ANNEX G
ENVIRONMENTAL
NGOS IN
UKRAINE AND
RUSSIA
The central problem of Soviet industries can
be summed up as "high consumption of resources and low efficiency
of technologies"—with predictable consequences for
the environment. There are, therefore, large areas of Russia and
Ukraine blighted by industrial, chemical and radioactive waste
causing air, water and soil pollution. The cost of cleaning up
this pollution and restoring the damaged land would be enormous.
The other key difficulty is the ability of the
authorities to protect some of the most important ecological areas
in the world. Large areas of Russia are under some form of protection
but methods have become out-dated and the authorities do not have
enough money for the work.
Although much of the general environmental legislation
is good, the environmental institutions (and therefore implementation
of the laws) are weak. The Russian Ministry of Environmental Protection
was downgraded to a State Committee a couple of years ago and
lost responsibility for natural resources, which are now covered
by a separate Ministry more interested in the exploitation than
the protection of natural resources. The Presidential Ecological
Committee was abolished. Within the Government structure this
has left the chronically weak Chairman of the State Committee
as pretty much a lone voice, although there are regular rumours
that a new ecological committee will be created within the presidential
structure.
The consequence of this weakness is that powerful
commercial interests and other Ministries can ignore environmental
regulations. On a positive note, the courts have recently become
a useful vehicle for challenging these interests and upholding
the law, and some minor cases have been won by NGO supported by
ecological lawyers. But in general the regulations can be comfortably
evaded.
In Ukraine, the green movement became much stronger
after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster; many people joined the movement,
which allowed them to participate in a kind of "opposition"
which was safer than human rights or independence movements. The
first rally in Kiev held independently from the Communist Party
was an anti-Chernobyl rally organised by "Green World"
in autumn 1988. In 1989-90, when other political movements and
parties began to appear, the green movement lost more than half
of its activists to these new groups.
Green NGOs are still the most numerous in Ukraine
(more than 300). There are also several hundred ecological groups,
especially educational organisations. Some foreign donors like
ISAR (USAID-funded) or Milieukontakt Oost Europa (Netherlands)
support networking and provide funding for Ukrainian NGOs, although
co-operation between Ukrainian NGOs is limited. There is one umbrella
NGO, with about 100 branches: the Ukrainian Environmental Association
"Zeleny Svit" (Green World). Some local authorities
support local initiatives—usually as a result of good contacts
between the NGO leaders and the local administration, but this
dependence on personal relations makes the NGOs very vulnerable.
There is hardly any environmental policy in
Ukraine. It took the Ministry for Environmental Protection and
Nuclear Safety (MEPNS) more than 3 years to prepare (with OECD
and other donor support) a Concept of Environmental Protection.
The National Environmental Action Plan (NEAP) has yet to be developed
in the framework of Environment for Europe. Participation of NGOs
in all these processes has been negligible. The Commission on
Ecological Policy of the Parliament of Ukraine does not have any
mechanisms to involve NGOs in its work, although some green activists
have contacts with parliamentarians and may be able to influence
decisions.
The most promising area for policy co-operation
is found between NGOs and local authorities. NGOs tend to be seen
as important during election campaigns, and occasionally NGOs
can influence decisions by organising rallies and campaigns. There
are only a few cases of court cases having been filed and won
by NGOs.
NGOs in Ukraine may be provided with a unique
opportunity for influencing the environmental agenda by the presence
in Parliament of the Ukrainian Green Party, with 19 seats. The
Party has some connections with environmental NGOs, although it
does not speak for them, and during the 1998 election campaign
the green NGOs protested against "the use of the image and
authority of the green movement by the Green Party". Despite
this, it is possible that the Party will establish a working relationship
with the NGOs.
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