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Project Name: Expanding Citizens’ Use of Environmental Rights in Magadan Oblast Agreement Number: PG4-US-N-408 American Partner: Pacific Environment Jennifer Castner jcastner@pacificenvironment.org Southwest Research and Information Center William Paul Robinson sricpaul@earthlink.net Russian Partner: Magadan Center for the Environment Olga Yaroslavna Moskvina mace@pochta.ru Reporting Period: Final Report Project Goals and Objectives Project Goals: 1. Increase public understanding of environmental rights and opportunities to participate in natural resource management activities in Magadan Oblast. 2. Regular contact between local stakeholders, including the public, mining companies, government, mass media, and indigenous people will have been established and sustained through meetings, seminars, conferences and electronic exchanges that promote regular communication between the public, mining companies. 3. Increase the knowledge of specialists and company mangers involved in the mining industry in Magadan Oblast about international environmental and public health standards. 4. Create ongoing and effective relationships between the public, mining companies and the government. KEY PROJECT OUTPUTS 1. Training seminars and roundtables on environmental rights were held in regional administrative centers in Magadan Oblast for 90 community members. Many of these community members participated in public hearings held in Omsukchan and Olsk Raions and in the city of Magadan. An additional 229 individuals gained access to information on the importance of observing an individual's environmental rights, on the role that NGOs play in protecting those rights, and on the legal mechanisms used in Russia and abroad to protect those rights during public hearings and the project's regional conference. 2. 200 copies of the "Guide to Support the Expanded Use of Citizen Environmental Rights in Magadan and Eastern Russia" were published and distributed, a "Summary 1
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of Mining Activity In Magadan Oblast: Results of a Regional Conference "Environmental Protection Issues in the Mining Sector" was prepared and is being distributed, and project booklets were created and distributed throughout the course of the project. 3. Local community members in Olsk, Khasynsk, Omsukchan and Tenkinsk Raions received consultations and support for their activities aimed at protecting their environmental rights. Community members received assistance in obtaining information on environmental conditions and public health issues, as well as being provided information relating to their environmental rights. Community members were introduced to methods that can be used to develop effective dialogues with mining companies and government agencies, to evaluate environmental information and to use their environmental rights effectively. 75 individuals took advantage of their opportunities by posting appeals to government agencies and companies and by submitting recommendations and demands relating to mining company administration of existing mines and planned projects, thus demonstrating a growing public interest in participating in discussions of project and company operations. 4. 22 publications on the subjects of community environmental rights, public participation in pending projects, and mechanisms to influence mining projects and monitor public health were published in mass media outlets, locally and regionally. An additional ten items appeared in the media that provided information about project activities. 5. Four operating and abandoned mining sites were visited to introduce the public to the range of impacts associated with mineral resource extraction. Representatives of local and raion administrations (Omsukchan and Khasysnk), by media outlets (Magadan State TV), by NGOs (All-Russian Environmental Protection Society; International Academy of Ecology and Safety - RFE Branch; MedEkos), and by scientific institutes (NorthEast Integrated Scientific Research Institute - SVKNII DVO RAN, All Russian Scientific Research Institute - VNII-1) visited these sites with project partners. 6. Meetings were organized and held with the community members in Omsukchan, Olsk and in the city of Magadan to discuss procedures and mechanisms to encourage company compliance with environmental rights and to create independent citizen watch groups in regions with intensive mineral resource extraction. 7. Resource extraction companies and government agencies received requests from members of the public, including from representatives of indigenous peoples to provide information on company environmental protection activities. Responses to these requests were provided to the mass media and were distributed during meetings, consultations and public hearings. 8. Project partners used the project's activities to establish strong contacts with various segments of society: citizens, mining companies, government agencies, representatives of local, raion and oblast regional administration, the mass media, and indigenous peoples. In June, all project partners gathered in Magadan Oblast to conduct a field trip to Omsukchan Raion where meetings were arranged with ZAO Omsukchan Geology and Mining Company (Bema Gold Corporation) and OAO MNPO Polymetal officials in an attempt to visit their 2
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facilities. Meetings were held with local citizens and government officials in the communities of Dukat and Omsukchan. Site visits were made to new production facilities (Tidit Silver Mining Company), to abandoned mines (Galyma tin processing mill and coal mine) and to an area where plans exist to expand existing mill waste storage capacity (Polymetal processing facility in Omsukchan). During this field trip, the partners visited Khasynsk Raion to inspect the abandoned Karamken Mine and Mill Facility to check on the condition of that plant's deteriorating waste disposal pond. Meetings were held in the city of Magadan with government officials, with company officials, with representatives of the region's indigenous communities, and with members of the scientific community as part of our effort to encourage economically, socially, culturally and environmentally responsible mining practices in Magadan Oblast. A key project output is the publication of a citizen's guide that addresses environmental and social issues and offers mechanisms to develop productive dialogue with government officials and mining company representatives. Entitled "Guide to Support the Expanded Use of Citizen Environmental Rights in Magadan and Eastern Russia", the booklet includes an introduction to Russian environmental policy and management systems, describes best practices, both domestically and internationally, and provides an overview of mineral resource extraction technologies. This guide is the project's major publication and will serve MACE and partner organizations throughout Russia as a basic training tool during future seminars, conferences, and public consultations. One intended project output was improved contacts with mining companies in Magadan Oblast, so significant effort was made to establish close contacts. Unfortunately, we were unable establish the close working relations desired. We did, however, experience some success in promoting a dialogue with regional mining companies. As a result of our correspondence and personal meetings in the first and second quarters of 2005, several large, regional mining companies recognized the importance of allowing public monitoring of their operations and the value of providing the public with some level of monitoring data. Officials admitted this is important in demonstrating that their company mills and waste containment facilities operate in the public interest. Nevertheless, these two companies - ZAO Omskukchan Mining and Geology Company and OAO MNPO Polymetal - refused to allow us on their Magadan Oblast sites. Despite the slow progress in this area and the difficulties encountered, project partners will continue to impress upon ZAO Omskukchan Mining and Geology Company and OAO MNPO Polymetal officials, and other companies as well, that close working contacts with the public to monitor resource extraction operations are a progressive step in formulating a civil society in which all members of society have the right and the opportunity to know about the conditions in which they live and that affect their health and well being. Now, following our recent conference on environmental issues, there is an indication that our efforts in this respect have gained support in the Magadan Oblast administration. Project partners actively participated in public discussions relating to the development of the Lankovsk brown coal deposits in Olsk Raion. This ongoing activity is key to MACE's public campaign to institutionalize public participation in resource extraction projects. The leadership role displayed by MACE in working with the administration, with members of the scientific community and with the mass media, as well as with various sectors of the public, including representatives from the indigenous peoples community, has provided the organization with a fresh opportunity to establish a "field laboratory" to test training methods and educational materials and to conduct public opinion surveys. The effort has created a 3
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platform from which community members are now voicing their concerns and seeking to protect their interests during the pre-project phase of this controversial coal-mining project. The public hearings held in June 2005, and the willingness of Oblast administration officials to consider and then implement public hearing procedures based on recommendations made by MACE is an encouraging step forward in the effort to establish a civil sector in the region. We have distributed, throughout the term of this project, and via direct e-mail and e-mail servers, mining materials of interest to stakeholders in Magadan Oblast; this service will continue into the future. The partners are investigating fresh funding sources to support a website that will be a source of information and news on environmental and social issues important to regions in Russia dependent upon mineral resource extraction. The key public event, one that wrapped up our activities in Magadan Oblast, was our conference entitled "Environmental Protection Issues in the Mining Sector." This event, attended by the governor, is a significant step forward in the effort to create new opportunities for the public to participate in mineral resource extraction issues in Magadan Oblast. Ten years has passed since a public event was held at which social, cultural and environmental responsibilities of mining companies and the impact their activities have on the economy of Magadan Oblast was discussed. Representatives of leading mining companies, government and public environmental protection organizations, indigenous representatives, scientific establishments and specialists from the Oblast administration, along with media outlets, were in attendance. Mr. Nikolai Dudov, governor of Magadan Oblast, noted that it is impractical to discuss regional sustainable development options without a plan for sensible natural resource use and without compliance with mining sector laws and regulations. Governor Dudov focused special attention on the role of public organizations in disseminating information to the general public on proposed projects, on the need to establish structures in Magadan Oblast that assure environmental safety, and on the importance of strict compliance with all laws and regulations during the planning, operating and closure of mining projects. Conference speakers discussed the region's most acute mining-related social and environmental issues and those in attendance learned about the social and environmental policies of regional mining companies. FRAEC project partners provided an overview of our key activities and outputs. A conference recommendation is that mine operators and mineral resource extraction managers more fully comply with all procedures and requirements regulating environmental protection measures at their facilities. It was further recommended that they provide, in accordance with established law, data and information on environmental monitoring activities to federal agencies and local self-governance bodies that carry out government and municipal monitoring. The importance of public hearings and information meetings designed to provide the public with opportunities to discuss company activities was a running theme at the conference. At the conference, Governor Dudov announced his administration's intention to increase social and environmental demands on mining companies operating in Magadan Oblast and instructed the Department of Natural Resources to develop a regional program entitled "Ecology and Mineral Resources in Magadan Oblast." At an upcoming session of the Magadan Oblast Duma, Valerii Nevolin, Head of the Department of Natural Resources, will introduce materials for consideration of project funding to develop the target program requested by Governor Dudov.
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OTHER PROJECT ACTIVITIES 1) Information about Project Activities Each partner created on its respective web site a project page to provide information about the partnership project. Listed here are the internet addresses to these pages: • • •
Magadan Center for the Environment: http://www.mace.ru Pacific Environment: http://www.pacificenvironment.org/russia/FRAEC/index.html Southwest Information and Research Center: http://www.sric.org/enr/international.html
Announcements of project activities were regularly distributed via Pacific Environments email news service "Pacific Currents", in the "Magadan Environmental Herald", on local cable TV in Olsk Raion, and upcoming project events were broadcast via radio station GTRKFM-105, on its "Green Wave" program. The following internet news and information servers were used to disseminate materials compiled and analyzed over the course of the project to stakeholders in other regions of Russia: • • •
RUSSIA-MINING Raipon E-Mail List Sosnovka@googlegroups.com
Internet information about the current FRAEC project was distributed via articles written on the impact of mining on indigenous peoples throughout Siberia and the Russian Far East, including Magadan Oblast where land used for the region's indigenous peoples’ traditional activities - reindeer herding, hunting, and fishing – has been annexed for resource extraction purposes. These lands have suffered the ills of pollution and other activities associated with mining. The reduced land and natural resource base is a hindrance to those indigenous people who wish to sustain traditional cultural practices. Meetings and consultations with the public and with mining company representatives provided regular opportunities to acquaint these constituencies with the objectives and goals of the FRAEC project; project brochures were specially prepared for these purposes. 2) Consultations with NGOs, Mining Companies and Government Agencies The methods used in consultations conducted by MACE, SRIC and PE included: a) Public hearings were organized for community members in Olsk Raion to discuss plans for developing the Lankovsk and Melkovnensk brown coal deposits and in Omsukchan Raion to discuss problems associated with gold and silver mining in that region. Regular consultations were held at the village library in Ola, and at local government offices in Gadlya, Klepka, Omsukchan and Dukat, meetings supported and attended by local selfgovernance bodies and the Magadan Oblast administration. b) Procedures were established that allow community members to direct inquires to regional officials and to express concerns about regional mining activities. These procedures are a
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key component in the project's effort to establish a working relationship between the public and mine companies. c) A survey form was distributed, first by MACE, then through libraries and during public meetings, and finally by local officials and members of representative bodies, to provide community members both anonymous and public (if a direct response from project partners was desired) methods of requesting consultations on resource extraction projects. This survey method proved to be an especially successful method in identifying public preferences and concerns and helped to direct the activities of this project. The comments and inquiries obtained by MACE during public hearings, and an analysis of survey results provided valuable information for discussions with resource extraction representatives. The questions and recommendations from community members in Olsk Raion are now being used by the All Russian Scientific Research Institute (VNII-1) to prepare a program of activities for a program entitled "Defining Natural Resource Use Limits and Allowable Levels of Environmental Impact during the Development of the Primagadanskaya Brown Coal Field". The first response to our joint efforts to expand public participation in resource extraction projects in Magadan Oblast was an invitation extended to MACE and the Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North (RAIPON) to participate in public hearings held in Omsukchan on April 22, 2005, organized by OAO "Omsukchan Geology and Mining Company." MACE used this opportunity to hold additional meetings with local community leaders and members of the public to discuss mining issues. Throughout the course of this project MACE, SRIC, and PE engaged local self-governance bodies, NGOs, and mining companies during those groups' participation in public hearings and conferences as a way to expand public participation in mining sector activities and with the aim of organizing visits to mines for members of the public. Meetings and consultations were held in Omsukchan, Tenkin, Olsk and Khasynsk Raions at which the project partners shared information, provided advice and answered specific questions about how the public can interact with mining companies and can use their environmental rights. The ultimate goal of conducting these meetings and consultations has been to establish regular and effective dialogues between the public, and including indigenous peoples, with mining companies and government agencies. These meetings and consultations were organized to provide four types of services that we believe are key in assuring effective social, economic, cultural, and environmental responsibility in Magadan Oblast's mining sector: 1. Emphasis on the significance of company-based contributions to the region's social infrastructure; 2. Mill and waste containment impacts on the environment and on human health, especially from facilities located near communities; 3. Public access to intelligible, plain language information on the activities of mining companies; 4. Mechanisms for true public involvement during the planning, operating, and post operations phases of mineral resource extraction, processing and waste storage. Our meetings and consultations with local community members provided opportunities to discuss and distribute information on practices used in Russia and around the world to ensure that public opinion is accounted for during the planning, operating and monitoring of resource 6
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extraction projects. Our round tables were designed to discuss a citizen's right to environmental information, especially documents describing potential environmental impacts of future projects. We provided examples of how the public and municipal entities can be directly involved in environmental monitoring. We also provided examples of international environmental management standards and best practices used by the world's more socially responsible mining companies. And because the role of international financing institutions (IFIs) in capitalizing mining projects is increasing, our round tables included information on IFI requirements for access to information on mining operations during planning, operating and closure phases. PE provided its Russian colleagues translated news and information on mining issues via publications gathered from international sources as part of its "Pacific Currents" on-line news service and disseminated four articles on the mining industry and on resource extraction issues that included materials demonstrating the opportunities available to civil society to protect its rights to a safe environment by applying existing law. Although these articles were produced with non-FRAEC funds, all materials were distributed to project partners and other interested parties in Magadan Oblast. Beginning in 2005, and in accordance with the Russian Federation law on the "Basis for Self Governance‌," elected municipal councils have begun to appear in local communities. Elected representatives have significant authority in local communities and special efforts were taken to work with these representatives. A meeting was held in the village of Dukat (Omsukchan Raion) for all members of its village council. Four members of the council in the village of Gadlya (Olsk Raion) received individual consultations. Personal meetings were held with representatives and council members in Ola (Olsk Raion) and with candidates for councils in the village of Karamken and Palatka (Khasynsk Raion). We focused special attention on mining company management, the problematic target group in our project, since implementation of the public's environmental rights and good faith implementation of all demands established by Russian law and international standards demand significant capital outlays that are at odds with company interests in reducing overall operating costs. MACE repeatedly used public meetings organized by regional mining companies to discuss corporate responsibility. For instance, OAO MNPO Polymetal, a leading Russian mining company that is working silver deposits in Omsukchan Raion, held its first public hearing in the region in three years. One month later, OAO MNPO Polymetal held a similar hearing in Khabarovskii Krai. The public's capacity to use these public meetings to obtain vital information on mining company practices has increased because of the efforts applied in this project. 3) Ramping Up of Activity and Changes in the Situation in Olsk Raion During project planning, we had not planned to focus our project effort on Olsk Raion. With the January 2005 Department of Natural Resources for the Magadan Oblast Administration announcement for a plan to develop the Lankovskii and Melkovodninskii brown coal deposits in the Raion, however, a decision was made to respond to a local request for assistance in developing a strategy to deal with coal field development. The environmental risk associated with the development of brown coal deposits in a marine ecosystem warrants the attention. In responding to local concerns, MACE organized and held meetings to discuss the development of the brown coal fields with company officials from OAO "Severo-Vostok Ekologiya" to 7
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gain a better perspective of the environmental aspects of the coal-mining project. Additional meetings was held with the residents of Ola to explain ways that they can obtain environmental information relating to the project and to discuss an action plan that will protect the Lankovyi River in the event the coal beds are developed. Further meetings were held with G. A. Kyzyavyi, head of the Olsk Raion administration and A. N. Vishnyakov, Mayor of Ola and with L. I. Loginova, head of the village council in Gadlya at which a discussion was held to organize a public hearing on the project. A final series of meetings was held with deputies and village representatives in Gadlya. The key result of these meetings set a regional precedent- timely access to information on a proposed project and its impact on the lives of local people who were then able to more actively participate in public hearings on the project. The partner's timely response to a local call for assistance to explain the environmental risks associated with a natural resource extraction project has increased local knowledge on the project in Olsk Raion. MACE, in conjunction the All Russian Scientific Research Institute (VNII-1), continues to process requests for information on coal bed development with assistance from SRIC and PE who are providing an international perspective on this issue. These original information requests provided a basis for the first public hearings held by the regional administration in June. Additional public hearings are planned. And indication of response to public concern is a program being developed by VNII-1 entitled "Defining Natural Resource Use Limits and Allowable Levels of Environmental Impact during the Development of the Primagadanskaya Brown Coal Field" in which recommendations and demands put forth by community members in Olsk Raion have been considered and included. 4) Negotiating Mine Site Visits Our project called for discussing mechanisms that allow regional NGOs and the public to visit regional mines. As such, an aggressive effort was made to establish collaborative relationships with mining companies operating in Magadan Oblast. The international community agrees that a socially, economically, culturally and environmentally responsible resource extraction company is one that is committed to providing public access to its facilities, applying best practices at mines, mills and waste containment areas, and demonstrating its environmental safety record by making available operating documents and monitoring data. A company committed to wisely managing its risk at potentially dangerous mines, mills, and at waste storage facilities, and demonstrating willingness to discuss problems associated with its operations and seek mechanisms to solve those problems are additional indicators of responsible management. At the same time, abandoned and closed mines can serve as an open-air classroom for understanding how mining, milling, and waste storage have impacts on the natural landscape and the people who live and use those landscapes. In designing this project, the partners used the following criteria to select mining companies for potential visits: 1. The company was, has become, or has the potential for becoming the main industry in a community; 2. The company positions itself as an environmentally or socially responsible firm; 3. The company is part of a corporation, or a larger industrial concern;
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4. The company has obtained or is obtaining financial support from foreign banks or international financing institutions; 5. The company's project, or its next operational phase, is at a stage that provides an opportunity to track the project's environmental impact assessment (OVOS); 6. The company's activities or its production sites represent (or could represent) a significant threat to important environmental features or to people, or the company's activities are of concern to the local population; 7. The company's activities violate a citizen's right to a safe and healthy environment, to environmental information or violates other civil rights; 8. The company's activities, including environmental management, serve as a positive example for the management of other companies. With these criteria in mind, the following mining companies were selected for site visits and for discussions with senior management: 1. Under construction or planned: • OAO Serebryanaya Kompaniya – Tidit silver mine and mill • OAO RIM (subsidiary of Norilsk Nickel) – expanding milling capacity at the Matrosov mine 2. Operating: • ZAO Omsukchan Geology and Mining Company – Julietta gold mine • OAO MNPO Polymetal – Dukat silver mine and Lunnoe mine 3. Abandoned: • Galyma coal mine and Omsukchan Tin Processing Mill – abandoned waste and tailings pond • Matrosov mine – abandoned waste and tailings pond • Karamken Mine and Mill Facility - abandoned waste and tailings pond In planning this project, we anticipated problems in visiting operating mines since mining company managers, as a rule, tend to talk as little as possible about problems that exist at their facilities. And, in fact, we encountered problems gaining access to the facilities of ZAO Omsukchan Geology and Mining Company (a subsidiary of the Canadian mining company – Bema Gold) that operates the Julietta gold mine and to the facilities of OAO MNPO Polymetal that operates the Dukat silver mine and Omsukchan processing mill. Despite a corporate manager understanding that the public has a legal right to obtain information about a company's on-site environmental safety measures and that the public has a right to visit industrial sites, every effort is made to avoid these visits. The same is true for public hearings where company officials frown upon the participation of NGOs that raise substantive concerns about operations at mines and mills. Experience gained in participating in public hearings held by ZAO Omsukchan Geology and Mining Company and by OAO MNPO Polymetal demonstrates that company managers fail to understand the value of considering the public's recommendations and proposals, and they interpret commentary on their activities as an attempt to meddle in company policy. At the same time, these companies dread revelations in the press that document violations of environmental laws or that point to infringements of the rights of local peoples and of the workers at their facilities. Fully understanding that refusing citizens and NGOs environmental information is a violation of the law, company management provides an array of excuses to deny site visits--excuses 9
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ranging from a lack of on-site personnel, a busy schedule of those capable of providing informed commentary on operations, or a concern that the information the public obtains during visits will be distorted and used to tarnish company image. Project partners requested a meeting to speak with company representatives to negotiate a visit of the Julietta mine facility in Omsukchan Raion. A preliminary, verbal agreement was reached with Bema Gold Corporation through its Magadan office, OAO "Omsukchan Geology and Mining Company", to conduct a site visit of the Julietta mine complex in June 2005. On August 12, 2005, an invitation was extended to three members of the public to visit Julietta. Mr. Papernov (engineer – ecologist), Mr. Mikhailov (hydrologist) and Olga Moskvina were ready for the visit that was planned for August 14, 2005. However, the visit had to be cancelled when weather conditions prevented a helicopter flight to the site. The visit was then postponed to some indeterminate time in the future. At public hearings that took place in June (OAO MNPO Polymetal), Ms. Kuz'menko, a company official, in response to a question about company information access policy, said that the company's operations are transparent and that site visits, in principle, could be organized. In response, MACE prepared letters that were sent to the St. Petersburg office of OAO MNPO Polymetal, and to the offices of their subsidiaries: ZAO Serebro Magadan, ZAO Serebro Territory, requesting site visits for the public. However, the requests yielded no results, since the management of OAO MNPO Polymetal failed to respond to the request. Even so, site visits were conducted during the June 2005 field trip by MACE, SRIC and PE staff, along with SVKNII DVO RAN senior geologist V. E. Glotov. These sites visited were: OAO Tidit Silver Mining Company; Karamken abandoned gold tailings facility; Omsukchan solid waste facility as a feature of a Polymetal waste treatment facility expansion effort; Galyma, an inactive tin tailings and coal mine. The planned visit to OAO "OZK" in Severo-Evensk Raion was not undertaken due to the cancellation of all flights to the region. 6) Translation and publication of "A Guide to Support the Expanded Use of Citizen Environmental Rights in Magadan and Eastern Russia" One of the key outputs for this project is the compilation and publication of our citizen guide. This guide was prepared to support expanded use of environmental rights and of public participation decision-making in Magadan Oblast to ensure a public voice in resource extraction projects in the region. Our guide focuses on the use of citizen rights within the framework provided by the legal system governing the Russian Federation and by standards set by international organizations. It provides a baseline of information on mining and mining practices to assist citizen and community organizations’ efforts to apply their environmental rights to the range of activities involved in developing, operating and closing mines. It provides sample documents that the public can use to request information from government agencies and resource extraction companies. The guide is not an encyclopedic work and does not represent a comprehensive view of environmental law, citizen involvement opportunities, and contemporary mining practices; it is introductory in nature. But it does offer, in layman’s terms, an introduction to ways to
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improve local presence in discussions concerning the safety and health, the cultural and economic future of people directly affected by mining activities. This guide is our project's contribution to the local citizenries’ attempt to work effectively with mining companies and government agencies monitoring and controlling the activities of mining companies in Magadan Oblast and will serve as the basis for future guides developed for other regions of Russia. The guide has been distributed to regions outside Magadan Oblast, and in particular, on Kamchatka issues of mining sector development are equally relevant. 200 copies of the guide were published but this volume has proven inadequate to meet all requests for the publication, so MACE is currently distributing the guide in computer form and project partners are seeking funds to produce an additional print run. 7) Preparing and Conducting Round Tables Seminar and meeting preparations were handled during personal meetings held by MACE staff with authorities and stakeholders, as well as by posting inquiry letters, holding telephone conversations and visiting raion and municipal administrations. Topics for discussion with seminar participants were identified through direct consultations with stakeholders and technical specialists. The project partners decided to avoid a lecture format to provide a more relaxed atmosphere and to give participants an opportunity to discuss those problems and ask the questions they felt most pressing and important. Our seminars in Omsukchan Raion (Dukat, Omsukchan) provided community members and local officials a chance to raise and discuss issues directly related to the social and environmental consequences of OAO MNPO Polymetal operations on the lands surrounding those villages. The format allowed local bureaucrats their chance to express personal opinions about the relative risks represented by local mining companies. Most of the interest in Olsk Raion relates to how a community can influence government decision making at the pre-invest stage to convince those officials to reject environmentally dangerous projects, and in an instance when decisions are made to move forward with industrial activities, to ensure the protection of bio-resources and to protect the environment. In all instances, MACE provided participants with materials on environmental rights currently in effect in Russia and supplied examples of how those rights can be used. The round table "Environmental and Social Policies of Resource Extraction Companies in Magadan Oblast" was not carried out for the following reasons: a) The reorganization of the Magadan Oblast Department of Mineral Resources left us without a partner with whom to organize this activity. Because from the onset of this project we planned this activity with the Department's participation in mind, the partners, in consultation, decided to delay the activity until a department representative could be found to take an active role. b) During reorganization of this service and in establishing contacts with its new personnel, MACE staff met individually with all of the key technical staff suggested for participation in the round table; these meetings served the opportunity to discuss the intended agenda. Since the goal of the round table was to define and adjust the key components of the 11
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current project, by early in the second quarter of 2005, this goal had been achieved through the individual consultations and the expediency of gathering these staff members for a further discussion of project goals was lost. Local transportation conditions (extended bad weather and a lack of demand for tickets) forced us to cancel our plans to conduct an environmental rights conference in Severo-Evenk Raion. Local representatives were provided project materials, including copies of our "Guide to Support the Expanded Use of Citizen Environmental Rights in Magadan and Eastern Russia" and an effort will be made to get to the region in near future following completion of the current project. 8) Holding a Wrap-Up Conference A June 25, 2005 meeting with the Chief of Magadan Oblast Department of Natural Resources served as the start of our effort to organize the project's wrap-up conference. At the meeting the head of this department confirmed his agency's interest in both co-hosting and participating in the event then planned for late October or early November 2005. Project partners accented the importance of the Oblast Administration's active involvement as an important milestone in conference planning. Its participation proves that government support for expanded awareness and lawful use of environmental rights exists in the Oblast, both of which are key project objectives. 9) Prepare a Summary of Mining Activity in Magadan Oblast An "Overview of the Mining Industry in Magadan Oblast" was the working title for a publication proposed during the project's planning stages; this document was to summarize the state of the environment and of social responsibility in the mining sector in Magadan Oblast. To determine the most acute issues in the region and the mechanisms to address those issues, and to also allow mining company officials, members of the public and government officials to learn more about current attempts in Magadan Oblast and abroad to promote a dialogue, project partners proposed and organized a regional conference on environmental protection, and social and environmental responsibility in the Magadan Oblast mining sector to provide a public forum for a discussion about the rights of the public to information on the state of the environment and to participate in decision making processes. In preparing for this conference, we held meetings with invited speakers to explain the importance of these issues and the need for their public discussion. Representatives and specialists from the Oblast's more significant economic enterprises prepared presentations on environmental and social programs of their companies. The conference materials are being prepared for publication in a booklet entitled “Summary of Mining Activity in Magadan Oblast: Results of a Regional Conference" and following this project these materials will be distributed to conference participants, to regional stakeholders and to other individuals expressing an interest in the issues. INTERACTION WITH OTHER FRAEC PARTNERS Our project did not foresee or plan for any joint activities with USAID, FRAEC office staff, or with other projects funded under the current round. However, the partnership conference that was held in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk on November 8-10, 2005 provided a wonderful opportunity to meet with other representatives from other projects and to exchange experiences. 12
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PROJECT CHALLENGES During the compilation of the material that went into the "Guide to Support the Expanded Use of Citizen Environmental Rights in Magadan and Eastern Russia", the project's key publication, difficulties were encountered in obtaining accurate, contemporary information on the state of Russian environmental policy and the protection of natural resources. We also encountered a challenge in adapting information from international sources to fit the Magadan context. An additional project challenge has been the great geographic distances between affected communities and Magadan partners and the problems this creates in establishing effective communication networks and in obtaining timely responses to pressing issues. We used Internet connections for direct communications and fax for rapid exchange of working documents to maintain dialogues with remote partners During the planning stages for this project we did not foresee a need for extensive activities in Olsk Raion since its only operating mine, the Nyavlenga deposit, is quite distant from the general populous, in a region that is not especially valued for its natural resource potential. The plan for Olsk Raion was to distribute project information materials and to assist the local community through consultations using our public opinion survey. However, in January 2005, the Department of Natural Resources for the Magadan Oblast Administration published official information on plans to develop the Lankovskii and Melkovodninskii brown coal deposits in the Raion, creating an unplanned opportunity to work in Olsk Raion. This work began with responses to requests from local residents to aid in developing a strategy to deal with brown coal development. MACE responded with information, public meetings and individual consultations and is continuing its support of local initiatives by supplying materials on environmental rights. Due to the high environmental risk associated with the development of the brown coal deposits, especially the risks to the marine ecosystem, the public has come out in opposition to the current development plans. Plans to develop these brown coal beds are not new; in 1988, a similar attempt was made. In this instance, MACE quickly responded to the situation, spending considerable time and organizational resources on the issue. This work has major significance both for defending environmental rights of the local community in Olsk Raion as well as for applying standard procedures for public participation in the planning and development of natural resource extraction projects. Another unexpected challenge in this project was the sharp increase in airfares to Magadan Oblast. The cost of airline tickets to Magadan from Vladivostok nearly doubled from the time that trips were budgeted in late 2004. That meant our budget for three trips to the region was only able to cover the cost of two tickets. Per Diem costs (in particular, the cost of hotel accommodations) also increased in excess of budget. For that reason, one of three trips to the region had to be cancelled. This has not had any functional impact on our project activities. Our partnership is successfully conducting an open and very aggressive correspondence among the partners, one result of which is that we are able to carry out detailed planning via e-mail, Yahoo messenger and Skype voice-over-internet communications. Owing to scheduling conflicts, the conference planned for this quarter, "Environmental Protection Issues in the Mining Sector" was rescheduled at the request of the Magadan Oblast governor's office from its planned date of early November to early December. Unfortunately, this change in timing made it impossible for Mr. Robinson and Mr. Jones to attend and participate in the event. Despite this unfortunate turn of events, we are pleased that 13
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the opportunity to discuss the importance of the public's role in resource extraction projects was held, and we are optimistic that our organization of the event with the assistance of the Magadan Oblast administration is the next step in an expanding dialogue between government officials, industry representatives and the public. The rescheduling of the conference provided the opportunity for the Project Partners to focus their attention on the concerns and interests of representatives of Indigenous Peoples in the region as a seminar was help with those representatives that traveled to Magadan for the Conference. Value of the Partnership in Achieving Project Goals The stated project goal -- "improving public involvement in environmental policy related to mining in Magadan" -- was a very difficult target to attain given the many challenges associated with the functional goal -- "improving involvement" -- and the region of interest -Magadan Oblast. The challenge to improving public involvement in the Magadan region is a lack of experience in participating in discussions of resource extraction projects. Thus, the public's capacity to influence government decision-making on these projects has been limited. Due to the founding role that mining activity has played in the history of the region and its dominant role in the region's economic life, the influence of the mining sector, and thus its impact on social and environmental conditions, however, deserves public scrutiny to ensure that those activities provide benefits for local people and that mining does not create a physical landscape that threatens biodiversity or that poses a risk to human health. Effectively achieving our goal and meeting FRAEC performance targets -- "indicators" -required proven experience in working with communities in Magadan Oblast, proven experience promoting public involvement in Russian mining policy, and proven experience in providing technical resources to address both mining policy as a regional matter and existing and emerging mine projects on a site-by-site basis. Magadan Center for Environment (MACE) provided the project a strong foundation for expanding civil sector in the region by providing links to communities, mining company representatives and administrative agency staff. MACE began the project with a clear idea of the target groups with whom we could effectively interact, which projects in the region were ripe for public involvement, and what could be attained through public involvement efforts. MACE organized the personal contacts with communities, mining companies and government agencies, arranged the opportunities for public meetings and fostered the written communication that has documented, through project indicators, the efforts made in this project to expand public participation in civil affairs. Southwest Research and Information Center (SRIC) provided the strong technical foundation from which the partnership could accurately address public awareness and policy concerns about mining in Magadan Oblast. Through its international experience on ways a community can have an active dialogue with industry and government on mining and its impacts, SRIC demonstrated that mines can operate to the benefit of people and the economy. By responding to technical information requests, including information on environmental assessment of mining proposals and mining operations, on structures and the life cycle of mining and mining organizations, and the international range of policy initiatives related to ownership, funding and performance of mineral developments in the region, SRIC raised awareness on the social, economic, cultural, and environmental responsibility aspects of contemporary mining.
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Pacific Environment (PE), based on over a decade of direct involvement in building grass movements in Russia intended to develop sustainable resource policy for forestry, fisheries, and mineral mining, demonstrated to local communities the link between this project's effort to create pubic capacity to monitor and influence resource extraction projects and similar efforts underway both in Russia and abroad. PE’s efforts ensured that communication among the partners was detailed and sustained, that issues addressed by the partners reflected both Magadan-regional and Russia-wide policy concerns, and that project developments were brought to the attention of both domestic and international audiences. The success of our partnership was also a result of efforts undertaken over the years to address mining issues in other regions' of the Russian Federation. Paul Robinson (SRIC) has served as a technical advisor on mining and waste management issues for Pacific Environment during the exchanges that it has conducted over the last ten years, exchanges that have involved MACE staff. Paul was also a key participant in a MACE-PE organized environmental seminar held in Magadan in the late 1990s. As a precursor to the FRAEC based partnership, MACE, SRIC, and PE staff jointly participated in a technical exchange addressing mining and its impacts on land and people in Kamchatka and Magadan in 2004. PE and MACE have years of experience working with other Russia-based NGOs through the annual, PE-sponsored Sosnovka meeting and through the mining working group (an outgrowth of Sosnovka). SRIC and PE have worked cooperatively to organize and conduct Russia-US technical exchanges on mineral resources development in Buryatia, Kamchatka, and Chita regions, as well as Magadan, and to provide technical analysis of mineral projects for Russian public environmental impact assessments ("expertizas"). MACE provided the project its foundation for establishing sustainable working relationships with community groups, indigenous peoples, mining and administration representatives, relationships that provide the basis for continuing dialogues with mining companies to gain public access to facilities and project data. These relationships will also serve as the framework for ensuring communication of community-based interests to mining company and government officials in expanding policy development and facility review, the essential elements of effective public involvement. The on-the-ground experience among PE staff in providing direct support to those promoting policy strategies for sustainable natural resource use is partially responsible for the success Russian NGO and indigenous community leaders are having in developing dialogues with resource extraction companies and the regulatory structures established to monitor and control those interests. PE provided experience-based support and guidance to MACE as it developed its capacity to work directly with community and indigenous leaders in Magadan Oblast, and will continue to do so in the future. PE’s long and successful history of promoting pubic involvement makes it an excellent source of “lessons learned” by NGOs and indigenous people. In this project, that experience translated into ways in which mining and other natural resource management issues and concerns could be effectively raised in Russia and was used to demonstrate what can be done to ensure local social benefits and responsible environmental protection when natural resources are exploited. SRIC’s experience in developing information tools for mining communities expressed itself in this project through a comprehensive overview of the environmental features of mining, of Russian and international mining and mineral policy, and of the mine development and reclamation process. These tools provided technical support for the initiatives developed by MACE, its colleagues in Magadan and PE’s staff. This base of knowledge was fundamental to the development of a "Guide to Support the Expanded Use of Citizen Environmental 15
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Rights in Magadan and Eastern Russia", an information digest that accurately addresses current mining processes and policy in Magadan and offers the public easily understood suggestions on how to make mining socially and environmentally responsible. The information in the guide also underlay the technical communications about mining technology with mining company staff and consultants, administration representatives and research institute scientists at mine sites. This background provided the basis for the identification of opportunities to improve the technology of mining and the policy towards mining in Magadan. What Comes Next? The partners to this project see five specific future actions arising from this project. 1) If the Magadan Oblast legislature (Duma) takes action and provides funding to develop a regional program tentatively entitled "Ecology and Mineral Resources in Magadan Oblast", MACE will participate in the activities of this program's working group. In such an instance, MACE will continue to rely upon SRIC as a consulting agent for technical information and advice on matters relating to international standards and practices, and Pacific Environment will continue its role of coordinating an information exchange not only between MACE and SRIC, but also among other organizations in Russia that may view this program as a potential model for replication. 2) Because no final decision has yet to be made on the fate of the brown coal deposits in Olsk Raion, MACE will continue its role as facilitator of the public participation process in that project. MACE has demonstrated its value as public consultant to community groups, to local government agencies and the scientific community, and its role as a monitor of this process will require the organization's active participation in future activities associated with this controversial project: public consultations, calls for further public hearings, surveying public opinion. 3) We are currently building a new web page: "Mining Watch Russia: An Independent Information Resource" that has a tentative launch date of early April. Because this site will house the public education materials and technical documents prepared for this project, partners are continuing their internal discussions on how to design a web site that will meet the public's need for information and technical assistance via an internet link. 4) Our work to encourage the public to make inquiries into the activities of mining companies in the region awaits, in many cases, responses to those inquiries. As companies respond to those inquires, decisions will be made on how to handle those responses and what steps are necessary to expand the dialogue opportunities presented by the responses. And in the cases where mining companies fail to respond, future actions will be discussed to obtain for the public the information and data that companies are required by law to provide. 5) The interest in visiting active mine sites in Magadan Oblast remains perhaps the strongest post project, partnership objective. Can the resistance of large mining companies to the public's repeated requests to visit mine sites and to obtain data on the operations of those sites be overcome? This remains a question whose answer rests in the skill of the partners to demonstrate a need for the public' involvement in resource extraction projects. The project partners are dedicated to continuing their individual and joint efforts to one day have regular inspections of Magadan Oblast's mining conducted in the public interest.
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