Russia axes its environment agency.

• Author: Nierenberg, Danielle
• Position: Brief Article

In a move that has provoked outrage from environmentalists around the world, Russian President Vladimir Putin on May 23 dissolved the State Committee for Environmental Protection, Goskomekologil, the only government body responsible for environmental regulation and protection in Russia. The environmental committee's responsibilities were transferred to the Ministry of Natural Resources, which is geared toward managing the exploitation and extraction of the country's natural resources.

Goskomekologii was first established in the early 1990s as a Russian Ministry and a part of the presidential cabinet, but in 1996 was downgraded to committee status. Despite the enormous responsibility of coveting the increasingly serious environmental problems in all of Russia's 11 time zones, it was left mostly under-funded and under-staffed. "Environmental laws in Russia," says Rory Cox at the Pacific Environment and Resources Center (PERC), "are stronger than what we have here in the United States, but the level of enforcement [in Russia] is spotty and promises to get a lot weaker with Putin's decision." Russia already harbors more nuclear waste than any other country, for example, but without the ministry to enforce existing laws prohibiting nuclear waste imports, the country is poised to become an international nuclear dumping ground.

Until now Goskomekologii had the power to halt certain projects if they failed to pass an environmental review--similar to the environmental impact statements required by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency--and to designate protected areas called zapovedniks. Today a total of 99 of these reserves dot the country, protecting everything from Wrangel Island, an important nesting ground for migratory birds in the far north, to Lake Baikal, which contains one-fifth of the world's liquid fresh water. While many of these preserves are rich in timber, minerals, and other natural resources, they have remained unexploited due to their protected status.

According to Laura L. Williams, a Russian conservation consultant, the zapovedniks might fare better under management by the Ministry of Natural Resources, because of its greater wealth and political clout. The new...