Russian-American Partnership In Environmental Protection

By Alexander Solomonov

When U.S. President Barack Obama took office, the Russian and American governments opened a new page in their relations. Presidents Obama and Dmitry Medvedev created the U.S.—Russia Bilateral Presidential Commission, and assigned 16 groups to handle each aspect of the collaboration, including everything from health to environmental protection. Baron Lobstein, a specialist in the U.S.-Russian environmental protection collaboration, is responsible for two of these groups, one of which is environmental protection. Every two years, these groups from Russia and the USA gather to discuss the last two years and to make plans for the next two.

Recently, Lobstein met with Russians in the Library of Foreign Literature and told them about the environmental cooperation between America and Russia. This section of the embassy is called ESTH – environment, science, technology and health. Russia is one of the few countries in which the USA has this specific sector.

There are several issues that the U.S.-Russian cooperation is addressing. First, the commission is working to prevent illegal logging. Russia is known for its vast and beautiful forests, which cover most of the country. Illegal loggers cut down these trees and sell the wood to other countries, which sell the illegal wood back to Russia at a higher price. That is why the Russians prefer to buy legal foreign wood, which negatively impacts the Russian economy.

The second problem is the protection of polar bears. The bears spend most of their time on the ice that floats off of the shores of Chukotka and Alaska. Due to recent changes in climate, the ice is melting and the bears have to spend more time on land. Because the bears are forced to spend more time on land, they come in contact with people more often, which is not good for the animals or the people. This problem is important to both of our countries because every year the polar bears immigrate from Chukotka to Alaska and back. In Russia hunting polar bears is forbidden, but in the USA it is not. Because of this, the Polar Bear Commission established the first quota for hunting in the United States.

The third problem is the increased interaction between humans and walruses. These animals gather closely on the beach where they cannot move without injuring each other. They do spend some time on ocean ice floes, but because the floes are melting, the walruses have to spend more time on land of which there is little available. If anyone or anything (i.e. polar bears, humans) attacks them, it causes the walruses to panic and can result in the death of thousands of them. Scientists are trying to find a solution for this problem, but it is difficult.

Another problem in the Chukotka and Alaska region is pollution of the seashores. “Wherever you go along the arctic coast, you’ll see these 200-little barrels which were used to bring chemicals and other supplies to the arctic areas over the last 50-60 years. Many of them still have traces of toxic chemicals in them,” says Lobstein.

Americans are cooperating with the Russian Red Cross in Chukotka to try and remove these barrels and chemicals from the shores. This helps both Russia and the United States because the chemicals that pollute the water in Russia are swept into the currents and carried to Alaska.

The idea for the US-Russian environmental collaboration was proposed 20 years ago at the presidential summit of 1990. The plan was to create an international protected territory in Beringia, Russia. George H.W. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev announced this plan during the last year of the Soviet Union. Following the proposal, they signed a set of agreements that allowed citizens the freedom to travel between these districts. It was regarded as a step towards repairing the relationship between our two countries.

The idea to create an international nature park is an important aspect of this project. There are currently four nature parks that will become a shared and protected territory in Alaska and Chukotka. However, before they can unite these parks, they must decide how to unite these territories. During the next two years the commission will select which parts of the Beringia territory to hand over to federal jurisdiction where it will become part of the international nature park.

There are several dilemmas regarding the unification of our national parks, but the main issue is how the park will be protected. In Russia the system of protection is not as complex or strong, so the territory will require a unique system of protection. Another issue is that most Russian national parks, called “zapovedniki,” do not allow the public recreational access, whereas American parks do.

It would be beneficial to both countries if Russia adopted the American system for nature protection. Not only would it be good for our countries, but for the whole world because preserving our natural resources is the key to our future.