WILD

The Tashkent Environmental Declaration

The Ecological Movement of Uzbekistan promoted a meeting in November 2010 of over 250 delegates from more than sixty countries to discuss “Transboundary environmental problems of Central Asia” and legal means to resolve the crises. Other representatives were sent from international organizations such as the World Bank, IUCN, and the United Nations. The meeting resulted in the issue of the Tashkent Environmental Declaration, focusing especially on water resources in the region, trans-boundary river flows, interstate cooperation on a legal regime and financing of protection, efforts to combat soil salinization and desertification, improved tree planting for ecological amelioration, and ... Read More

Human, Economic and Environmental Losses from Hydroelectric Dam Explosion

On August 17, a terrible explosion rocked a turbine hall inside the massive Sayano-Shushenskiy hydroelectric dam along the Yenisey River in the Khakassia Republic of Siberia within the Russian Federation. As of this writing, the death toll of workers may be as high as seventy-six. In addition to the questions of maintenance, safety and rescue efforts, and the economic impact of this event, issues of environmental impact are also prominent. The explosion apparently released forty tons of transformer oil into the Yenisey River, an oil spill that could make its way downstream all the way to the Arctic if not ... Read More

Nature Protection in Russia: One Step Forward, One Step Back

Several recent developments in follow up to earlier stories out of Russia are worth noting for readers of Talking WILD. Each demonstrates that Russian actions on environmental concerns remain a mixed bag and in need of continued monitoring by the international community and support for grassroots organizations within the country. We earlier called the plans for the 2014 Olympic games at Sochi a "tug of war" (Feb. 26, 2009) to balance nature protection with plans for the games in the Caucasus region. June 5, the Russian government announced it had signed an agreement with UNEP (United Nations Environmental Program) ... Read More

Young Amur Tiger Hit by Car in Russian Far East

RIA Novosti press reported on April 20 that local people along the Razdolnoye-Khasan Highway found a 1 ½ yr old Amur tiger wounded due to being struck by a car. Her hind end was damaged. Expert and veterinary help was called in from the Wildlife Conservation Society within a few hours. A report now confirms that the young tigress suffered severe injures to her spine and internal organs.  Sadly, because of the severity of her injuries, the tigress had to be put down.  Approximately 450 Amur tigers remain in Khabarovsk and Primorskiy regions of the Russian Pacific. The ... Read More

Controversy in the Altai Republic

When I visited the Altai Republic in 2005, I talked to local ranger, Volodya Yantiev, who had been featured in the local press for apprehending and issuing fines to visitors from Moscow who had been hunting in the nearby Shavlinsky Sanctuary and shooting goats from a helicopter. One person on board was Alexis Saurin of the Department of Conservation and Hunting Resources in the national Ministry of Agriculture back in Moscow. The press in Russia, as well as environmental groups, have tried to shed light for several years on the scandal of outside, wealthy people or even high-up government officials conducting ... Read More

The Tug of War Over the Olympic Games and Nature Protection in the Caucaus

Vladimir Putin is working very hard to maintain a squeaky clean image of the upcoming 2014 Olympic Games to take place near Sochi in the Caucasus region of Russia. Organizers are vowing it will be carbon neutral, the "greenest" Olympic games ever (after a high bar was set in Bejing), and respectful of the nearby nature reserves. The wild areas in question include the Western Caucasus reserve and Sochi National Park. What has complicated matters for the Russian government is (1) the status of the Western Caucasus reserve as a UNESCO World Heritage site (2) the Sport ... Read More