An All-European Conference of Ecology Ministers took place in Kyiv on May 21-23. In his speech at the conference’s opening Leonid Kuchma said that Ukraine “cannot face Chornobyl on its own not only in terms of trying to comprehend this warning of cosmic scale but also in fighting the consequences of this catastrophe.”
EU Environment Commissar Margot Wallstroem in response stated her organization’s preparedness to help in overcoming the consequences of Chornobyl. In Ms. Wallstroem’s words, the conference’s participants were willing to demonstrate that it is possible to achieve economic growth without damaging the environment. She also stated that Ukraine needs to work harder to address water pollution problems. In part, she believes it necessary to improve registering waste products poured out into the water, the way they do it in Europe.
Greek Environment Minister Vasso Papandreu is convinced that only European integration can bring positive results. Ukraine also should not stand aloof from this process. She stressed that new member countries must meet European Union requirements in the sphere of environmental protection. Major problems for these countries are the need to change the models of production and consumption along with the effective utilization of energy resources. Water protection also remains important, Ms. Papandreu said.
However, there already is something unclear on the integration issue. In the lobbies representatives of Ukrainian NGOs expressed their discontent with the planned local integration of the twelve former Soviet republics. Further confirmation of this is the scheduled ratification of a joint ecological strategy with the countries of Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. In spite of the fact that much was done in the environmental sphere in our country, public attention to environment protection has significantly declined of late. Moreover, Ukraine has not yet created even the basics: a National Ecological Strategy and Nation Strategy for Sustained Development.
Incidentally, already on the first day of the conference much was said about sustained development and the economic-ecological commonwealth. The Protocol on Registering the Emissions of Pollutants and Pollutant Transfer signed in Kyiv also fits into this context. The US came to this point fifteen years ago, and most European countries need only to coordinate certain nuances. Ukraine, in its turn, will have to go through all stages: register data on the pollutions quantity and quality for every manufacture, create a complete register, and, most importantly, guarantee free access to it. However, Executive Secretary of the Ekopravo-Lviv NGO Dmytro Skrylnykov has some doubts as to whether this is possible in Ukraine, although, in his view, this would enhance Ukraine’s image. In the developed countries the public has access even to the noise and radiation charts of every manufacture. By signing the Arhus Convention, Ukraine agreed that people have the right to know. However, though over a year has passed since then, there are no visible changes. Incidentally, Ukrainian experts also have doubts about the effectiveness of another document of strategic importance to Ukraine, the Carpathian Convention. It envisages that countries on whose territory this mountain system is situated undertake to cooperate and support each other in many ways, from planning and managing land resources to historical monuments and tourism. “How is Ukraine going to meet its obligations if only this year it failed to preserve three Carpathian churches which are of historic value?” Uzhhorod Biology Professor Andriy Kovalchuk says.
