Maikop ecologists complain to HRC members about authorities' pressure

The main environmental problem in Adygea is contamination of soil and rivers by agricultural producers, said members of the Russian Presidential Human Rights Council (HRC) in the city Maikop. Local ecologists and journalists told them about the pressure exerted on them by local authorities.

As reported by the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, today Maikop has hosted a sitting of the permanent commission of the HRC on environmental rights.

Virtually all the sewers, including from within the territory of Maikop, go into rivers, said Valery Brinikh, the chairman of the Maikop organization of the Russian Nature Conservation Society.

"We carried out a number of inspections jointly with the "Rosprirodnadzor" and "Rospotrebnadzor" (Russian Federal Agencies for the Nature and Consumer Supervision, accordingly). More than once, we revealed elevated chemical and biological parameters in the Belaya River. But no one was ever punished. They continue polluting the river," he said.

"In first place, the republic faces the problem of soil and river contamination by agrarians. A big problem is with recycling of MSWs (municipal solid waste) and illegal tree felling in forests," said Sergey Tsyplyonkov, the chairman of the above permanent HRC's commission.

The "Ecological Watch for Northern Caucasus" (EcoWatch) is now actively fighting with illegal seizure of land on the left bank of the Kuban River, said Andrei Rudomakha, the coordinator of the "EcoWatch".

According to Maxim Shevchenko, a member of the HRC, Adygea "is completely lacking communication among the public, ecologists and authorities." He also said that authorities "should not sue activists," but "use their expertise to jointly solve the problems of the region."

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.