Environmental assessments made by the Ukrainians
The state of the environment in our country is terrible. People see it and want change for the better. This is evidenced by the results of the poll “Environmental Protection in the Public Opinion of Ukrainians”, conducted by the Ilko Kucheriv Foundation for Democratic Initiatives together with the Center for Political Sociology from 14 to 24 August 2021.
The results of the study were recently presented at the Ukrainian Crisis Media Center.
In particular, 26% of respondents consider the state of the environment to be one of the most pressing threats to the country. Only the threat of further economic decline is ahead (31%).
“In recent years, war, corruption and economic problems were the most pressing threats to the country. Environmental issues are now being mentioned along with these traditional threats. In other words, Ukrainians are increasingly aware of the importance of protecting the environment; they understand that these problems will devastatingly affect their health in the future. Environmental security has evolved from a secondary issue to a fundamental issue of geostrategy. And the awareness of its importance is increasingly reflected in the public opinion of Ukrainians”, said Serhiy Shapovalov, an analyst at the Democratic Initiatives Foundation.
Let someone else do it?
Only 13% of respondents mentioned the deterioration of the environmental situation as a significant problem for them personally. This allegedly contrasts with the fact that Ukrainians are increasingly more aware of the importance of environmental protection for the country as a whole.
“However, this is to be expected, because, speaking of what worries them personally, citizens mention the short-term problems they face on a daily basis. The coronavirus pandemic has now apparently exacerbated the threat of loss of income and unavailability of medical treatment. This does not contradict the recognition of the long-term importance of environmental protection. After all, if you live in a city where the enterprise uncontrollably pollutes the air or water, you will not die of oncology today or tomorrow. However, for several years such a prospect is quite real”, Serhiy Shapovalov said.
Secondary problem for the State
64% of Ukrainians say that the ecological situation in their area has worsened in the last few years. Another 24% believe that the situation has not changed, and only about 5% have noticed improvement. There are some differences between regional groups and types of settlement, but this does not change the general picture.
“Obviously, a significant part of negative assessments is not the result of awareness, but a manifestation of general distrust of the government and a negative perception of the situation in other spheres of social life. Respondents’ assessments of other issues usually vary depending on region, age, or ideological preferences. Speaking about the state of the environment, Ukrainians demonstrated surprising unanimity in negative assessments, regardless of geography, age or political views. In other words, people see that the environmental protection sphere is full of problems, but at the same time it has remained a secondary issue for the State for a long time”, continues Serhiy Shapovalov, an analyst at the Democratic Initiatives Foundation.
Respondents mentioned water pollution (46%), littering with household waste (33%), excessive consumption of chemical fertilizers (27%), air pollution by transport (23%) among the problems that most affect their families and environment. At the same time, there are regional differences: the problem of water pollution was more often mentioned in the East, and the problem of littering with household waste became more urgent for the residents of the Western region.
To what extent do these feelings of the respondents correspond to the real state of affairs?
WATER
Not surprisingly, the Ukrainians mention water pollution among the environmental problems that most affect their families and environment. “Dead fish in the Southern Bug River”. “In the Lviv region, fish died in the Shchyrka River”. “Losses from the pollution of the Teteriv River amount to more than UAH 23 million”. We are “pleased” with such headlines almost every week. It is difficult not to notice dead fish or the stench of dumped waste. Is the State responding to this? It seems so. The State Ecological Inspectorate draws up protocols, calculates losses if it manages to get to the polluting enterprise. Environmental control legislation is very feeble, and inspectors can simply be stopped at a checkpoint. Bill No. 913091 “On State Environmental Control” has to correct the situation. After two years of endless discussions, the Verkhovna Rada finally approved it in the first reading this summer. But no one knows when there will be the second reading, and whether lobbyists will blank this Bill in the process of its final adoption.
Another sign of poor condition of water basins is their blooming. Common Ukrainians do not understand that they themselves make the water to turn green. According to scientists, the main reasons for this phenomenon are reduced water flow and high phosphate content. They end up in ponds with drains containing detergent residues. The Ministry of Environment developed, and the government passed the Resolution to reduce the use of phosphates in detergents. But it will come into force only in 2023. Business lobbied this term in order to use phosphate powder stocks and restructure logistics. Therefore, next year the water will bloom again. Once again, water pollution will be among the top environmental problems.
HOUSEHOLD WASTE
At first glance, dealing with them is not too difficult. The common citizen believes that it is enough to force everyone to politely throw garbage in the bins, clean up after themselves and so on. But in reality, this is not the case. In order to “gain”, it is necessary to adopt a quality law. The draft law “On Waste Management” was not approved during the last convocation of the Verkhovna Rada, and the situation doesn’t change with the actual one.
“The Ecocommittee (of the Verkhovna Rada – ed.) promises adjust the text for a year now, the table of amendments to the Bill includes thousand issues. They are promoted by some people who represent someone’s financial interests. The Ecocommittee listens to them, delays consideration of the document, does not show us the text. I cannot accuse anyone of corruption schemes, because I have no evidence for this, and it is illegal, but we have not seen this text for a year and, obviously, we will not see it. At the same time, we can’t procrastinate, we are 30 years behind Poland. Anyone who has been to a Polish landfill or a waste processing plant will say that it is ‘outer space’ compared to Ukraine”, says a member of the Green Generation NGO, Olena Kazanska, during the briefing at the Ukrainian Crisis Media Center.
AIR
We feel air pollution when it becomes difficult to breathe. But the poisoning of the body starts long before that. The State has not created a modern and high-quality monitoring system yet. There are no changes in the pollution control, although science, both national and global, offers many solutions and technologies.
“We expect the Ministry of Environment to play the role of a guardian of the National Plan for Reducing Emissions from Large Combustion Plants, or NPRE, if abbreviated. We would like the Ministry not to postpone the implementation of this plan. Fortunately, it is not in the hands of the oligarchic lobby. However, such attempts are permanently occurring. They are trying to shove the financing of the modernization of the Ukrainian energy sector on the Ukrainian State, that is, on the taxpayers. We would like the Ministry to have a clear position with respect to the NPRE. Because the National Plan which protects the environment, hits on the energy sector, where 80 percent of production and generation belong to one person – Rinat Akhmetov.
And this is a permanent struggle of his lobby with our desire to breathe clean air”, said co-founder of the public organization SaveDnipro Artem Romanyukov, commenting on the results of the survey.
WHO DOESN’T NEED REFORM?
Environmentalists are concerned about attempts to torpedo a reform aimed at reducing industrial pollution.
“From version to version, we see attempts to blank important Bills. № 4167 “On the prevention, reduction and control of pollution resulting from industrial activities”, as the first step. It is designed to modernize industry, reduce industrial pollution and eliminate “rigged matches” between officials and industrialists. Then № 006004 “On integrated prevention and control of industrial pollution”. It is important for us to initiate the monitoring of emission sources, “on the pipes” of enterprises, which should be implemented together with this reform. So that we can finally compare the statistics provided by the same polluters with what they actually emit”, Artem Romanyukov says.
In his opinion, it is also important to continue the digitalization of air monitoring and protection.
Our team (authors of the Ecobot program, which consolidates data on air pollution from public, municipal and state air monitoring networks – ed.) has already developed a system of permits for emissions of pollutants into the atmosphere. The system is currently being tested in the Ministry, and we would like this path to continue and this service to be digitized. This will allow citizens to easily receive information through the electronic system, and polluters to submit documents via electronic system, and, ultimately, it will be easier for the State to control the situation”, Artem Romanyukov said.
DEFEAT CORRUPTION – SAVE THE ENVIRONMENT
According to many experts, one of the reasons for the deterioration of the environment is the non-reform of the environmental sector, in particular, due to the high level of corruption in the State.
This opinion was expressed by the Executive Director of the Center for Combating Corruption Daria Kalenyuk. She believes that the disclosure of environmental information about the real scale of environmental pollution is economically unprofitable for the oligarchs. As well as air, water and soil pollution control.
“The oligarchic lobby is extremely powerful in Ukraine. It affects the Parliament, the Ministry and even the public sector. Our task at the Center for Combating Corruption is to understand why big business says there is a lack of funds for modernization, emission reduction, installation of filters, but at the same time the oligarchs who benefit from this business have money for the most expensive apartments in London, royal castles in France. We could not ignore this sphere, because we see that the effectiveness and implementation of environmental reforms will be a real de-oligarchization. Without it, reforms will not take place”, Daria Kalenyuk said.
According to sociologists and political scientists, such a high recognition of environmental issues indicates its future electoral significance.
But the results of last year’s local elections do not confirm this yet.
Three parties that positioned themselves as “green” tried to get into the city councils of regional centers: Ecological Alternative (Kyiv), Bereza’s ECO PARTY (Kyiv and Lutsk) and the Green Party of Ukraine (Dnipro, Zaporizhia and Kherson). But none of them won the election. Many observers say that two of these three parties are perceived as created specifically for the elections. Therefore, people either did not have time to notice them, or simply do not believe them.
“No one knows these people; they started their activities a few months before the election. It is necessary to work for years on recognition, on trust. They held a couple of actions with 20-30 activists and think that’s all. But it doesn’t work. Besides, you need a budget (to promote the party) and a charismatic leader. However, they had neither budget, nor a leader”, eco-manager Anna Tarantsova says.
The “big” parties that are now represented in the Parliament and in city and regional Councils also do not understand the importance of environmental issues. Thus, the Kyiv City Council makes one decision after another, which results in destruction of the environment in the capital. At the same time, both UDAR, which is going to go to the Verkhovna Rada next time, and the EU and Batkivshchyna, which are already represented in the Parliament, are voting for these documents. One of the most scandalous examples of developers’ victory over the environment is lobbying for the Osokorky Ecopark building. There are many such cases, their number is enough for writing a paper, or even for preparing a special issue of the newspaper.
Sooner or later, ignoring the results of sociological research will catch up with politicians, but it will be too late.
Oleg LYSTOPAD, photo by the author.
Svit newspaper, № 43 – 44, November 2021