Published by Russian NGOs Forest Club
and Socio-Ecological Union Informational Coordination Center
N 42-43 (october 1999)
"Harmless" herbicide roundup in forestry
Abstract of the article from "Lesnaya gazeta" by I. Shutov, Chief associate researcher of Saint-Petersburg Institute of forestry, member of Russian Academy of Agriculture
"If you don't weed the crops you waste you time and money. Most practical way is to use chemicals for this. Last year we treated young forests with preparation 2,4 D, which had much to be desired and smelled really bad. Now we have environment friendly "roundup" to replace old one with. This herbicide is officially registered in different countries and widely used in agriculture, forestry and even in private gardening (as we do in Russia).
This year our Institute in Vologda in cooperation with Monsanto is going to start field trials on 1000 hectares of spruce. We would advice to support this effort and to help our scientists to complete this project looking forward to the possible introduction of these practices in other parts of Russia.
This will be our first experience of the large-scale roundup use in Vologda region so we are planning to educate people via mass media. They should know where, when and what for roundup is planned to use. This project should be transparent for the local public. The results of the project will be published widely and we will involve NGOs in the project estimation activities.
Comment of Lev Fedorov, Unit for Chemical Safety.
Last March famous Swedish scientists Lennart Hardell and Michael Erixon published the report where they proved that cancer of NHL type (non-Hodgkins lymhoma) is caused by herbicides including roundup. It seems that iron curtain between East and West is still existing, but now it has moved from national borders to our minds, so Russian scientists are not able to take into account the information, which is appeared and published in the West. Why not to create the society of Monsanto friends now, to legitimize its lobbing activities making this in a very transparent way:
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Permanent communications with forestry officials make us to ask ourselves: if this people being professionals in their field look at forest as at logs and nothing more? Will die without cutting? The ideological background they have likely formed such view.
Rector of Moscow State University of forest A.Oblivin who is famous not only in Russia but among foreign specialists in one of his interview to Lesnaya gazeta said:
It's not true that we cut much. We log just 100 mln cubic meters a year, which is one fifth of annual planned volume. Doing this we condemn forests to grow old which results in big percentage of attrition. By this I mean spreading of different insects, such as beetles and speeds and increasing of fires and waste. This means we help Moscow region forests to become taiga. Whatever they say such forests don't produce more hydro oxygen, but absorb it.
Our comment:
Unfortunately, this position is what young forest specialists will base their work on.
That is the reason why ecologists and forestry specialists speak different language.
Nature reserves just because we like them?
Financial support of protected areas is a question that is discussed much in Russia. Many people think that now we don't have enough financial resources to support nature reserves, ecological inspections, national parks and other institutions based on the budget support. "It is not rational way of getting things better to fund nature reserves when the economy is unstable, - said A.Fadeev, honored forester of Chuvashiya Republic in interview to "Lesnaya gazeta", - First we should feed our people and increase production":
Our comment:
Problem is what we need nature reserves for? We wonder how Fadeev would answer this question.
How to pay without money. Ukraine - the solution is found
Mushrooms, berries and medical herbs collected in forest, is what the people of Ivano-Frankovskaya region pay for the energy supplies with. Local people exchange their non-timber products for the gas balloons to heat their houses. ITAR-TASS Agency reports that some foreign firms are ready to buy these forest goods. If the demand to such products doesn't decrease local energy enterprises will pay electricity bills as well.
("Lesnaya gazeta" 17.07.99)
Director of Adygeya nature reserve has been fired recently
Federal authorities helped Adygeya bureaucrats to fire Vladimir Cherpakov who was protesting against the illegal construction of road through protected areas of Caucasus.
(FU N40 - THE WORLD HERITAGE OR ANOTHER HIGHWAY)
On 15th of September he is officially out from his position of director of Adygeya branch of Caucasus nature reserve.
Before this director of Caucasus nature reserve headquarters and its Chief forester tried to force Cherpakov to claim his moving to the position of associate researcher. This failed effort was followed by order to fire him. This action sort ill with Russian labor legislation according which Cherpakov should be warned about his ouster two month in advance.
Ecological organizations of Caucasus are urging State Ecological Committee and the Department of Nature Reserves to right their error and reinstate
Cherpakov in his former office.
Contact: Independent Ecological Service of North-West Caucasus, ies@mail.ru
Global Forest Watch is coming to Russia
On the 16th of September in Moscow World Resource Institute made the Presentation of the new GFW initiative in Russia. This initiative is the next step of the Institute in his frontier forests research activities.
Within this new project NGO, Universities and other groups network will be created. It will focus on forest use (logging, mineral extraction, etc) in different regions of the world.
In Russia GFW is planning to watch the activities of state institutions and enterprises and make them according the Russian legislation more transparent for public.
Within the project it's planned to inform public about the economic use of forests and possible socio-economic and ecological consequences and to enhance the introduction of rational nature use and conservation of undisturbed nature complexes.
First stage of the project implementation will be the designing of map of undisturbed forests (1:1.000.000 scale) based on satellite images. Next stage will be the collection and processing of the information in GIS format in cooperation with local NGOs and support of Russian office of GFW.
Michael Karpachevskiy, BCC tilia@glasnet.ru
The road Sukpay-Nelma threatens the nature of the Central Sikhote-Alin'
Natural complex of Sukpay that was planned as a part of new nature reserve in the Far East will be completely destroyed by logging activities planned by Malasia Company Rimbunan Hidjau. That is the conclusion made by the experts of Socio-Ecological Union, Taiga Guardian and Biodiversity Conservation Center during their expedition to Khabarovsk region. The construction of the road Sukpay-Nelma 4 km of which has already been built by Malaysian loggers means the beginning of the industrial opening of the last undisturbed forests of Khabarovsk and Primorie regions.
It will result in decreasing of the population of large vertebrates like Amur leopard and tiger and fragmentation of the unique entire natural complex into many non-valuable parts.
Trees harvesting in Sukpay will destroy the traditional life style of indigenous people who depend on the non-timber forest products and fishing. According to the analysis made by our experts logging business in Sukpay is getting cost ineffective if the company pays all ecological fees and invests to the local economy. It is clear that the only way for Rimbunan to make profit in the region is to ignore all compensation payments.
The construction of the road mentioned above is already done without environment assessment requiered by the law.
It is very likely now that local people in the nearest future will face first results of the Malasyan project as they will lose their food sources and habitat they used to live in for ages.
The report on the Russian NGOs Forest Club trip to Sukpai river, Russian Far East, is now available in the Forest Club web-site: http://www.ecoline.ru/forest-club/reports/sukpai-e.htm
Background
Malaysian company Rimbunan Hidjau Int. in 1997 won the right for the long term 49 year rent of Sikhotte Alin forests on a square of 305 thousand ha with a right for annual cut of 550 thousand cubic meters of timber.
Existing forests of upper Sukpai, which are planned to be logged by Rimbunan had been protected in early 90-th as Verkhne-Sukpaiskii zakaznik (refuge), and then environmental community succeed to include prospective of strengthening it's status into governmental decree and create Verkhne-Sukpaiskii zapovednik (nature preserve). But, before its justification had been done by local scientists, Khabarovskii governor Victor Ishaev managed to attract Rimbunan Hijau corporation to develop industrial logging enterprise on the same territory. To change ideology from preserve to logging fast, scientists and officials decided publicly to base upon the fires.
60 % of Sukpai forests are located in any sort of protected zone by Russian regulation. That are water protecting zones along creeks and rivers, a set of banned species, where its prohibited to log. General elevation is around 1300 - 1500 m, so that are most mountain type of forests, which needs specifically careful approach in terms of logging. Also, a big amount of these forests are located on the steep slopes over 30 degree, which are prohibited for logging completely. So, there are much less timber available for industrial cut, than it was promised to Rimbunan.
Model certification in Russia
Since 1997 Model Forest "Priluzheye" in Komi Republic of Russia is the project of WWF International. It is aimed to create the educational basis or forestry specialists, logging enterprise representatives and public demonstrating environment sound and economically profitable methods of harvesting trees. It is planned to figure out whether Priluzhi eforestry practices meet FSC standards. This part of the project will be implemented in October by FSC audit company Smart Wood using test certification methods. This program is funded by MasArthur Foundation.
First stage of the project was the estimation of the primary results provided by the task force of the Smart Wood in the beginning of September.
They revealed the level of sustainable forestry awareness in the region talking to the representatives of the volunteer certification working-group, leshoz specialists, workers and managers of logging enterprises. Local population and workers turned out to be absolutely unaware of the certification process principles and environmentally sound forest use while the directors demonstrated their knowledge of FCS certification methods.
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Karelian newspaper "Severnyi kurier" published the article "Greens making maneuvers" by scandal known journalist V.Kiryasov.
The main idea of the article is to prevent Karelian government from any constructive dialogue with NGOs. Author tried to pit scientists and NGOs slandering NGOs in the eyes of readers.
It is said in the article that ecologists are working for transnational corporations, which are aimed to wipe out Russian competitors.
Such attitude to the ecologists and their work is widely promoted in Russia. Especially in Karelia and other "resource operating" regions where those who try to conserve nature instead of aggressive industry development are perceived to be enemies and preservationists.
News of Karelian Association N6,
Dmitriy Rybakov greens@glasnet.ru
Altay news: centers of life in danger
The problem number one in the region now is the termination of the period of legal operation for 26 nature reserves (zakazniks). Such type of nature reserves turned out to be most successful way of nature protection in the region, which maintain ecological balance and promote recreational business. They were created for ten years each and then were prolonged by the regulations issued by local authorities. Now there is a need to create legal basis for the permanent operation of zakazniks that have already became centers of life for this economically developing Siberian area.
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