TIME: Almanac 1993/TIME Almanac 1993.iso/time/012990/0129331.000

Text File | 1992-08-28 | 5.8 KB | 118 lines

                                                                                ENVIRONMENT, Page 64

The Soviets Clean Up Their Act


A Moscow conference signals a new ecological activism

By GLENN GARELIK/MOSCOW -- With reporting by Paul
Hofheinz/Moscow


    The capital of the Soviet Union, where religion was
suppressed until recently, seemed an unlikely spot for a
gathering that included hundreds of religious leaders, from a
Russian Orthodox Metropolitan to the Grand Mufti of Syria.
Equally unusual was the notion of holding a global environmental
conference in a country where the environment has long had a low
priority. Yet last week in Moscow the Soviets played host to
some 1,000 delegates from 83 countries at a Global Forum
designed to bring together scientists and political and
religious leaders to discuss ways to combat the growing threats
to the earth's environment.

    By agreeing to host the week-long conference organized by
the U.S.-based Global Forum of Spiritual and Parliamentary
Leaders on Human Survival, the Soviets sent a clear signal that
they want to join the worldwide crusade to save the planet.
Throughout the meeting, Soviet officials made an unabashed plea
for more technological help from other countries in the battle
against pollution. Said Mikhail Gorbachev in a speech to the
conference: "The time is ripe to set up an international
mechanism for technological cooperation on environmental
protection." The need for a Soviet cleanup could hardly be more
urgent. According to Alexei Yablokov, the outspoken deputy
chairman of the Supreme Soviet's ecology committee, as many as
50 million Soviet citizens live in areas where pollution levels
are at least ten times as high as state safety standards permit.
In parts of the Aral Sea region, which is heavily contaminated
by chemical fertilizers and pesticides, two-thirds of the
people have reported environment-related health problems.

    Such conditions have stirred a wave of public anger. Dozens
of environmental groups have staged demonstrations against dirty
steel mills, hazardous chemical factories and suspect nuclear
reactors. Even the Kremlin has joined the demonstrations. At
last year's Nov. 7 parade commemorating the Russian Revolution,
official floats carrying such slogans as GIVE US CLEAN AIR moved
through Red Square along with the usual rockets and tanks.

    This new awareness is a direct reflection of changed
political realities in the Soviet Union. Nearly 40% of those who
won election last March to the new Congress of People's Deputies
included environmental concerns in their campaign platforms. The
new Supreme Soviet has set out to overhaul the country's
environmental laws. In the works is a resolution that would call
for environmental-impact statements for all construction
projects, a reappraisal of the Soviet nuclear-energy program
and a review of the chemicals used in industry and agriculture.
The costs will be considerable. Yablokov estimates that for the
next ten years the government will need to spend more than $40
billion annually on environmental programs.

    Much of the responsibility for enforcing the cleanup will
fall on Nikolai Vorontsov, who last year became chairman of the
State Committee on the Protection of Nature. A noted biologist
and environmentalist, Vorontsov, 54, is the first non-Communist
ministerial-rank member of the Soviet government since the
Bolshevik Revolution. Observes a Western diplomat in Moscow:
"Three years ago, I'd never have thought it possible that
environmentalists would get this far."

    Vorontsov says his goal is to set up and enforce
environmental standards comparable to the strict curbs imposed
in Western Europe. He maintains that the government has already
begun a crackdown. It closed the country's only cellophane plant
because of an air-pollution problem, and in the past year has
stopped construction of two nuclear-power plants. Yet Vorontsov
admits he could face stiff resistance. Because the Soviet people
are increasingly restive about shortages of consumer goods, the
government will be under pressure to crank up industrial
production, and that could bring even more pollution. "Many
people are still so concerned with fulfilling their production
plans that they don't think about the future," says Vorontsov.

    The fate of the Soviet environment may depend in large part
on the success or failure of perestroika, Gorbachev's wholesale
political and economic restructuring. If the government
encourages higher, more realistic prices for raw materials,
industry will have greater incentive to increase efficiency and
thus curb waste and pollution. And if planning is decentralized,
engineers and factory managers are likely to become more
sensitive to local environmental concerns.

    A major impediment to progress is the sorry state of the
Soviets' technological base. Their outmoded machinery is less
energy efficient and more polluting than modern equipment. The
Soviets realize that they need technology from other countries.
They are counting on the U.S., Europe and Japan to recognize
that pollution in the Soviet Union can ultimately be dangerous
to everyone. In fact, the increasing interdependence of all the
world's nations underlay much of the conference, which was held
beneath a gigantic photo of the planet earth. As a first step
toward forging a united campaign to protect the planet, the
Moscow meeting ended with an unprecedented two-hour TV and
radio broadcast that was beamed live to more than 100 nations.
The broadcast was made possible by the collaboration of
Intelsat, the West's satellite communications system, and
Intersputnik, its East bloc counterpart -- a good example of the
kind of cooperation the environmental movement will need to be
successful.