danube delta in danger

>> UKRAINE IGNORES ALTERNATIVES AND ENDANGERS PROTECTED RESERVE

Ukraine is planning to construct a deep-water navigation canal "The Danube - The Black Sea". The Ministry of Transport of Ukraine insists on pursuing a variant which passes through the Bystroye Estuary of the Danube Delta, which is located within the specially protected area of the Danube Biosphere Reserve. The Danube Reserve is part of the UNESCO bilateral biosphere reserve "Delta of the Danube". Ukrainian and international legislation prohibits such activity in a specially protected area of a biosphere reserve. Recently, it came to light that the Ministry of Transport of Ukraine is going to issue a Decree signed by the President to withdraw the Bystroye Estuary from the Danube Biosphere Reserve.
* from the Ukrainian Pechenegi Environmental Group's "Save the biosphere reserve!" campaign

http://www.seu.ru/projects/eng/dunay

The Bystroye Estuary is not deep enough for the planned canal; therefore it is planned to deepen the estuary. Since the Danube transfers on average 65 millions tons of firm particles per year, the appropriate depth of the canal should be maintained artificially, by continuous removal of sediment from the bed of the canal. In addition, it is planned to cover the banks with concrete. The canal will make the stream stronger and quicker, resulting in the washing out to sea of the sandbank in front of the estuary. (read more at:

http://www.seu.ru/projects/eng/dunay/about.htm)

It was alleged by the Ukrainan government that this project doesn't disturb the ecological balance of the delta and is ecologically safe. These allegations are negated by the death of thousands of terns' chicks in the eggs on Ptichya (the Bird) spit near the Bystroe estuary in the mid July. The noise from operating dredging vessels caused the death of the birds. The government alleged several times that objections against the construction of the shipping canal through Bystre branch violate the right of Ukraine to renew shipping on its sovereign territory. These allegations are also groundless, as the option of building a canal through the Bystre branch is not the only possible one. There are two economically and ecologically sound alternatives of building the shipping canal through the Stensovsko-Zhebryanskaya sand belt or through the Ochakivsky branch. The Ministry of transport and the Ministry of environment are persistently sabotaging the consideration of these alternative variants. If the Ukrainian Ministry of transport and Ministry of environment, instead of lobbying for the interests of a close circle of businessmen and politicians, had been really concerned about the renewal of shipping, the economic prosperity of the region, the welfare of its population, and the preservation of the natural complexes of the Danube Delta, they would have considered ecologically and economically sound alternatives. It is possible to renew shipping and load Ukrainian ports with work - without violating the national legislation of the Ukraine, without involving Ukraine in an international scandal and without posing a threat to the existence of the Danube biosphere reserve. (read more at

http://mercury.nocdirect.com/pipermail/mediu_ngo.ro/2004-July/003718.html)

>> UKRAINE MISINFORMS OTHER COUNTRIES AND THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY

The violation of international obligations by Ukraine during the construction of the deep-water shipping canal have led to numerous complaints from other countries and the international community. The government of Ukraine, on the one hand is hoping to get the status of a EU neighboring country and on the other simultaneously proceeds with the implementation of a project that is inadmissible for a civilized country. As an answer to official protests the Ukrainian authorities openly misinform others about their activities. It's worth mentioning that in the letter of ad interim Minister of international relations of Ukraine V. Yelchenko, addressed to the Prime Minister of Ukraine V. Yanykovich, he suggests: "with the aim to explain the justification of the position of Ukraine concerning the necessity of construction of navigation canal and to prevent the creation of negative image of our state on the international arena in this context we suggest to authorize the Ministry of environment, Ministry of transport, State committee on radio and TV to conduct the necessary public awareness efforts in the Mass Media". (read more at:

http://mercury.nocdirect.com/pipermail/mediu_ngo.ro/2004-July/003718.html)

>> UPDATES ON CAMPAIGNS & LEGAL CASES AGAINST UKRAINIAN GOVERNMENT

From 1st May until 4th July 2004, more than 7518 appeals were made for the defense of the Danube Biosphere reserve by organizations and individual citizens from 90 countries around the world. Out of these, 944 appeals were dispatched to official figures of the EU urging them to stand for a cessation of work on the Bistraya estuary and for this cessation to become one of the conditions for the Ukraine's particular status as a neighbour of the EC. The appeals state: "29th June marks 10 years in a united effort on all sides of the Danube basin in protecting the largest river in Western Europe. It is incredible that governments can subject this achievement to such dangers, ignoring the opinions of their neighbours and own citizens" (read more at:

http://mail.ngo.ro/pipermail/mediu_ngo.ro/2004-August/003747.html).

Ecopravo-Lviv (EPL), an environmental law firm in Ukraine, has filed cases against the Government of Ukraine both in national courts and in international compliance bodies responsible for administering international law affecting the Danube Delta Bilateral Biosphere Reserve
* for further information and links to documents, see:

http://epl.org.ua/a_spv_Dunaj_k.htm (Ukrainian) and

http://epl.org.ua/a_cases_Danube_C.htm (English)

1. The ESPOO EIA CONVENTION requires that a government notify other governments whose territory might be affected by a project, that the public of both countries be given notice and an opportunity to comment, and that the environment be protected. The Ukraine Government has violated its specific legal obligations under the Espoo EIA Convention. EPL filed a formal complaint with Wiecher Schrage, Secretary of the Espoo EIA Convention on August 11, 2003 (

http://www.epl.org.ua/files/Danube/Espoo%20Complaint.doc)

2. The BONN CMS CONVENTION of Migratory Species requires member states to assess impacts on wildlife, consult with other states that share the wild species, and protect them. Ukraine’s Government has done none of these things. EPL has attempted to raise this issue with the Secretariat of the Bonn Convention by filing a Letter of Emergency Notification with Arnulf Müller-Helmbrecht, Executive Secretary UNEP/CMS Secretariat on April 24, 2004 (

http://www.epl.org.ua/files/emergency%20notification,%20Bonn%20Conv.doc)

3. Ukraine was the second nation to ratify the AARHUS PUBLIC PARTICIPATION CONVENTION, which requires notification to the public and adequate public participation in any environmental decision. Ukraine has violated the Convention and EPL has filed a formal complaint ("Communication from the Public") with the Compliance Committee of the UN ECE Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters, May 5, 2004 (

http://www.epl.org.ua/files/Danube/communication.doc)

4. The DANUBE RIVER PROTECTION CONVENTION requires each state Party to notify others before doing anything to harm the Danube River and to consult. Ukraine has done nothing in this regard. EPL has filed an Emergency Complaint with Permanent Secretariat of the International Commission for the Protection of Danube River on May 2004 (

http://www.epl.org.ua/files/Danube/Danube_petition.doc and

http://www.epl.org.ua/files/Danube/cover_letter.doc)

5. The Ukraine Government has violated numerous provisions of Ukraine national law in its drive to build the navigation canal. EPL and its staff have filed numerous lawsuits in various courts to try to force compliance with the law. Unfortunately, putting pressure on national courts is a fact of life in Ukraine and it is not certain that EPL will be able to receive fair decisions on its claims.

6. EPL is not the only organization to note the obligations and violations of international law regarding Ukraine. Romanian also made an official statement at the Third Meeting of the Parties of the Espoo EIA Convention on 1 June 2004, stating that Ukraine began construction of the Bystriy Canal construction “without taking into consideration several requests of involvement of Romanian authorities and the public.” (

http://www.unece.org/env/eia/documents/cavtat/Romania.pdf). Romania also filed a Complaint to the Implementation Committee of the Espoo Convention on 26 and 12 May 2004 and a Complaint to the Compliance Committee of the Aarhus Convention on 7 June 2004. [weblinks not currently available.] On 8 June 8 2004, the Romanian Government issued a list of all its complaints about Ukraine’s construction of the Bystroe Canal.

http://www.gov.ro/engleza/presa/afis-doc.php?idpresa=2240&idrubricapresa=1&idrubricaprimm=&idtema=&tip=2&pag=1&dr=

7. On 14 July 2004, The European Union has asked Ukraine to halt construction work on a canal in the Danube River delta, which the EU fears could harm the environment. [weblink not currently available.] The EU Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstrom, has also issued a statement criticizing the planned canal. [weblink not currently available.]

8. On 17 May 2004 Adam Ereli, Deputy Spokesman of the U.S. Department of State issued a statement urging the Ukrainian government to fulfill "its international commitments under the environmental agreements to which it is a party." (

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2004/32535.htm)

9. Other nongovernmental organizations: A Mission Report was issued by UNESCO and Ramsar Convention in October 2003, noting that construction of the canal by Ukraine without advance construction of compensatory wetlands would violate Ukraine's obligations under the Ramsar Convention and UNESCO Man and Biosphere Program (

http://www.ramsar.org/ram_rpt_53e.htm). The World Wildlife Fund, Birdlife International, and Wetlands International issued a letter to President Kuchma on 13 May 2004 noting that the canal will "breach Ukraine.s protection obligations in the UNESCO reserve and Convention on Wetlands" (

http://www.utop.org.ua/eng/news25.htm).

-- the full report from Ecopravo-Lviv:

http://www.ecopravo.lviv.ua/files/Danube/Danube_EPL_actions.doc

>> ROMANIA JOINS THE CAMPAIGN

In July 2004 the Romanian Ziua newspaper and Civic Media Association began a media campaign (

http://www.ziua.ro/delta.html) for the protection of the Danube Delta and asked for support from Romanian mass media and civil society:

“The United States, the European Union and Romania, along with prestigious international organizations for environmental protection, such as World Wildlife Fund, have criticized Ukraine's intention to build this shipping canal in the Danube Delta. A large number of international experts have attracted the attention of both Ukraine and of the international community, claiming that several species of migratory birds that have transited the Danube Delta every year along with several species of fishes could disappear as a result of building the shipping canal on the Bastroe arm. In fact, the project has faced strong resistance from the civil society in Ukraine - where environmental organizations were the first to protest against the building of the canal.

Almost at the last minute, the authorities in Bucharest have responded to the problem, demanding that Ukraine cease working on the shipping canal until research concerning the impact of the construction on environment in the Delta is carried out. However, Romania’s reaction comes too late, after Ukraine has already started working on the canal – although the Romanian authorities in Bucharest knew about Kiev's plan for the canal ever since 2001.The project now has the full support of the Ukrainian government, which is willing to move mountains in order to make it come true …

We think that only in partnership with the Ukrainian civil society - which is striving for a real democratization of the Ukraine - will the Romanian civil society be able to take this campaign forward to the European and International forums and prevent the building of this canal. We are calling for the joint efforts of the civil societies in Romania and the Ukrainie to achieve this goal.”

Sign the petition at:

http://www.petitiononline.com/RomDelta/petition.html

Contact information:

savedelta@europe.com,

externe@ziua.ro
Tel: +40 21 315 91 11 or Fax: +40 21 312 01 85

* for more information on the campaign, declarations of support and a collection of articles, see:

http://www.ziua.ro/delta.html

>> WORLD WILDLIFE FUND DOCUMENTS AND RESOURCES

The Bystroye Canal in the Ukrainian Danube Delta – Questions and Answers:

http://dordeduca.ro/?location=evenimente&action=read&id=1059

* WWF campaign:

http://passport.panda.org/campaigns/campaign.cfm?uNC=35891588&uCampaignId=601