Читать книгу Review of the System of Environmental Monitoring in the Russian Federation and Former Soviet Union and Related Environmental Policy Issues. Thesis for MSc Degree, MCMXCVII - Vladislav Larin - Страница 11

The system for data collection on the state of the environment and on physical, chemical, meteorological and hydrological processes in nature has been created in the USSR back in 1929 (GosComGidromet, Reference book, 1990). It was named State Hydrometeorological Service of the USSR (GosComGidromet for short).

Later (from the mid 70es), when global environmental pollution had increased, and there was universal concern about the state of the environment, all countries began to develop environmental monitoring networks. Similar system was created in the USSR on the basis of the existing grid of hydrometeorological stations of GosComGidromet.

Moreover, plants, factories, transport enterprises and agricultural farms were bound to supply data about amount of emitted pollutants for statistical organisations. There was data collected on felling forests and forest fires, on air, water and soil pollution, on soil erosion, on epidemic and other illnesses possibly linked with the changing state of the environment.

All collected information was kept in departments of different ministries, but a very narrow group of people could only use it because all information on the state and pollution of the environment was confidential. This information was used only by some officials for preparation of classified reports for the Central Committee of CPSU and the Soviet Government on medical and environmental problems. No publisher could publish an article or book with data from issues or reference books which were classified or had a stamp «for official use only» («dlia slugebnogo pol’zovaniya» – in Russian pronunciation).

The necessity of research work devoted to the analysis of the system of collection of environmental information and assessment of the degree of reliability of this data in the republics of the former USSR was clear several years ago – in the period of so called «ecological glasnost’». It was a time, when demand for publications on the state of the environment was great, but reliable information about on it was extremely rare. There were even serious scientists and scientific journalists, who wrote about environmental problems and were enforced to use superficial information, with considerable share of emotions. Censorship did not allow the use of occasionally found reference books of GosComGidromet or GosComStat for open publications. Therefore, serious research books were written only with the help of newspaper’s publications, because newspapers had more freedom than official issues.

At present, almost all materials of State environmental organisations are available for researchers. Political censorship disappeared, but new «democratic» bureaucracy is not willing to open accumulated information. Political censorship was substituted by commercial censorship, preventing independent scientists and investigators to use primary data. In the present dissertation system for collection of environmental data and methods of its implementation into the environmental policy in the former USSR and NIS countries was studied.

The objectives of the present study are as follows:

– To study the sophisticated system of environmental monitoring for the territory of the former Soviet Union and the Russian Federation as an example of Newly Independent State;

– To study the degree of reliability of sources of environmental information from different official and non-official organisations;

– To review place the and role of main environmental organisations in the system for collection of environmental information and the place and role of new participants in this process;

– To review the international system of environmental indicators and compare the systems of State of Environmental Reporting in the different NIS countries;

– To study the laws on environmental policy and briefly to review the ways of implementation of environmental information into the process of adoption and realisation of environmental policy.

The following methods of research has been used in this dissertation:

– review of environmental data collection from main governmental organisations involved in the system of environmental monitoring in the former USSR and in the Russian Federation at present;

– review of environmental data collection from non-governmental organisations in the Russian Federation and NIS countries;

– review of scientific articles, reference books, official documents, legislation and other related literature;

– personal communication with experts from governmental and non-governmental organisations (see Acknowledgement for details);

– analysis of the system of implementation of environmental data into the process of environmental policy.

Information and data used in this dissertation were drawn from publications and official documents found at:

– Library of the Moscow Ecopresscenter (Moscow, Russia);

– Library of the Department of Environmental Sciences and Policy, Central European University (Budapest, Hungary);

– Collection of issues of Department of Air Pollution of Main Voeykov Geophysical Observatory (St.-Petersburg, Russia);

– Collection of issues of Department of Environmental Data State’s Committee for Statistics of the Russian Federation and Department of Environmental Data Committee for Statistics of the NIS countries (Moscow, Russia);

– Collection of issues of Department of Air Pollution of Federal Service of Russia for the Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring (Moscow, Russia).

Very important from the point of view of reliability of environmental data of the GosComGidromet were the personal communications during the scientific-methodological conference organised by the Main Voeykov Geophysical Observatory (division of RosGidromet) and the Research Institute of Preservation of Atmospheric Air (Main Department of GosComEcologii for methodical support of air pollution researches) named «Actual problems of evaluation of air pollution by industry and transport in the cities and regions – calculated and measured data» (St.-Petersburg, Russia, 24—28 June, 1997).