Sakhalin eco-watch

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Ökowacht Sakhalin (Russian Эковахта Сахалин, Ekowachta Sakhalin , English Sakhalin Environment Watch ) is an environmental protection organization on the Pacific island of Sakhalin in Russia .

activity

Sakhalin eco-watch is committed to protecting the environment on Sakhalin, the Kuril Islands and the Sea of ​​Okhotsky . It publishes information, reports and expert opinions and organizes conferences, round tables and information events.

The greatest environmental damage is caused by the production of oil and natural gas off the coast in the shelf of the Sea of ​​Okhotsky and by a pipeline through the island. This endangers the world's largest natural wild salmon populations and significantly affects the feeding grounds of the last West Pacific gray whales .

Other focal points are the protection of flora and fauna on the island as well as the environmental situation in the Oblast capital Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk .

Ökowacht works closely with representatives of the local indigenous population, whose habitat is endangered. It cooperates with national and international environmental protection organizations such as WWF Russia.

The chairman is Dmitri Lisitsyn.

history

Eco-watch Sakhalin was founded in 1995 by environmental activist Emma Wilson from Friends of the Earth Japan. In 1997 it was officially registered as an organization. The most important areas of activity in the first few years were the serious environmental damage caused by the oil and gas production projects Sakhalin 1 and 2 . Eco-watch Sakhalin was supported by the Ford Foundation , the Wild Salmon Center, the Rockefeller Brothers Foundation , the International Fund for Animal Welfare and other organizations and foundations.

In 2004 she won a lawsuit against the Sakhalin Energy consortium for establishing environmental protection regulations for their activities. In 2006 she prepared a report on massive environmental damage caused by the construction of a pipeline through the island with significant soil erosion and damage to the flora and fauna, as well as the discharge of significant amounts of industrial sewage by the company.

The regional environmental agency then imposed extensive conditions, which led to a temporary suspension of work on the pipeline, and threatened with a lawsuit for 30 billion US dollars for the damage.

In 2009, Ökowacht declared that it would no longer take action against activities affecting international interests. In 2011, its chairman, Dmitri Lisitsyn, received the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize .

On September 18, 2015, Eco-Watch Sakhalin was registered with the Russian Ministry of Justice as "an organization performing the role of a foreign agent" . The reason for this was the financial support from abroad, as well as an alleged "political activity". Among other things, the organization repaid a donation of US $ 159,000 to the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation and has since refrained from foreign donations.

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ From prison island to energy paradise Neue Zürcher Zeitung , April 25, 2009
  2. ↑ Sakhalin Environment Watch Rainforest Action Network, 2005
  3. ↑ Russian environmental authority stops oil and gas project Sakhalin II ( Memento of the original from December 20, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Urgewald, September 4, 2006 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.urgewald.org
  4. ^ Dmitry Lisitsyn Goldman Environmental Prize, 2001