committee on Natural Resources and Environment of the State Duma a round table discussion was held on the problems of development of legislation on environmental assessment of proposed economic, urban development and other activities. The roundtable participants noted that there is already today an extensive legal framework that defines such mechanisms of environmental assessment of proposed economic and other activities, as evaluation of environmental impact, state environmental review, state assessment of project documentation, environmental auditing, and environmental certification. However, the existing rules are often scattered, they are of a declarative character and do not provide specific calculation methodology. In his speech Eugene Tugolukov, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Natural Resources, Environment and Ecology, stressed that today Russia needs a single unified system of environmental assessment of economic and other activities. "We must create a level playing field that will include a complete cycle of the necessary procedures: from the rules for strategic assessment of the environmental impact of global plans and projects to a well-defined mechanism for the public environmental review. Clear and uniform rules are needed for large companies, as well as ordinary citizens," he said. During the debate the participants discussed the need to introduce into domestic law the mechanism of strategic environmental assessment at the stage of environmental policy, strategic planning and integrated regional socio-economic development in order to ensure the environmental safety of the results of their implementation. In addition, the roundtable participants presented specific proposals to amend the Federal Law "On Environmental Assessment" and the Urban Development Code regarding the establishment of compulsory state environmental assessment of project design documentation for particularly environmentally hazardous sites. In particular this concerns roads of the federal and regional significance, planned to occupy not only lands of specially protected nature areas, but also other categories of land.

*****

Managing the Use of Natural Resources: Rosprirodnadzor
The Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resources (Rosprirodnadzor) is administered by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and is a federal executive authority performing functions of control and supervision in the sphere of use of natural resources, as well as, within its competence, in the field of environmental protection. Rosprirodnadzor operates under provisions of the Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resources, approved by the Russian Federation Government Decree of 30 July 2004 Nr 400. 3


Rosprirodnadzor operates directly and through its regional offices in coordination with other federal executive bodies, executive bodies of subjects of the Russian Federation, local authorities, public associations and other organizations. Rosprirodnadzor exercises control and supervision of the following areas: Protection, use and reproduction of fauna in specially protected natural territories of federal significance, as well as their habitats; Organization and functioning of specially protected natural territories of federal significance; Geological study, rational use and protection of mineral resources; Use and protection of water bodies (federal state control and supervision over the use and protection of water bodies); Compliance with Russian legislation and international norms and standards for the marine environment and natural resources of inland waters, territorial sea, the exclusive economic zone and the continental shelf; Rational use of mineral and living resources on the continental shelf; State land control within its powers; The execution of power by state authorities of subjects of the Russian Federation, given to them for exercising the powers of the Russian Federation referred in the field of water relationships with the right of direction of instructions to eliminate detected violations and also to prosecute officials who are acting as implementers of delegated powers; The completeness and quality of performance of public authorities of the Russian Federation subjects of powers delegated to them concerning the protection of fauna listed in the Red Book of the Russian Federation, as well as in the area of protection and use of other wildlife, not referring to hunting and water resources, the right to issue prescriptions to eliminate detected violations and to prosecute officials who are acting as the implementers of delegated powers; Compliance with the requirements of Russian legislation in the field of environmental protection, including the field of air protection and waste handling (except radioactive waste); The use, protection and renewal of forests (the state forest inspection and supervision) on lands of specially protected natural territories of federal significance; Organizes and conducts, according to the procedure established by legislation of the Russian Federation, the state environmental review at the federal level; Supervises and oversees the completeness and quality of work of public authorities of the Russian Federation of their delegated powers in the area of state ecological assessment with the right to issue prescriptions for the elimination of detected violations and to prosecute officials who are acting as the implementers of delegated powers. Along with this, Rosprirodnadzor exercises the following powers in specified areas of activity: Issues, in the prescribed manner, permits for transboundary movement of wastes, ozone depleting substances and products; Issues, in the prescribed manner, permits for import to the Russian Federation, export from or transit through its territory of poisonous substances; Issues, in the prescribed manner, permits for the establishment of waste disposal facilities, within its jurisdiction; Coordinates the management of the state cadastre of waste and public records in waste management, and also arranges for verification of the validity of establishing categories of wastes hazardous to the environment; Coordinates the management of state records of objects that have a negative impact on the environment and are harmful to the atmosphere; Defines the territorial authority of Rosprirodnadzor authorized to issue licenses to legal entities and individual entrepreneurs engaged in the same kind of economic or other activities on collection, use, neutralization, transportation, disposal of waste of the I-IV class of danger on the territories of two or more federal districts ; 4




Organizes and supervises the preparation and certification of specialists in the field of environmental security.

More: http://rpn.gov.ru

*****

Who is who in Russia: Rosprirodnadzor
Vladimir Vladimirovich Kirillov - Head of Rosprirodnadzor since 25.01.2008 Born August 11, 1955 in Lipetsk. Has a higher military education, graduated from the Academy of State Service under President of Russian Federation in 1994. He holds the title of Candidate of Sociology (2002) and Doctor of Social Sciences (2008). From 1973 to 1991 he served in the army, 1991 ­ 2000 he was head of the administration department at the Head of Administration of the Vyborg district, Leningrad region, 2000 ­ 2007 he was First Vice-Governor of Leningrad region, and 2007 ­ 2008 advisor to the Chairman of the Interparliamentary Assembly of CIS member states.

At present, the head of Rosprirodnadzor has four deputies. Deputy Head of Rosprirodnadzor Vladimir Vladimirovich Smolin (born April 11, 1963) oversees the Office of geological control and protection of mineral resources, monitoring of protected areas and in the area of hunting, which includes: · Department of supervision of use of solid subsoil minerals · Department of supervision of subsurface hydrocarbon resources and groundwater · Division of control of specially protected natural areas in the field of hunting · Special Division.

Deputy Head of Rosprirodnadzor Konstantin Vasilyevich Totsky (born 23 February 1950) oversees the Office of licensing activity, which includes: · · · · D D D D ep ep ep ep artmen artmen artmen artmen t t t t of State Ecological Assessment of environmental regulation and licensing regulation of waste management of licensing activity and wildlife control.

5


Deputy Head of Rosprirodnadzor Amirkhan Magomedovich Amirkhanov (born November 13, 1952) oversees the Office of environmental control, which includes: · Division of control and supervision in the field of environment and air protection · Division of control and supervision of waste management and land control · Department of supervision of water resources and maritime control.

Deputy Head of Rosprirodnadzor Sergey Anatolyevich Morgunov (born April 11, 1963) supervises: · The administrative and legal office · Office of economics and finance. The Public Council at Rosprirodnadzor At Rosprirodnadzor operates the Public Council - an important social institution of society and the state in environmental management and environmental protection. The jurisdiction of the Public Council covers issues of consolidation of the general public, non-government associations and legal entities in the areas of protection of their constitutional rights to a healthy environment for humans, implementation of scientific assessment and public hearings on environmental management and environmental protection, as well as making recommendations on appropriate draft regulations. The Chairman of the Public Council under the Rosprirodnadzor is Ph.D. Professor Alexander Malyshevsky .

More: http://rpn.gov.ru

*****

Greening the Regions' Reporting
In the list of indicators for assessment of the effectiveness of executive authorities of the RF subjects, the section "Environmental Protection" has been included. The corresponding decision was signed by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on March 14, 2011. The document sets out a number of environmental indicators to assess the quality of all components of the environment. In particular, the section "Environmental protection" includes indicators of the share of economic entities in the region with established standards for maximum allowable emissions of pollutants into the air, as well as indicators of emissions from stationary sources and motor vehicles registered per unit of gross regional product. To assess water quality, indicators of been introduced. Also oil quality will total land area affected by violation, include: the proportion of protected consolidated budget expenditures of the proportion of water areas with a high pollution index have be evaluated, by specifying the proportion of reclaimed land in including radioactive and chemical contamination. Other indicators areas (PAs) in the total area of the Russian Federation; the share of the subjects of the Russian Federation on environmental 6


protection, including total funds received by the regional budget in the form of payment for negative impact on the environment and penalties for violations. According to the Director of the Department of state policy and regulation in the field of environmental protection and ecological safety Rinat Gizatulin: "This resolution was adopted to fulfill the decision of the State Council Presidium on the ecology and makes it possible to monitor the quality of the measures on environmental protection implemented in the subjects of the Russian Federation ". The Russian Federation Government Resolution 148 "On amendments to the resolution of the Government of Russian Federation 322"On measures to implement the Presidential Decree of June 28, 2007 825 "On evaluating the effectiveness of executive authorities of subjects of the R ussian Federation", was designed by the Ministry of Regional Development of Russia jointly with the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia.

*****

The Cross-border Effect and Environmental Safety
Eugene Tugolukov, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Natural Resources, Environment and Ecology, attended the meeting of the 2nd Parliamentary Forum of partnership of the Northern Dimension countries of northern Europe (TromsÜ, Norway). In his speech in the thematic session on the Northern Dimension and the environmental partnership, Eugene Tugolukov noted that the territory of the countries of the Northern Dimension partnership retains unique biological diversity and an enormous potential of natural resources, it is here that Europe's last remaining pristine forests grow. "The participants of the partnership should consider in their work that almost any change in national legislation in the environmental field will have crossborder effects for the countries of the Northern Dimension. Precisely this attitude should be the basis for fruitful and mutually beneficial cooperation between the legislators of the countries in northern Europe," he stressed. Eugene Tugolukov said that the State Duma pays particular attention to the legal enforcement of international obligations of the Russian Federation in the field of environmental security in the Arctic region and the Baltic Sea region and looked forward to similar actions of their partners. During the meeting of the thematic session, the participants discussed the recent legislative innovations in the field of environmental protection, which are scheduled for consideration by the Russian parliament. Particular attention was paid to the planned changes in the field of radioact ive waste management, protection of the marine environment from oil pollution, development of system for valuation, handling of waste from production and consumption, environmental control and a unified system for state environmental monitoring. Eugene Tugolukov stressed that the adoption of the legislative initiatives presented will contribute to the implementation of several projects in the areas of water, wastewater, solid waste, efficient use of energy resources and nuclear waste, as well as help improve the status of the environment and situation of the population, including in the region stretching from the Baltic Sea to the Barents Sea.

*****

Monitoring «Nord Stream»
The first report on the results of the environmental monitoring of the construction of the marine part of the Russian gas pipeline Nord Stream has been submitted to the Finnish side. The Director of the International Cooperation Department of the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment 7


Nuritdinov Inamov presented the report to the Ambassador of Finland in the Russian Federation, Matti Anttonen. In December 2010, at the initiative of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of Finland, the heads of the environmental protection agencies of both countries signed an inter-agency memorandum of understanding on exchange of information about the environmental situation during the construction of the offshore gas pipeline Nord Stream. To ensure Nord Stream AG's compliance with the RussoFinnish agreement, a special program of environmental monitoring of the Russian sector of the pipeline has been developed and implemented that is fully compliant with the requirements of Russian legislation and the provisions of the Espoo Convention. A number of relevant Russian organizations participated in carrying out environmental monitoring in 2010, including the Russian Research Center "Ecological Safety", FGVU "Baltvodhoz, North-West Basin fisheries management and conservation of marine biological resources and other organizations with appropriate state license and accreditation. For sampling and analysis in the Gulf of Finland and the Port Bay the specially equipped ships "Ladoga" and "Ekopatrul-1 were used. From 12 May to 31 December 2010 daily satellite monitoring of suspended sediment fields in the Russian sector of the Nord Stream project was carried out, during which images obtained from the satellites Terra and Aqua (NASA, USA) and Envisat (European Space Agency) were analyzed, which simplifies their verification, if necessary, by the environmental agencies in the Baltic region. The results of the monitoring in the Russian sector, where laying down the first line of the pipeline is already completed, indicate that the company Nord Stream AG complies with environmental regulations for construction of the pipeline. It has been established that the environmental impact is local and of a time-limited nature. The data received do not exceed the target forecast indicators of the state of water and the geological environment and water resources and the concentration of suspended sediment, claimed earlier in the international and Russian materials on Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of the pipeline. For a number of indicators it has been possible to minimize impact and to leave them at a level below the target.

*****

Arctic Partnership
On March 25, 2011 a working meeting of representatives of the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection and UNEP took place. The main theme of the meeting was UNEP' assistance in the development of the GEF partnership with the Russian Federation in the development of the Arctic Programme for Sustainable Environmental Management in the Arctic. The sides discussed a preliminary list of projects of the programme: implementation of the Strategic Action Program for environmental protection of the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation, conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, and improving the functioning of protected areas in the Russian Arctic. The meeting was held by the Director of the International Cooperation Department of the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment Nuritdinov Inamov and the Director of the UNEP's Office for coordination of cooperation with the GEF Mariam Niamir-Fuller. The Russian side was represented by Amirkhan Amirkhanov, Deputy head of Rosprirodnadzor, and UNEP by Christophe Bouvier, Regional Director for Europe, and Vladimir Moshkalo, Director of the Moscow office. M. Niamir-Fuller noted the attention paid by the Government of the Russian Federation to environmental issues and implementation of joint projects and Russia's potential to spread its expertise, in particular on the Russian Arctic, to other countries. The two sides also noted the successful cooperation with UNEP on issues regarding the Sochi Olympics and increased international cooperation to protect the environment. N. Inamov stressed that he regards the work with UNEP and GEF as a long-term partnership. 8


A. Amirkhanov briefed on the establishment of departments for environmental monitoring, environmental assessment, as well as to conduct weekly monitoring of the environment for the efficient operation and greater control of the constructions for the Olympic Games in Sochi.

*****

The Geographical Context of Modernization
A web seminar under this title takes place in the current academic year as a part of the course "Global and regional framework for sustainable development", which is taught in the Faculty of Geography of the Moscow State University named after M. V. Lomonosov for the 5th year students and 1st year graduates. About 200 students have presented their original work on the stated theme. It is assumed that after the technical preparation they will be presented with the traditional commentaries by the teacher leading the workshops on the site http://www.geogr.msu.ru/science/projects/our/web/. The same site presents the performances of students in similar seminars on sustainable development of the past.

The Dean of the Faculty of Geography Moscow State University academician N.S. Kasimov presented his vision on the geographical context of modernization in the terms of education to the student audience on March 30.

As part of the course "Global and regional framework for sustainable development" the students of the Faculty of Geography at Moscow State University met the deputy of the Moscow City Duma, Chairman of the Committee on Environmental Policy, Ph.D. Vera Stepanenko.

9


Webinars have become one of the most prominent forms of demonstration of professional and civic maturity of the alumni of the Faculty of Geography at Moscow State University. At the same time ­ this is a kind of contribution to MSU in the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development.

*****

New Nature Sanctuary
In February this year the provision of the new protected area Stone Town in the Nenets Autonomous District (NAO) covering an area of nearly five thousand acres, was approved. The growth rates and volumes of mining in the NAO are worrying environmentalists. Especially given the fact that the proportion of protected areas, which may offset the negative influence here is negligible only 4.5% of the area of the district (for comparison, in the Komi Republic, the area of protected areas is 14%, in the Arkhangelsk region (excluding the NAO) ­ it is 15 6%).

The new nature sanctuary Stone Town was created with the participation of WWF. Photo: WWF Russia.

In the area of the Belaya River and its tributaries, where the "newborn" nature sanctuary is located in three sites, is home to up to 126 species of vertebrates. Of these, 17 species are included in the Red Book of the NAO. Belaya River is the spawning ground of many valuable and rare species of fish (salmon, trout, arctic char). On the territory of the created monument to nature inhabit 78 species of birds, of which 14 species are included in the Red Book of the Russian Federation and the NAO. Among them are such as the lesser white-fronted and Bewick's swan, and also famous birds of prey ­ white-tailed eagle, merlin and peregrine falcon. The created nature sanctuary will also protect reindeer, the population of which recently worries scientists.

**********************************
Sources: Press Service of the State Duma of Russian Federation, Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of the Russian Federation, Rosprirodnadzor, IUCN, WWF Russia, environmental NGOs, other official sources, private information.

10