- Title: UK/FILE: Russian woman is awarded the world's largest environmental prize
- Date: 15th April 2008
- Summary: (CEEF) LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (RECENT) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) GOLDMAN ENVIRONMENTAL PRIZE WINNER FOR ASIA, MARINA RIKHVANOVA SAYING: "The lake has meaning for people not just as a source of freshwater, but for the soul. There are many legends of the lake, songs, charms practised around the lake. Peoples' lives are connected with the lake."
- Embargoed: 30th April 2008 13:00
- Keywords:
- Topics: Environment / Natural World
- Reuters ID: LVAEQM87EU9ZXYCISE094XYMGWVY
- Story Text: A Russian anti nuclear campaigner, fighting the Russian government to save one of the world's oldest lakes, is awarded The Goldman Environmental Prize.
Framed by mountain peaks and wild Siberian forest, Lake Baikal is one of the world's natural treasures. It is the world's oldest and largest freshwater lake, holding around 20 percent of the Earth's freshwater supplies and is home to a wide variety of flora and fauna, including its indigenous seal, the nerpa.
But it is now facing increased pollution.
In July 2006, Russia announced it would set up an international uranium enrichment centre, a cleaning and storage facility, at a Soviet-built plant just outside the settlement of Angarsk, just 50 miles from the lake. he proposed centre would allow countries - such as Iran - the means of developing civilian nuclear power without handing them the technology to make nuclear weapons.
Marina Rikhvanova, one of six campaigners awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize, has battled the Russian government in a bid to save the UNESCO protected World Heritage Site from the potential destruction from waste from the planned uranium enrichment plant nearby.
This at a time when the world is increasingly turning its attention to the possible role of nuclear power in combating the climate crisis.
Speaking in London, she said she felt humanity is learning its environmental lessons slowly.
"People destroy nature and then they themselves can't exist in the changed conditions. It's probably been going on for the last 200 years - in Russia and other countries. Humanity must learn faster because there's very little time and now the ecosystem of the planet has got to such a degree that it won't be able to renew itself," she said.
Rikhvanova, who successfully persuaded the Russian government to reroute the Transneft Siberia Pacific oil pipeline away from Lake Baikal in 2006, has been campaigning against this latest threat and emphasizes the importance of providing information to the public.
"When people begin to better understand what is happening and what it can lead to, they will be more active. They will be more inclined to start making decisions: what they support and what they don't support," she said.
Rikhvanova said there was always the potential for an accident at the proposed plant.
"It's very dangerous to open a uranium enrichment plant in Angarsk because a million inhabitants of the region will suffer and Lake Baikal will suffer - if there is a big accident at the plant that no-one is protected against. And sooner or later this accident will happen."
Lake Baikal has also been plagued by pollution from a Soviet-era pulp and paper mill. Rikhvanova says that despite a decision to close the plant 10 years ago it continues to operate, produce and spew waste in the lake with little reaction from authorities.
"Unfortunately our authorities are influenced by business. What business wants, it can do," she said, adding that the government would be better taking advantage of the tourist potential of the lake.
"We don't want the government to support dangerous projects on the Baikal, rather to support alternative energy, those businesses that cause less destruction of the lake, so there will be conditions in which people can make use of the natural environment. If such conditions are created, people would be using it very quickly. I know the tourist industry on the Baikal wants to use such technology, they are interested in our information and with just a little help, the situation on the Baikal can change totally," she said.
Rikhvanova said that the lake was not just a source of freshwater but also a part of the soul of the local community.
"There are many legends of the lake, songs, charms practised around the lake. Peoples' lives are connected with the lake," she said.
Rikhvanova will receive her 150,000 dollar award, dubbed the Nobel Prize for the environment, at a ceremony in San Francisco on Monday (April 14). - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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