OREANDA-NEWS. March 15, 2012. Dmitry Medvedev discussed environmental security and protection at an off-site meeting of the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights. The meeting was attended by members of the Council, environmental experts and representatives of environmental organisations.

PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA DMITRY MEDVEDEV: Good afternoon, colleagues,

We have a tradition to hold our meetings in one of the regions. I think this is useful because our country’s development, the development of civil society and human rights is not limited to Moscow and Moscow-based institutions but exist in all regions across Russia. I think it is beneficial to vary the venue of our meetings and I hope that today we will have a frank and productive discussion, mainly devoted to environmental issues.

The right to a clean environment is a fundamental human right, and creating such an environment is our shared task. The state cannot tackle it without the support of civil society; therefore, it is essential to launch a dialogue on this complicated issue between the Government on the one hand, and the business community and public organisations on the other. Present here today are members of the Presidential Council, experts in the field of environmental protection and representatives of relevant non-governmental organisations. I would like us to exchange opinions on what has been achieved in this area in recent years and what still remains to be done.

I have raised this subject several times at meetings of the State Council Presidium and the Security Council; we held a special meeting of the Presidential Commission for Modernisation and Technological Development of Russia’s Economy, and in June of last year we devoted a month to a series of meetings, events and conferences on environmental issues. I hope that the situation has improved since then.

The issues discussed at the time were included in the list of my instructions following a State Council Presidium meeting. At the time we talked about a need for amendments to environmental legislation, the ratification of the Aarhus Convention and the Espoo Convention. Draft laws on the ratification of these conventions will soon be submitted to the State Duma. At the very least, these are tangible results of our cooperation.

As part of implementing these and certain other instructions, the Government submitted to the State Duma a package of five draft laws aimed at creating modern economic incentives, the introduction of green technologies and recycling technologies and improving the efficiency of state environmental monitoring – the latter has already come into force; the draft framework for the Russian state policy on environmental development until 2030 is nearly ready and is currently going through approval procedure.

I will also note that the draft federal law on protecting the seas from oil pollution has been adopted in the first reading, but the parties concerned are not entirely satisfied with it, as far as I was informed. Let's discuss what amendments could be made to this law.

I would like to hear from you how effective you believe the decisions adopted so far have been, whether you believe there is a change for the better, and if not, then what is the reason for that (although the situation is never black and white – it is always much more colourful). In any case, what proposals does civil society have for joint efforts with the state and the business community to address the long-standing environmental problems and try to resolve some of them. In fact, the accumulated problems are very considerable, and it is clear that it will take decades to deal with them.

I am also aware of the major work you are doing to combat the unauthorised rubbish dumping and unauthorised construction in conservation areas, in support of using modern technology and closing or converting environmentally hazardous production facilities. I know that there is a great deal of online activity in this area by volunteers who joined forces some time ago to address various problems, including widespread wildfires, which were a national disaster. All these are relevant and worthy examples of the public taking the initiative and becoming engaged in useful work for the nation.

It is obvious that the repressive approach in the environmental field is not always effective. All the talk that we just have to increase the fines is misguided. It is obvious that there is a need for incentives for businesses to create modern programmes and technology, and conversion to environmentally friendly production. Our companies can understand these arguments. We cannot say that the situation has not changed, especially when it comes to large and successful companies. However, they are not too eager to take these arguments on board.

Therefore, it is important that the dialogue between environmental agencies and the business community continues, including with the active participation of the state, because the economy in our country is to a high degree private. Although some large production facilities are owned by state companies, our economy is increasingly based on private property, and we must agree on appropriate measures with the owners.

An important aspect is environmental education. It is being introduced in all regions, to a greater or lesser extent. In any case, I think we should support such initiatives.