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Russian environmental organizations and the Pacific Environment and Resource Center (PERC) asked us to circulate this Emergency Action

Please send a quick fax to World Bank president James Wolfensohn and US Secretary of the Treasury Larry Summers to pressure the Russian government to reinstate environmental agencies that were abolished in May. A model letter is given below.

URGENT CALL FOR EMAILS AND LETTERS

On May 17, 2000, newly-elected Russian President Vladimir Putin abolished the Committee on Environmental Protection, Russia's primary independent environmental enforcement agency, and the 200-year old Russian Forest Service. The remains of both were folded into the Ministry of Natural Resources, an agency responsible for the extraction, not the protection, of Russia's natural resources. This is roughly the equivalent of abolishing the U.S. EPA, and putting its responsibilities under the Department of Commerce or Bureau of Mining. This act is illegal, and is the subject of a lawsuit that has been filed by the esteemed Russian environmental law firm Ecojuris. Despite this, the World Bank Group is proposing to go forward with several potentially harmful loans and guarantees to Russia in the forestry, gold, and coal mining sectors in the coming weeks. This topic will be discussed at the upcoming World Bank board of directors meeting on September 12.

The effect of the World Bank approving these projects at a time when these environmental protection agencies have been abolished will be the encouragement of environmental destruction and the undermining of the rule of law in Russia. It's critical to put pressure on the World Bank to demand that the projects do not go forward until an independent Committee on Environmental Protection and Forest Service are reinstated.

We strongly urge you to write to the President of the World Bank, James Wolfensohn, and to Lawrence Summers, Secretary of the Treasury, to urge them not to approve projects or disburse any existing loans that would have an impact on Russia's environment until these critical agencies are reinstated.

Here is some suggested wording you can use, which can be sent to feedback@worldbank.org and Larry.Summers@do.treas.gov.

Dear President Wolfensohn/Secretary Summers,

Given the sudden and illegal abolishment of Russia's State Committee on Environmental Protection and the absence of any legally acceptable replacement I do not believe World Bank-funded projects that impact the environment in Russia can proceed in an environmentally, financially or legally sound way. I urge you to issue an immediate moratorium on all World Bank Group approvals for new projects in Russia, and to suspend all current projects, until a fully functioning and legal system for environmental protection is fully restored.

You can also send via snail mail to:
President James Wolfensohn, The World Bank, 1818 H Street NW,
Washington, DC, 20433, USA.

Secretary of the Treasury Larry Summers, Fax: 202/622-0073

For more information, go to www.pacificenvironment.org.

Additional Information:

• The Ministry of Environmental Protection was created under President Mikhail Gorbachev in 1991. It was the result of a growing awakening amongst Soviet citizens and government officials that the rapid industrialization the country had undergone had created environmental and public health problems unparalleled anywhere else in the world. The explosion at Chernobyl was one of the major events leading up to this act.

• Soon after Boris Yeltsin was re-elected President in 1996, he downgraded the agency from Ministerial to Committee status. This took away a great deal of its regulatory power, and its budget has been cut significantly since then.

• Until its abolishment on May 17, 2000, The Committee had the authority to declare zapovedniks, or natural areas to be protected for scientific research. It also had the authority to approve or reject projects through a process called expertiza, which is similar to an environmental impact assessment.

• The abolishment of The Committee has provoked outrage among Russian citizens. According to one poll, 87% of Russians expressed anger at the action, an extraordinary number considering Putin is otherwise a very popular president. Leading cultural and spiritual figures, including Aleksy II, Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, have voiced opposition to the move.

• The abolishment violates several articles of the Constitution, including the public's right to a healthy environment. This is the subject of a lawsuit brought forth in Russian court by the Russian environmental law firm Ecojuris.

The abolishment has already had a chilling effect. A regional head of the Committee in Kamchatka recently abandoned his support for a United Nations program protecting two key salmon watersheds that are also coveted by the Ministry of Natural Resources for their gold and gas deposits. The reason, local activists say, is that he is concerned about keeping his job under the Ministry of Natural Resources.

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