The top UN environmental watchdog criticized Russia in a report released on Tuesday for ignoring the effects that several construction projects for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi will have on the region's ecosystem.
The UNEP report was based on the body's three-day visit to Sochi in January, our correspondent says, quoting UNEP experts as praising the Sochi Organizing Committee for its being open to discussions on the issue. At the same time, the report lamented the fact that "the implementation of decisions taken at the political level relating to the mitigation and compensation of impacts of Olympic and tourism projects are taking too long." UNEP experts also urged more cooperation between Sochi-based business people and environmentalists.
The UNEP report immediately caused a wide public outcry in Russia, with many pointing to the existing differences between officials, builders and ecologists when it comes to the preparation for the Sochi Games. The main trouble is that decisions earlier okayed by the all parties concerned continue to show no signs of being resolved, complains Yevgeny Shwartz, of the World Wildlife Fund:
"We have yet to create a number of effective mechanisms that would prod state-run companies to stick to international norms when grappling with the construction of Sochi Olympic facilities", Shwartz insists.
For their part, Greenpeace activists argue that the regional ecosystems have already suffered irreversible damage, citing the Caucasus National Park, which is currently on the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list.
Sochi Mayor Anatoly Pakhomov vehemently rejects the accusations, singling out a series of "international green standards" builders currently adhere to while erecting the Olympic facilities. He voiced hope that Sochi will soon get a status of environmentally friendly town.
Stanislav Ananyev, vice president of Russia's Olympstroi Corporation, pledged, in turn, to hammer out domestic green standards before the end of May. He added that 10 of 202 Olympic facilities are already in line with international green standards, among them a 40,000-seat Central Stadium, a Big Ice Rink, a Mountain Olympic Village and a building of the Olympic University. 150 more Olympic facilities will soon be certificated to comply with the corporative green standard, which was earlier established by Olimpstroi and is yet to be approved by international organizations, Ananyev explained. Separately, he touted Sochi's water supply system, which, he said, is fully in sync with international norms.
Speaking at a session of the Public Council for the Preparation for the Sochi Olympics in Moscow earlier in the week, Russian Deputy Natural Resources Minister Igor Maidanov, for his part, cited an array of measures being taken to compensate for the unwanted environmental fallout of the Sochi Games. They include the enlargement of Sochi National Park and the creation of an environmental monitoring system in the area, slated for later this year.
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