Introduction

The world is simultaneously facing more pressure to protect the environment and the future of our world. The growing demand for consumer products and number of countries industrializing, with little or no regulation, is the main reason for the call of more regulation.
Protecting the environment, while meeting the worldwide demand for economic growth, will in many instances require joint efforts among nations and their individual governments. In this paper will discuss one of the countries, Russia. We will analyze the history of Russia and pollution, the government involvement, and we will make a comparision and identify some legal cases on the issue in Russia and finally sum up the findings. Brief History of Russia

In the former Soviet Union, the government promoted production at all costs for decades. The strategy for economic growth in the USSR was established in the first Five Year Plan of 1929, and remained fundamentally unchanged for the next 50 years. At the time of the 1917 revolution, and despite a drive for industrialization in the late 19th century, economic development in Russia had continued to lag well behind that of the major Europeans countries and the United Sates. By the late 1930s, following enormous losses incurred during World War I and the sub- sequent civil war, and the perceptions of an increasing threat of further military conflict, the objective of catching up with the West became the dominant influence on economic policy. The extent of pollution and ecological collapse in Russia is due to decades of ill-considered military and industrial development undertaken in virtual secrecy and with scant concern for the environmental and health consequences. In the Soviet Union, environmental officials were always kept subservient to the agencies that ran the military, utilities, mines, chemical industries and metal-works. Consequently, the purity and integrity of the environment were seriously compromised. Russian industry has never taken proper and reasonable ecological standards and requirements, lacking anything like resource-saving waste-free technologies and efficient purification facilities. As a result, pollution in Russia now threatens the health of millions of citizens and the safety of crops, water and air[1].

Air pollution

Today, air quality is very poor in Russia, with over 200 cities often exceeding Russian pollution limits, and is likely to worsen. According to the Eurasian Development Bank, a total of 44% of Russians live in areas with serious air pollution. "Toxic substances in the air exceed the maximum allowable concentrations in 185 cities with a population of over 61 million people, or 44% of Russia's population," the report says. Air pollution is responsible for 17% of diseases in children and 10% in adults (Eurasia Development Bank, n.d.). The report also said that emissions of carbon dioxide by Russian power stations are expected to increase 46.8% from 2002 levels by 2010, reaching 690,200 tons. The number of vehicles on the road has increased rapidly as well. In 2002-2020, emissions will grow by 57.2%, to 739,300 tons. Their emissions will offset reductions in industrial air pollution owing to reduced economic activity and greater reliance on natural gas (Eurasia Development Bank, n.d.).

Water pollution

The quality of drinking water is a major concern because more than 75 percent of the drinking water is polluted through soil waste and other waste. Poor water management standards have raised health concerns in many cities, and water safety also is doubtful in the countryside, where 59 percent of the population draws water from common wells affected by groundwater pollution (NIC, 1999). Unsanitary runoff from populated places and agricultural sites contributes heavily to pollution of sources that ultimately provide water for domestic use; the quality of drinking water declines noticeably during spring floods, when such runoff is heaviest. Rudimentary portable filters are not widely available. An estimated 8 percent of wastewater is fully treated prior to dumping in waterways; most water treatment facilities are obsolete, inefficient, and generally overwhelmed by the volume of material that now passes through them, but funding is not available to replace them (NIC, 1999).

Soil and forest pollution

Russia is also losing land and forest through pollution. Erosion carries away as much as 1.5 billion tons of topsoil every year. In the past twenty-five years, Russia's arable land area has decreased by an estimated 33 million hectares (NIC, 1999). Experts fear that agricultural land management may deteriorate further under Russia's new land privatization as individual farmers try to squeeze short-term profit from their new property. In the early 1990s, an estimated 50 percent of arable land needed remediation and improved management for agricultural productivity to improve. Russia's southern regions, especially the Republic of Kalmykia, are losing about 6,400 hectares of agricultural land yearly to desertification. To the east, desiccation of the Aral Sea and expansion of the Qizilqum Desert in Kazakstan have a climatic drying effect that exacerbates desertification in Russia to the north and west (NIC, 1999), . In Russia an estimated 74 million hectares of agricultural land have been contaminated by industrial toxic agents, pesticides, and agricultural chemicals. Considerable land also is lost in the extraction of mineral resources. Unauthorized dumping of hazardous industrial, chemical, and household waste takes land out of production.

Radioactive

Nuclear waste is one of the most difficult pollutions to reverse once it has occurred and is also one of the causes for water and soil pollution. Russia's three military plutonium production sites--Chelyabinsk-65, often referred to as Mayak, in the southern Urals region, and Tomsk-7 and Krasnoyarsk-26 in southwestern Siberia--have caused extensive contamination throughout Russia. Highly radioactive waste from Chelyabinsk was dumped into a nearby river system from 1948 to 1951 and has migrated over 1,500 kilometers to the Arctic Ocean. Other waste is stored in open ponds at Chelyabinsk and is seeping into a nearby river (NIC, 1999). At Tomsk and Krasnoyarsk, liquid radioactive waste injected into the sandy layers beneath the sites is migrating slowly. If Russia does not maintain its long-term monitoring program, the waste could seep into local and regional water supplies without adequate time to protect against impacts to human health and prevent degradation of the environment.

Government

The environment legislation of the Russian Federation includes many federal and local laws, and different normative-legislation departmental and local acts. The legislation is based on two clauses of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, Clause 42, proclaims a right of any Russian citizen to have a favorable natural environment and Clause 58 requires the protection of nature and the natural environment (Sheingauz, 2003). The Russian government consists of several regulatory agencies to deal with the environmental issues and uphold these clauses. The Ministry of Natural Resources (Minresursov) is the key unit of the government responsible for natural resources management. The agency oversees federal water, geology, forestry, wildlife, and fisheries issues. The State Committee for Environmental Protection (Goskompriroda) monitors air and water pollution and biodiversity preservation. The Commission on Ecological Security, which President Yel'tsin formed in 1994, is one of 10 offices within the National Security Council. The Ecology Commission until last year was headed by Professor Aleksey Yablokov, a respected biologist, environmental activist, and onetime personal adviser to the President. But he was relieved of his government duties in 1997, and it is unlikely that environmental issues will soon regain a prominent status within the National Security Council. The Ministry of Atomic Energy (MINATOM) is responsible for nuclear waste generated at civilian nuclear power plants and at nuclear weapons facilities. The State Service for Atomic and Radiation Safety (Gosatomnadzor) establishes all requirements on the handling and disposal of radioactive material (OECD, 2006). It is not that the Russian government don’ t have the right people or organization to handle pollution, it is the lack of commitment, incentives, and resources. Russia spent less than 0.5 percent of total federal budget spending, or about $480 million on the environment, for example, spending on water was down 90 percent from levels of the 1980s (NIC, 1999). When I country starts to spend less on protecting the environment things go wrong, seriously wrong.

Punishment by Law

Russia legal system is divided in three catagories of punishment for those underminding the environmental laws set in Russia. They are administrative, civil, legal, disciplinary and criminal. In 1992, 38,733 persons were instituted to administrative responsibility, and penalties were more than 82.5 million rubles (Maksimenko, n.d.). Punishment ruled on civil and legal responsibility is the main issue and concern in Russia because compensation of caused damage is the measure of responsibility. In 1992 prosecutors brought suits to public and arbitrage courts on 0,5 milliard rubles for compensation of environmental damage (Maksimenko, n.d.). Disciplinary responsibility potentially has high effectiveness in the struggle with ecological infringers. In 1992, 6,300 officials were instituted to disciplinary responsibility for infringement of environmental requirements by prosecutors’ order (Maksimenko, n.d.). Criminal responsibility for infringement on environment has the following punishment by law: imprisonment, reformatory works, compensation, confiscation, make person to correct caused harm and so on. In 1992, 291 criminal cases against 416 persons were instituted and directed to court on the basis of facts of criminal infringement by enterprises of environmental requirements connected with environment pollution (Maksimenko, n.d.). In addition, 880 criminal cases against 1269 persons were investigated and directed to courts by home affair organs, based on the facts of illegal fishery, fur-seal hunting, illegal hunting, forest cutting (Maksimenko, n.d.).

Legal Case

In the case Fadeyeva v. Russia, App. No. 55723/00, the applicant Nadezhda Mikhaylovna Fadeyeva of Russia alleged a violation under article 8 of the European Convention for the government's "failure to protect her private life and home." The applicant lived about 450 meters from Russia's largest iron smelter and alleged "the extent of environmental [air] pollution at her place of residence was and remains seriously detrimental to her health and wellbeing." The court observed that "over a significant period of time the concentration of various toxic elements in the air near the applicant's house seriously exceeded the [maximum permissible limits]" The court ruled that the government, by not offering any effective solution to help the applicants move from the affected area, "failed to strike a fair balance between the interests of the community and the applicant's effective enjoyment of her right to respect for her home and her private life." The court ordered the government to pay six thousand euro for non-pecuniary damages.

Governmental Reform Dealing with environmental issues is not an easy job. Russia, like many other countries, have adopted new strategies to control pollution. Several milestones were passed, including the enactment of the Law “On Protection of Ambient Natural Environment” of 1991; enactment of the Constitution of 1993; drafting and enactment of a set of federal laws in 1995-1999; filling in gaps in the legal framework and development of the second generation of some federal acts in 2000-2005 (OECD, 2006). Compared to previous years, Russia has implemented several acts, as noted. In 2005, the environmental legal framework in Russia comprised more than 30 federal laws as compared to only six laws/codes that existed in the early 1990s (OECD,2006). Implementing new laws is only half the battle. The laws must be enforced and controlled. However, Russia has made some steps in the right direction in environmental management. But why are there no significant changes?

Findings

Due to barriers in the country, Russia has failed to completely overhaul its legal structure against pollution. High interest groups in government have made it hard for sectors to express the importance of pollution. The quest to out due the West in economic growth has pushed for more noncompliance efforts then ever between politicians. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who plumbed the depths of Lake Baikal in a mini submarine in August and pronounced the lake "ecologically clean," has given a well-connected tycoon's paper mill the go-ahead to resume dumping waste there, reversing what had been a landmark victory for environmentalists (Boudreaux, n.d.) Another noted problem to overhaul the legal framework, is the lack of a clear plan. Like the US, Russia has implemented charges against infringers, but these rates are so low that they have not made a significant difference, even after increasing the rates in recent years. According to the OECD, although pollution charge rates and collection rates have been increased, the increases have been too low to provide incentives for environmental improvements. The natural resource taxes and subsidies remain purely fiscal instruments without any incentive impact due to their low rates and lack of environment-driven differentiation thus playing virtually no role in promoting sustainable use of natural resources (OECD, 2006).

Conclusion

In conclusion, the world has one thought and that is pollution must be controlled and infringers must be punished to rectify the damages already done. The climate is changing and each government must play its part to lower emissions in the air, provide better clean, safe drinking water and save the earths forest. Environmental regulations must change to the changing world and regulations must be compliant. It will take more than just Russia to make changes in their government but every nation.

Bibliography

Boudreaux, R., (n.d.). Putin Move Stirs Russian Environmental Row. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703837004575013151050816556 .html

Fadeyeva v. Russia, App. No. 55723/00, 09-06-2005. Retrieved from http://www.business-humanrights.org/Categories/Lawlawsuits/Lawsuits regulatoryaction/LawsuitsSelectedcases/FadeyevavRussiareSeverstalsmelte Kuzmiak, D.T. (Nov, 1991), The American Environmental Movement
The Geographical Journal, Vol. 157, No. 3 (Nov., 1991), pp. 265-278. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/635501

OECD (2006). Environmental Policy and Regulation in Russia. Retreived from http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/63/18/38118149.pdf

National Intelligence Council, (1999). The Environmental Outlook in Russia: National Intellgence Estimate. Retrieved from http://www.dni.gov/nic/special_russianoutlook.html

Sheingauz, A.S. (2003). The Environment of and Environmental Regulations in the Russian Far East. Retrieved from http://www.nautilus.org/archives/energy/grid/2003Workshop/paper_sheingauz_final2.pdf
Appendix

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[1] See Appendix, Figure 1