Research Area
Landscape Change and Management
BIORUS
Evaluating and dealing with environmental impact in Russia
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Background
One fundamental element in the German-Russian Agreement on Environmental and Nature Protection of 1992 was the development and adaption of environmental planning instruments for Russia. The collaborative effort included a German-Russian compendia to "Assess the Environmental Impact" of construction projects (ecological survey as one part of the application documents) and the introduction of "ecological expertise" (in a final inspection process). In the guidelines published in 2008 it became clear that any action to compensate damage to wildlife and landscape – meaning the unavoidable impact of a construction project – is limited in Russia to the paying of fines imposed by the responsible governmental agency. Furthermore there is often a lack of expertise and efficient methods to determine the extent of necessary compensation and remediation, and corresponding steps to achieve this.
Project
The goal of this advisory project is to furnish all participants of an ecological team monitoring construction projects in Russia with German and international standards of compensation. A wide spectrum of discussed methods includes the Environmental Impact Assessment and Germany's Impact Regulation. A new Russian-language set of guidelines devised by the German and Russian project partners contains recommendations to improve the range of instruments employed in Russia and to optimize the work process. The focus is on measures which clearly serve to improve biodiversity. The project partners also present and explain suitable German and international methods, practical techniques and approaches. They test individual methods using concrete cases in Russia.
The set of guidelines is intended to improve standards and ensure their stricter compliance in Russia. A planned English translation will also make them available in UNECE states and countries in transition.
Supported by
German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Federal Environment Agency, Federal Agency for Nature Conservation
