Multiple laws, good and otherwise

The main law in the body of environmental legislation of Belarus setting up the legal framework for other environmental legislation is the Law "On Protection of the Natural Environment", adopted in 1992. The mechanism of environmental protection also exists in a number of other laws, for instance, Law "On Natural Territories under Special Protection", "On Environmental Assessment", "On Legal Status of Territories Contaminated with Radiation as a Result of the Catastrophe at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant". There are various Codes regulating relations concerning various types of natural resources: Code for Land, Code for Depth of the Earth, Water, Forest and Forests. The sources of environmental law also include legal provisions contained in other branches of legislation, i.e. civil, administrative and criminal. For instance, there is Chapter IX in the Criminal Code "Crimes against environmental security and natural environment", which has 22 articles. These crimes relate to contamination of the atmosphere, water, forests, violation of regulations of natural reserves under special protection, illegal hunting, etc. Individuals found guilty in committing crimes against environmental security might be sentenced to fines, restricted labour, arrest or imprisonment.

Belarus has joined around 30 international conventions and protocols (UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, Vienna Convention on Ozone Layer Protection, Convention on Biodiversity and Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and others).

One's right to a favourable environment could only be exercised when there is access to environmental information and when civil society participates in the decision making process regarding issues related to environment. Legal aspects concerning access to environmental information are regulated by the Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters. Recently, at the beginning of June, the General Prosecutor's Office of Belarus issued a warning regarding an Aarhus Convention violation to the Board of a Russian private company "August – Bel" which is starting construction of a plant to produce poisonous chemicals in the settlement Druzhny, Pukhovichi Region.

Thus, the existing legal framework in the area of ecology in Belarus is sufficient. Those guilty of contamination of the natural environment are frequently held responsible for wrong doing. Last year 27.5 thousand drivers were fined under the administrative law for use of cars with carbon emissions above the prescribed norms. This constituted 45 % of the overall number of those who were fined for violations of  environmental legislation.

Ministry of Natural Resources: there is something to be proud of

In 2008, 416.1 billion Belarusian rubles are allocated for various environmental protection activities. "The National Strategy of Sustainable Social and Economic Development of Belarus until 2020" and "The National Action Plan on Rational Use of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of the Republic of Belarus for 2006 – 2010" were adopted.

At a press-conference held at the beginning of June, on the occasion of celebration of World Day of Environmental Protection, the Deputy Minister of Environment, Mr. Aleksandr Apatsky outlined the achievements. According to the assessment made by the European Environmental Agency, Belarus was considered one of the few countries of the CIS and Western Europe having access to the high quality drinking water.

Monitoring data for 2007 showed that the majority of cities in the country maintained a trend towards reductions in air polluting substances. The average annual concentration of air pollutants in Minsk was lower than in large cities of Western Europe. Over 400 activities were undertaken in 2007 in order to reduce the negative impact on atmosphere air, which resulted in lowering the emission of hazardous substances into the air by 17.2 thousand tonnes.

The volume of greenhouse gas emissions was reduced by 3 times compared with 1990. Moreover, in the course of the past five years 123 tonnes of non ozone-friendly substances were excluded from usage. All these achievements were reported by the Ministry of Natural Protection.

Is Belarus an ecological disaster area?

After the catastrophe at the Chernobyl NPP the Republic of Belarus was declared an ecological disaster area. Around 70% of the radioactive fall out was over the territory of Belarus. As a result a radioactive cloud covered one fifth of its territory affecting almost 20% of the total population. The number of cases of thyroid cancer among children has increased by 200 times since the Chernobyl disaster, as reported by the Head of the State National Commission on Radioactive Protection, professor Yakov Kenigsberg.

Today over 1.6 million people live in the territories contaminated with radionuclides and 420 thousand of them are children.

Troublemakers…

However the fact that Belarus is regarded as an ecological disaster area is not due to the effects of the radiation after the Chernobyl catastrophe only, it is also due to the emission of hazardous substances by industrial, agricultural, community services, transport as well as high rates of illnesses and death among the population and low birth rates. Some environmentalists even started proclaiming the ecological genocide of the nation.

4.3 million of people are dealing with high concentrations (2-3 times higher than the set norms) of extremely hazardous to health chemicals such as phenols, formaldehydes, dioxides, sulphur oxides and heavy metals. New illnesses appear conditioned by the social and ecological development of civilization and the number of chronic diseases is growing.

Novopolotsk based "Naftan" and "Polimir" chemical plants, Zlobin metallurgic factory, Svetlogorsk based "Khimvolokno", Soligorsk based "Belaruskalij", Grodno based "Azot", Mogilev based "Khimvolokno", Minsk radiator production and motor production plants, the forging department of the Minsk Tractor Factory, these are only few of the most polluting industries of the country.

The Chairman of the Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences, Mikhail Miasnikovich, admitted that only about 12 % of the country's technologies correspond to international standards.

Irresponsible actions of man, such as land drainage and adding chemicals to soil turned once blossoming lands into places unsafe for human habitation. According to official statistics in the course of the post-war years crop fields were fertilized with over 3.5 million tonnes of mineral fertilizers and around 300 thousand tonnes of herbicides and pesticides.

Summer has only just started and swimming is already prohibited in dozens of Belarusian lakes and rivers due to serious contamination by ball bacteria. This includes Lake Naroch, the national treasure, which is infected with helminth (pinworm) larvae of river birds.

There are almost no wild natural corners left. Every year adds more threatened and risking extinction species of flora and fauna to the Red Book. The Diploma of Belavezhskaya Pushcha has not been extended by the Council of Europe.

The overall impression is that the majority of Belarusians totally lack concern about the ecological situation in the country. The huge gap between personal understanding of the existence of ecological problems and collective misunderstanding of their actuality is impressive.

By Liudmila Korsak

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