Document(s) 6 of 10

SEVEN YEARS OF experience of Ukrainian-Canadian co-operation on the ecological rehabilitation of the Dnipro basin have assisted in the search for the answer to the question, Is the ecological rehabilitation of the Dnipro feasible? 30 The answer is a decisive 'yes', but only if the issue of the rehabilitation of the Dnipro's vital forces and the concern for the future of coming generations will permeate the hearts of the nations inhabiting the Dnipro's sacred lands. These concerns must find their way into the hearts of national and state elites, city and town mayors, and managers of enterprises located in the riparian zones that discharge untreated or poorly treated wastes into the Dnipro waters. Today, major problems in legislation and the administration of enterprises—resting with various levels of government and business, from the director of a small-scale enterprise to the Prime Minister of Ukraine—still exist.

The commencement of Ukrainian-Canadian co-operation in 1994 coincided with the beginning of the development and evaluation of a systemic approach methodology to the problems of the Dnipro basin under conditions of socio-economic reforms.

At the initial stage of the Co-operation Programme, over 40 projects were implemented jointly. Extensive work was done in areas of personnel training, the establishment of information systems for environmental management, the development of environmental policy, the education of the population, fundamental research on water quality, environmental audits, 'green technologies', and municipal management of water pollution. The work accomplished facilitated the development and approval of the National Program for the Environmental Rehabilitation of the Dnipro Basin and Improvements in Drinking Water Quality.

The goal of the second phase of the Programme was to facilitate an organisational reform process aimed at Ukrainian environmental organisations, to improve economic and investment policy, and to enhance environmental awareness of the population of Ukraine.

A significant role in the selection, implementation, and approval of the projects at both the first (1994-1997) and the second (1998-2000) stages of the Ukrainian-Canadian programme was played by the Ukrainian-Canadian Co-operation Programme Management Committee. Ukrainian membership in this Committee changed at different stages of the co-operation, yet it always included the most involved and active authorities from Ministries and Departments, representatives from scientific institutions of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, institutes, and NGOs involved in environmental management.

The philosophy of the first stage of the Ukrainian-Canadian Co-operation Programme can be summarised as an effort to increase the efficiency of state environmental management of the Dnipro basin ecosystem and water quality, in particular:

• To determine and implement measures to reduce water pollution in the Dnipro and its tributaries and provide the population with clean drinking water, particularly in the Zaporizhzhia region;

• To facilitate further co-operation between communities in Ukraine and Canada and to involve NGOs in resolution of environmental problems of the Dnipro basin;

• To activate the process of information exchange between scientists, scientific research institutes under various Ministerial Departments, officials responsible for aquatic ecosystems, and comparable parties in other countries, particularly Canada.

The second phase of the Programme aimed to establish favourable preconditions for investment within the framework of environmental co-operation. The Programme focused on the following three areas:

• development of systemic basin management under conditions of the integration of environmental policy into the strategy of economic reforms;

• evaluation of the effectiveness of measures to reduce pollution of surface and ground waters based on demonstration projects;

• development of mechanisms for ecological investment activities oriented towards the market economy.

During the seven-year period of the programme's implementation, 70 projects were selected on a tender basis for implementation out of over 300 proposals. Special reports were presented on each of the projects at the plenary sessions and meetings of the final conferences in 1997 and 2000. All projects achieved their established objectives. Their results provide support for the implementation of the National Program for the Environmental Rehabilitation of the Dnipro Basin and Improvements in Drinking Water Quality.

The following pilot projects should be mentioned since, according to expert evaluation, they produced significant results.

First stage of the Programme (1994-1997)

An extensive international expedition along the Dnipro in 1994, which successfully combined the efforts of Ukrainian scientific schools (scientific research institutes, the National Academy of Sciences, and various government departments), Canada, the Netherlands, and Slovakia was carried out for the first time. Its results contributed to the drafting of the National Program for the Environmental Rehabilitation of the Dnipro Basin and Improvements in Drinking Water Quality. They also served as a source in the development of a methodology for the unified environmental classification of the quality of surface waters and estuaries in Ukraine and the mapping of water bodies of the Dnipro basin, as well as the basis for the establishment of environmental norms of surface water quality.

The concept of environmental audits was implemented in Ukraine at the methodological, practical, and legislative levels. A Canadian company, AGRA, together with specialists from the Dnipro Renaissance Foundation (now called the International Dnipro Foundation) and representatives of scientific research institutes and producers associations, conducted environmental audits of food industry enterprises and developed recommendations regarding cost-effective production modernisation and implementation of state-of-the-art industrial waste purification technologies. A unique anaerobic waste purification module was purchased from the Netherlands using part of the project funds. It was installed at the Yahotyn sugar refinery where a training centre was later established. A manual on environmental management and environmental audits was developed and a series of scientific and hands-on workshops were held, both in Canada and Ukraine, on the topic of environmental audits.

A few words are in order regarding the monitoring of drinking water quality and industrial wastewater indicators of Zaporizhzhia enterprises. The initial assumption that a significant volume of water is wasted on the way from the source to the end user proved to be true. This result established the grounds for a thorough examination of this issue and the development of new methods of city water supply network repairs and accurate identification of locations where pipes were leaking, without the need to dig channels. A Canadian company from Edmonton provided approximately 1,400 water metres to the residents of Zaporizhzhia free of charge.

Based on the results of monitoring Dnipro reservoir buffer zones, comprehensive recommendations on the enhancement of the environmental state of buffer zones were developed and implemented at one of the sites. A three-km-long buffer zone was created, the first of its kind, on the Kaniv Reservoir, which prevented river banks from collapsing at the nearby settlements and provided recreational centres and a highway, demonstrating the possibilities of coastal zone rehabilitation.

Recently, the development of an information system for environmental management of the Dnipro has been initiated. A number of information technology projects were applied, the most important of which was the project dealing with the establishment of a regional environmental management system for the southern part of the Dnipro basin at the Ecocenter in Zaporizhzhia. At the State Hydro-Meteorological Committee within the Ministry of Environmental Safety (now the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources), computer centres for processing data on the state of surface water were established. Computerised work stations function in 20 oblasts of the Dnipro basin.

Phase II: Co-operation Programme (1998-2000)

An important accomplishment of this phase is the development of a modular technology processing unit (block-module type technology) as well as technology for the final clarification of drinking water. Cost-effective, small-size processing units are capable of purifying water and removing heavy metals, petroleum products, toxic organic compounds, radio-nuclides, viruses, and micro-organisms, producing high quality drinking water that meets European and world standards. The small-size units have been installed for trial at schools, kindergartens, and hospitals.

A digital data base using state of the art GIS technologies has been established to monitor the ecological-geological state of ground water, chemical soil contamination, the development of hazardous geological processes affecting ground water utilisation, and drinking water supply in the Dnipro basin. Recommendations were made regarding key provisions of the Law on Drinking Water of Ukraine, utilising the experience of other countries. A mechanism was developed for the implementation of key provisions of the law regarding the supply of water.

A thoroughly formulated methodology of environmental audits served as a basis for the Draft Law on Environmental Audit.

Moreover, fundamentally new technologies were designed and made, and a pilot mobile facility for thorough purification of industrial and municipal waste was developed and put into practice. There is no doubt that in the future it will be widely applied locally and used in addressing emergency situations.

A number of television programmes and video films were made and adapted to the educational curriculum of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine. A great number of videocassettes were issued containing programmes on the rehabilitation of the Dnipro basin, which were given to the Ukrainian Ecological and Naturalistic Centre for their activities and dissemination. Audio-visual equipment and videocassettes were distributed to the Kaniv boarding school as well as schools in Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia, Kryvyi Rih, and Kherson.

The Dnipro Basin Water Management Administration was equipped with a continuously operating analytical-information processing facility. It monitors and controls the use and conservation of water and the recycling of Dnipro water resources. It also supervises the hydrological regime of the protected water volume of Dnipro water reservoirs.

To assist in the decision-making process of the Ministries and Departments, an interdepartmental digital information-analytical system on Dnipro basin surface water chemical composition and quality was developed and is functioning. Research on the system of biotesting of drinking water quality was carried out. The results of toxicological monitoring of the Dnipro basin were implemented into the system of environmental management.

At the industrial level, environmental audits of two light industry enterprises were carried out in Kyiv and Cherkasy. The results were used to implement efficient cost-effective modernisation measures. A methodology and a programme for ecological modernisation of light industry enterprises were developed.

At the regional level, an integrated environmental audit was conducted at five major enterprises of Zaporizhzhia. Business programmes on ecological modernisation of production were developed. Cost-effective environmentally oriented innovations demonstrating the economic efficiency of the auditing methodology, which was a first for Ukraine, were introduced at five enterprises. A book called Ecological Audit was published, funded by the International Dnipro Foundation and approved as a textbook for high schools by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine.

Another important accomplishment took place in Zaporizhzhia—a unique production of organic-mineral fertilisers from sewage sludge and mineral waste from industrial processes. Two major problems were resolved at once—the development of technology and production of a high-quality fertiliser, as well as the utilisation of municipal sewage sludge and a significant amount of other regional industrial waste in the Dnipro basin.

A pilot plant was built to treat polluted leachate flowing from the Polygon No. 1 waste disposal site in the village of Levanivske to Zaporizhzhia. Measures were taken to treat the wastewater and chemical wastes and partially divert ground waters that flooded the waste disposal site. A cost-benefit analysis was done to assess methods and measures for controlling flooding in the settlements of the Dnipro basin. The levels and types of pollutants entering the Dnipro with the ground water were published. Extensive work was conducted for demonstration purposes at one of Poltava's mining plants.

Taking into account the limited financial resources for nature conservation measures, a pilot investment project based on environmental leasing was implemented upon the recommendations of an ecological audit.

Extensive and significant work was done in support of ecological entrepreneurship, audit, and environmentally friendly production. The International Ecological Entrepreneurship Support League was established and began its work in Ukraine.

The impact of chopped up small branches of trees on the fertility of Ukrainian soils was thoroughly studied. Based on the results of the study, a unique environmentally friendly technology was developed to improve soil fertility and reduce water pollution in the agriculture and forestry industries.

Ukraine's first CD-ROM version of a national atlas was created, consisting of 176 maps, about 200 charts and diagrams, over 100 photos, and 150 pages of text. The National Atlas of Ukraine contains general information about the country, its natural environment and resources, population, economy, and current state of the environment, including that in the Dnipro basin.

Thus, a great amount of work was done within the framework of the Ukrainian-Canadian Co-operation Programme. In many cases, its results demonstrated an ability to address the problems of the ecological rehabilitation of the Dnipro collectively. We can attest without qualification to the effectiveness of international co-operation. To a great extent, the results obtained from the co-operation depended on the environmental consciousness of Ukraine's government officials.

These achievements were made possible due to the efficient administration of the project. This system of administration was based on fundamental principles such as expediency, transparency, trust, professionalism, and objectivity. This took into account the interests of the cooperating environmental bodies, and not only the interests of water consumers, and it relied on the local problem-solving potential. In addition, it was based on solid pragmatic principles and is oriented towards the future. This is the ideology and the administrative philosophy that is capable of preserving common humanitarian values, or natural values in a time of globalisation, especially in the area of environmental conservation.

The history of international co-operation provides precious lessons and new opportunities. Keeping the problem of the ancient mighty Dnipro in mind, one wishes to become wiser, conscious of one's past and considerate about the future for those generations to come.

The greatest lesson of the programme was the fact that its participants acquired a new way of thinking ecologically, an ecological wisdom and understanding of the need to co-operate for the sake of a great ecological aim, the understanding of the unity and integrity of ecology as well as its spirituality.

What conclusions may be drawn from the seven years of research and experience in finding ways and approaches to resolve the complex problems of the Dnipro basin in the new Ukraine? Seven years of Ukrainian-Canadian co-operation on the ecological rehabilitation of the Dnipro basin and the improvements in drinking water quality produced remarkable results for Ukraine in terms of the implementation of new principles and methodologies. Demonstration and pilot projects were completed on the implementation of efficient basin management methods, namely:

• systemic research on the ecology of the Dnipro basin applying modern methodologies and state-of-the-art equipment;

• assessment of the ecological and economic impacts of the implementation of the newest technologies for water purification, landfill sites, and ecological modernisation of production facilities;

• development of a strategy for combating anthropogenic negative natural processes in the Dnipro basin on the basis of pilot data acquisition;

• development of fundamentally new approaches to environmental management using state-of-the-art information technologies;

• development of a methodology for the delivery of environmental audits of various types of enterprises in different regions of the Dnipro basin and the implementation of cost-effective conservation measures according to the results of the assessments;

• development of a methodology and principles for economic-financial mechanisms for executing basin-wide environmental programmes and projects;

• initiation of an education process in Ukraine to address the above-mentioned issues through seminars, series of videos and TV programmes, and preparation and implementation of corresponding textbooks and courses into the curriculum;

• primary measures in support of environmental entrepreneur-ship in the Dnipro basin.

Through the years, Ukrainian-Canadian co-operation has built a partnership of trust and pragmatism. Business and informal relations developed among people, enterprises, and institutions of various types of ownership on both sides.

Another significant result of the international co-operation is that it entirely meets the strategic goals and objectives of the National Program for the Environmental Rehabilitation of the Dnipro Basin and Improvements in Drinking Water Quality, approved by the Verkhovna Rada (Supreme Council) of Ukraine on February 27, 1997. As a result of the co-operation, organisational, socio-economic, scientific, and financial mechanisms were developed for the implementation of the National Program.

To provide a more emphatic and affirmative reply to the question posed in the title of this chapter, we can refer to the long-term experience of international co-operation on the ecological rehabilitation of the world's great river basins such as the Nile, Danube, Mekong and Amazon. 17

The Nile

The Nile River flows across the territory of Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Zaire, Rwanda, Burundi, and Tanzania. It is 6,825 km long. The formation of the contemporary Nile began about 10,000 years ago. International co-operation in the Nile basin has a centuries-old history and is directed at the distribution of water for irrigation among the basin countries. The practice of irrigated crop farming arose in Egypt and Sudan about 5,000 years ago. The key environmental problems of the Nile basin are droughts, desertification, deforestation, erosion, channel silting, and floods, causing hunger and infectious diseases.

The Danube

The Danube River flows across the territory of Germany, Austria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova, and Ukraine. It is 2,857 km long. Currently, the International Strategic Action Plan (SAP) for the Danube River Basin (1995-2005), developed through a UNDP/GEF (Global Environment Facility) programme and approved by the participant countries, is being implemented. The European Commission, the United Nations, and the World Bank were the chief players in its development. Its implementation is co-ordinated by the Target Group of the participant countries.

The major problems connected with the Danube are a high load of biogenic matter and eutrophication; contamination by hazardous waste, including petroleum, micro-organisms; and substances that cause heterotrophic growth and oxygen depletion; and relations between water consumers.

The problems associated with water use were mainly the result of poorly organised shared water basin management and low water use tariffs. New tariffs have balanced water demand and usage.

The SAP is an important result of the first stage of the Danube environmental programme. It ensures co-ordination of activities structured to achieve the goals of basin water use management. It is also directed at the transition from centralised management to a decentralised one—involving all the Danube riparian countries—and at a balanced regulation strategy.

The SAP defines a strategy to resolve the environmental problems of the Danube. It establishes short-, mid-, and long-term targets and determines their order of implementation. The short-term target was met in 1997, while the mid-term target is expected to be achieved before 2005. Task lists to facilitate the achievement of goals are designed for each sector involved in managing the river at the regional and local level municipal water companies, communal service enterprises, industrial enterprises, the population, NGOs, agricultural enterprises, and farms.

These tasks will be implemented according to the national action plans developed by the Danube basin countries. The national plans will prioritise the funding of projects.

First, the Action Plan addresses public officers of national, regional, and local governments, who all share responsibility for the implementation of the Danube Protection Agreement and the national environmental programmes according to the Environmental Action Program in Central and Eastern Europe. Industry, agriculture, NGOs, and the community also play an important role in programme implementation. Regional strategies stipulated in the Action Plan are designed to support national decision-making on water resource management, as well as the rehabilitation and protection of risk-prone areas of the Danube basin.

Despite the various problems, interests and priorities in the Danube basin, the countries share a common concern and have agreed upon common principles that define the SAP's objectives and tasks. They provide for preventive principles, the use of state of the art technologies and advanced experience for pollution control, contamination control at the source, employing the principles of responsibility and polluter-pays, and, in addition, information exchange between the countries implementing the SAP.

The Mekong

The Mekong River flows through the territories of China, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Thailand. It is about 4,600 km long. It is the only river in the world whose environmental rehabilitation programme management has been entrusted to a non-basin country, namely, Japan.

The programme encompasses the development of all aspects of cultural and environmental heritage, as well as tourism. The territorial development strategy of the Great Mekong basin includes:

• development of basic infrastructure to activate the economy within the sub-regions for 20 years, i.e., till 2020 (creation of an East-West road network);

• exploitation of water and hydroelectric resources without harmful effects on the environment;

• development of key sectors and branches of the economy;

• stimulating agriculture (reconstruction of main roads, improvements in market opportunities and conditions for their development);

• development of tourism infrastructure (protection of historical monuments and the natural environment);

• operating staff training;

• legislative improvements;

• consideration for fundamental human necessities;

• provision of priority assistance to Laos and Cambodia.

In 1995, the International Mekong Commission was created and in 1996 the International Great Mekong Area Development Strategy was passed. The research within the framework of this strategy was conducted by the Japan International Co-operation Agency for the Mekong basin countries. In addition to the Mekong River Commission, the region is assisted by the Great Mekong Sub-region Economic Association, which is directed by the Asian Development Bank and Indo-Chinese Forum and supported by Japan.

The Amazon

The Amazon River flows across the South American countries of Brazil (66% of the total basin area), Peru (15%), Bolivia (12%), Columbia (5%), Ecuador (2%), and Venezuela (1%). It is 6,000 km long. This is the only great river in the world in which the rich primeval state of its resources still largely exists. The task of international co-operation was to conserve and protect the unspoiled basin ecosystem from destruction and strengthen its ability to remain intact.

There are no specific integrated measures for the Amazon River basin aimed at improving the ecosystem resource management policy. The National Policy of the five basin countries is based on compliance with international norms, provisioned at the 1992 International Conference on Water and Environment in Dublin and the 1992 Rio Earth Summit. In Brazil, these norms were integrated into the new national Water Resource Law (an example of water management harmonisation).

When one compares the four characteristic examples of international co-operation on the great rivers of the world, it is clear that only the approach to the Mekong River programme provides for ecological and cultural integrity and the harmonisation of ecological and spiritual components of the development of the river basin. It is very worthwhile studying the experience of all these rivers and applying it to the future Programme for the Harmonisation of the Dnipro River Basin. The spiritual focus of the Mekong Programme makes it the most applicable to the problems of the Dnipro in terms of its harmonisation philosophy.

The international community assessed the scale of the national and international environmental tragedy of the Dnipro River in 1992 within the framework of Agenda 21 as outlined at the Rio Conference. Methodological as well as monetary assistance was (and still is) provided to Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia to develop a new basin philosophy, management methodology, and decision-making process.

The development of new environmental approaches has been a very difficult process, due to interdepartmental and international incongruence. The first task for the purpose of the environmental rehabilitation of the Dnipro was to establish effective co-operation among the interested governmental and nongovernmental institutions with the assistance of Canadian experts. Secondly, it was necessary to transform the 'know-it-all' psychology of many managers in order to implement new methodological instruments of environmental audit and management. This path of new knowledge was traversed, unfortunately, without any further adequate state support. Nevertheless, it produced results (as outlined in Section xxx in this book), the description of which served as a basis for the Ukrainian collective monograph Environmental Rehabilitation of the Dnipro. 30

The book describes the modern lessons of the 'wisdom of the Dnipro,' acquired by the participants in this international environmental co-operation. These are lessons of tolerance and loyalty towards others' views and approaches, lessons of systemic approaches towards comprehensive problem-solving, lessons of serious co-operation with nature and appreciation of nature's dominant role in our lives.

The National Program for the Environmental Rehabilitation of the Dnipro Basin and Improvements in Drinking Water Quality formed the essence of international co-operation. The programme was approved by the Verkhovna Rada on February 27, 1997, based on society's awareness of the following:

• environmental rehabilitation of the Dnipro basin and improvement in drinking water quality is an urgent, socially important task;

• the tendency towards environmental deterioration of the Dnipro basin water bodies may endanger the population of Ukraine and result in biological and genetic degradation, possibly having a detrimental effect on economic development;

• under conditions of a strained water management balance and the unfavourable environmental state of the Dnipro basin which came about due to structural distortions and inadequate water protection measures, it is impossible to practice ecologically sound utilisation of water resources without making adequate changes to current environmental policy and practice;

• the restructuring of economic complexes must guarantee the people's ecological safety and the rehabilitation of the environment;

• the poor environmental state of water bodies, combined with inferior water treatment practises and technology, are the main reason for deteriorating drinking water quality, giving rise to various diseases, undermining people's health, and reducing the quality of the nation's genetic potential—water resources should not endanger people's health;

• there is an urgent need to implement proactive (as opposed to reactive) preventive measures of water resource protection and rehabilitation.

One of the most important ecological lessons for participants of the Cooperation Programme was the marked enhancement of their level of awareness regarding the natural wholeness of the basin's ecosystem. They had an opportunity to realise the complexity involved in the environmental rehabilitation of a great river, which includes the water network of major and minor rivers of the basin, ground water, forests and land resources, the geological and scenic environment, wildlife, fisheries, and the economies of major and minor cities.

It should be emphasised that the revitalisation of the basin and the ecosystem of our great river is an important national objective, requiring the surmounting of the obstacles of interdepartmental, interregional, and international disagreements. Only the strict regulation of basin management principles and national priorities will enable us to harmonise the people's interests with those of the natural environment, as well as to develop and implement model infrastructures for harmonious basin water management, water treatment, and sustainable environmental rehabilitation of live aquatic resources on the entire Dnipro basin territory.

The results of many years of international co-operation on the rehabilitation of the Dnipro basin have created an optimistic outlook. They are outlined in a monograph entitled The Ecological Rehabilitation of the Dnipro (Shevchuk and Zh. Helmet, scientific supervisors) published in Ukraine. This work may be regarded as a summary of the lessons learned and experience gained from co-operative efforts to solve the problems of the Dnipro.

Additional optimism comes from those lessons of wisdom which have assisted numerous participants in international co-operation to go beyond the boundaries of ordinary thinking and to master the philosophy of ecological co-operation and partnership. All this was accomplished in new Ukrainian textbooks and manuals, such as Economics and Ecology of the Dnipro, Environmental Audit, Ecological Enterprise, Modernisation of Production: Systemic and Ecological Approach and others. They have all gained great popularity among specialists and post-secondary students. This, in itself, may be regarded as a proliferation of ecological consciousness, the permeation of new ideas into society. We hope that these works will facilitate a new way of ecological thinking. We wish to awaken our spirituality and evoke a desire to embark on practical work, in the name of the future of our children and grandchildren, and in the name of the cradle of their existence, which is the ecosystem of the beautiful and mighty Slavutych basin.

Thus, once again, we will repeat the exact name
of the phenomenon that gave rise to the concept of
sustainable development—the global socio-ecological crisis,
closely associated with the spiritual crisis of man.

V. I. Danilov-Danilyan, K. S. Losev.
Prominent Russian environmentalists

Document(s) 6 of 10