The Public Chamber is groping for the boundaries of nature conservation – Kommersant

In the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation, environmentalists and officials discussed the construction of resorts and the development of transport infrastructure in the Western Caucasus. Ecologists fear changes in the conservation status of some parts of the Sochi National Park, and they are also concerned about plans to build roads in protected areas. However, a representative of the Ministry of Natural Resources said that experts condemn “what is not,” and urged them to be guided only by officially published documents.

Opening the Friday discussion, Elena Sharoikina, Chairwoman of the Commission on Ecology and Environment of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation, called on the “greens” and officials “to finally openly discuss the solution to the problem that we have had for a long time.” Under the problem, Ms. Sharoikina meant plans for construction in the immediate vicinity of specially protected natural areas (SPNA) in the Western Caucasus. “We are concerned about the obvious damage that could be caused to wildlife by the construction of railways and roads and the expansion of the resort area,” she said.

Greenpeace Russia expert Mikhail Kreindlin said at a meeting in the RF OP that their organization had prepared several options for how construction in the Caucasus would affect the boundaries of existing protected areas.

“We have different sources: public information plus internal correspondence, on the basis of which we make our forecasts,” Mr. Kreindlin explained.

So, one of the options is to transfer part of the territories of the Caucasian Biosphere Reserve to the Sochi Nature Reserve; this will lower the environmental level, which will make it possible to build tourist facilities there. According to the ecologist, this is exactly the scenario discussed in the letter of the subordinated Ministry of Natural Resources All-Russian Research Institute “Ecology”: “The organization is looking for grounds for such a decision, although this is illegal.” Speaking about plans to build roads and railways connecting the resorts of Lagonaki, Arkhyz and Krasnaya Polyana, Greenpeace refers to a public statement by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin: “We want the travel time from Sochi to Lagonaki to be one hour, to Arkhyz – two hours. Now it’s about seven or nine hours at least.” Mikhail Kreindlin is sure that it is possible to lay routes in this way only through the territory of the reserve.

Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Viktor Danilov-Danilyan said at a meeting that interference in the landscape of the floodplain of the Mzymta River, which flows in the Caucasian Reserve, could lead to a second Krymsk: “In 2012, almost 200 people died there in a couple of hours of night flooding. And if all these plans for the construction of new tourist clusters are implemented, the same will happen in Sochi.”

Anatoly Kudaktin, chief researcher at the Caucasian State Reserve, told how in the late 1960s the authorities wanted to build a road from Mineralnye Vody to the Black Sea coast: “But then there was a communist system, and we sent a letter to the Central Committee of the party to prevent this. And we were heard. As a result, we created the Sochi National Park to save the Black Sea coast.” However, now, according to him, the proposals of environmentalists are “left without attention.” He cited the example of the road from Adler to Krasnaya Polyana, built for the Olympics, despite the warnings of scientists: “Animals from different parts of the Western Caucasus and Abkhazia should have constant communication with each other, but now the fauna is in artificial isolation.”

The expert is worried that the population of brown bears due to such a division can be almost halved.

However, Nikolai Yeskin, deputy director of the Caucasian Reserve for Research, does not share his fears: “If we talk about brown bears, then the reserve is generally full of them. And due to the fact that bears cannot be chased, since they are especially protected, we wait for some tourists to be eaten by them. And we really hope that this will not happen on our territory.” He stated that in 2015-2016 several territories of the Sochi Nature Reserve were transferred for construction, but, according to him, there is still “peace and peace” there.

Irina Makanova, director of the Department of State Policy and Regulation in the Sphere of Protected Areas Development of the Ministry of Natural Resources, was indignant: “Our speakers operate with some articles by journalists and letters, but not scientific facts. We’re actually discussing things that aren’t there.” Ms. Makanova is sure that “the internal correspondence of state authorities should not be a subject of discussion,” and wondered “why did you have our internal documents at all.” She assured that the Ministry of Natural Resources currently does not have any “road tracing” in this region. And if the government makes such a request, then “the department will take into account all the environmental features of the territories.”

She took the words of Greenpeace expert Mikhail Kreindlin as a personal insult. “What Mikhail Leonidovich allowed himself is the humiliation and discrediting of the authorities” and “doubt in my competence,” said Irina Makanova.

The director of the department stated that the department regularly responds to Mr. Kreindlin’s requests, “so he definitely has information that no change in the boundaries of the reserve is planned.”

Nevertheless, Ms. Makanova noted that “the activities and conclusions of real scientists, such as Viktor Danilov-Danilyan, are what the Ministry of Natural Resources always listens to in its work.” Therefore, she still sees the point in continuing such discussions.

Polina Yachmennikova