Russian Environmental Policy - Priority issue

On October 2nd, Russian Environmental Policy Round Table was held in the Modern Development Institute in Moscow. The Round Table was chaired by Leonid Grigoriev, President of the Institute for Energy and Finance. The main discussion topics were as follows:

• environmental status, impact on human health  
• state policy of environmental control and supervision of the Russian Federation
• functions and powers of state executive authorities responsible for environmental control and supervision
• economic instruments in the field of environmental control and supervision
• workforce capacity of the environmental protection management system
• international experience of efficient state administration in the field of environmental control and supervision

As part of the meeting, presentation of the study entitled 'Russian Environmental Policy and Environmental Protection Institutions: Key to Improving Life Quality in Country's Future Development?' was made (the study had been carried out on request of the World Bank), as well as an expert discussion on a broad variety of issues.
SHANECO Group was represented by Sergey Vasiliev, Deputy Director General, co-author of the review on environmental activities in Russia (the section entitled 'Environmental Policy Instruments' that contains a brief review of the main instruments as compared to the international practice).
During the discussion, the main upgrade priority spheres were determined: resumption of effective process of environmental assessment (or environmental examination), especially for the projects with possible high impacts; simplification of the ineffective approval and standardization system for emissions and discharges—for this system to be based on feasible BATs that would help increase the efficiency of environmental activities and to be acceptable for the regulated community; simplification of the environmental quality standards, as well as perfection and refocusing of the monitoring system in a way to enable assessment of the effectiveness of environmental activities.
The outcomes of the Round Table solidified the need of adjusting the World Bank study subject to the proposals voiced during the meeting and creating a work group for adjustment of the document by involving representatives of authorities and business, environmental scientists, community, independent experts, and other stakeholders. The final advice was to send the resulting document to the Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia for obtaining an expert evaluation, and to bring the document forward as a discussion point in the Public Chamber.
To find out more about the meeting, see the official web site of the Modern Development Institute in Moscow (rus).