This is the time of year when many people think about charitable giving and how to create positive change for the year ahead.  If you like what you have been reading on this blog, I would encourage you to donate to Pacific Environment. 

On this blog, you’ve read just a few of the stories about our on-the-ground work around the Pacific Rim and why our staff are so effective at dealing with the huge environmental challenges that our world faces today.  We’ve had a great year, with victories in China, Russia, Alaska, and California.  Your support will help us achieve even more great results around the Pacific Rim in 2008!  Just click here if you would like to support us with a year-end, tax-deductible donation. 

Thank you for your support, and thank you for all that you do to make this world a better place!  From all of us here at Pacific Environment, best wishes for the holidays and New Year! 

Here’s to a great 2008! 

Happy Holidays, 

David Gordon 

An Indigenous Woman on the Altai Plateau

Altai, nestled in southern Siberia to the west of Mongolia, to the east of Kazakhstan, and to the north of China, is an amazing area.  It’s known for its wildlands and beauty, as the landscape climbs from Siberian pine forests to alpine plateaus.   

The Ukok Plateau – a vast plateau that is recognized as a World Heritage Site – is one area that Pacific Environment and our partners our trying to save.  The Russian government has announced plans to build a gas pipeline to China through the Altai, directly through the Ukok Plateau.  The project is led by Gazprom (note that Putin just anointed the chairman of Gazprom as his successor to become president of Russia).   

Indigenous Altaians are extremely worried about the pipeline.  They point out that there are better routes for the pipeline that make more sense both economically and environmentally.  These routes, though, go through Mongolia or Kazakhstan, and Russia wants a direct pipeline to China – which means going through the Ukok Plateau.   

One of the reasons indigenous Altaians are so worried is that this is a sacred area for their culture.  In addition to its environmental beauty, the Ukok Plateau is home to thousands of sacred sites.  We’re supporting Maya Erlenbaeva and the Foundation for Sustainable Development of Altai, a local organization, to map these sacred sites to that they can demonstrate the value of the Plateau.  Our friends at the Sacred Land Film Project visited Maya and the Foundation earlier this summer and produced a wonderful short video that shows Maya’s inspiring work. 

Our efforts in Altai are going to ramp up in 2008, which promises to be an important year for deciding the fate of the Ukok Plateau.  We’re hopeful that we can convince the Russian government and Gazprom that there’s a better alternative than the Ukok Plateau for building a gas pipeline to China!  Click here to find out more about our campaign! 

In the meantime, enjoy the video and the short journey it takes you to the sacred places of Altai in southern Siberia!

One of the things that makes our work so special is spending time in communities — in the small villages that tie together the North Pacific, in China, Russia, Alaska, and stretching down to California.  Especially in Russia, many of these communities struggle to survive and have seen hard times over the last 15 years.   

The work we do in these communities is often not sexy, doesn’t result in big conservation victories, and is often hard to explain.  At times, it is excruciating to experience the reality of these small villages.  But our outreach in these villages is also some of the most rewarding — working with people who are trying to assert control over the way their natural resources are used and trying to make sure that the resources are used sustainably and for their local benefit.   

Click here to read some writing by one of our field staff that paints a picture of the conditions in rural villages in the Russian Far East.  Our field staff wrote this piece in response to a basic question:  “How do people survive in Russia’s forgotten villages?”  I hope you enjoy the writing

The topic of China’s environment is one of world historical importance. This is increasingly evident in the media, with the New York Times series called “Choking on Growth” as well as in global politics, with lots of discussion about China at the recent Climate Conference in Bali. 

Meanwhile, here in Northern California last weekend, experts on China and the environment convened for a two-day conference to discuss research and trends in issues such as health, energy, policy, law, clean-tech and media. 

As you can imagine, there was a lot to talk about. After two days of discussions and presentations, I was as exhausted as I was inspired. We talked about China’s commitment to renewable energy and the shortcomings of the country’s environmental monitoring systems. We discussed the importance of capacity building of local government officials and the citizen’s right to know. We learned that China’s environmental history is almost as bleak as modern day, and that media plays a critical role in pushing for environmental reforms. 

While it was great to have so many (over 200) people convene to have these conversations, I was frustrated by the lack of action. As C.S. Kiang put it “we are reporting on the problems and not the solutions.” This drove me to ask the question that no one else brought up, which was how do these problems get solved, especially for the local people who are dealing with these environmental crises on a daily basis. 

The responses included strengthening civil society, and conducting public education in coordination with local government support. This is Pacific Environment’s approach for working in China, and I think more voices from the grassroots environmental community would have been a welcomed addition to the packed agenda last weekend. 

As Jim Yardley, New York Times Beijing Corresponded told us in his closing remarks “NGOs play an enormous role.” I agree, and hope that more of China’s environmental civil society will have a chance to participate in future discussions on these issues. After all, it impacts them the most. 

Robert Moiseev

In recent weeks, we have lost two shining stars of Russia’s conservation movement.  On Thursday, Robert Savelievich Moiseev passed away, one day after his 70th birthday.  Robert Savelievich was the director of the Kamchatka Branch of the Pacific Institute of Geography, part of the Russian Academy of Sciences.  

Robert Savelievich’s vision of sustainable development for Kamchatka and the North Pacific was truly extraordinary.  Meeting with Robert Savelievich was always a pleasure that would result in expanding my worldview.  He had a deep and complex understanding of sustainable development, based on his background as an economist and a patriot of Kamchatka and the North Pacific.  He immediately understood the value of international connections; his vision was truly North-Pacific wide, as he understood the ties between Kamchatka and Alaska.  He was one of the primary drivers behind the ideas for the International Bering Sea Forum, which brought together community members from both sides of the Bering Sea.  

Robert Savelievich believed that Kamchatka could prosper only if it could sustainably manage its renewable resources, particularly its fisheries.  He worked with us to demonstrate the value of Kamchatka’s salmon economy.  He thought that Kamchatka’s economic priorities – which now appear to favor oil over fisheries – were terribly misplaced.  His vision, though, was always frustrated by government officials who failed to have the long-term vision that Robert Savelievich championed.  It’s particularly tragic that proposals to drill for oil off of western Kamchatka are moving forward at the same time that Robert Savelievich has passed away. 

Most of all, though, I will remember Robert Savelievich as a mentor with an incredibly keen wit, golden tongue, and sharp mind.  I remember once attending a public hearing on mining issues in Kamchatka, at which Robert Savelievich spoke.  He spoke directly after a representative from the mining company.  Robert Savelievich had the amazing ability – well-developed through the Russian scientific dialectic – to “dress down” whoever had spoken immediately prior to him.  With an amazing economy of words, he showed the gaping flaws in the arguments of the mining company and went on to offer a vision for Kamchatka far beyond what anyone could imagine.  I remember thinking to myself that I never wanted to speak directly after Robert Savelievich! 

Robert Savelievich’s vision and leadership will be sorely missed, but I am hopeful that his vision for Kamchatka and the North Pacific will live on through his writings, his colleagues, and his family – and through those of us who will continue to promote a vision of sustainable development for the North Pacific. 

Another shining star of the Russian conservation movement who passed away in late November is Boris Konstantinovich Shibnev, at the amazing age of 89.  Boris Konstantinovich led an incredible life, having been born just a year after the Russian Revolution.  He had read the works of Arseniev (the Russian analogue of John Muir) who wrote about his travels through the amazing nature of the Russian Far East (for those interested in his work, I recommend the Akira Kurosawa film “Dersu Uzala”).  After being demobilized from the Russian Navy in 1939, Boris Konstantinovich moved to the Bikin River watershed in northern Primorsky Region. 

Boris Konstantinovich was a fierce defender of the Bikin, a roadless area of 3 million acres with an amazing collection of subtropical biodiversity that is rare to find in such a northern area.  He led scientific expeditions, was a teacher who gained great respect among the indigenous Udege people, and led early non-governmental efforts.  I met Boris Konstantinovich in 1992 during my first visit to the Russian Far East.  He had created a natural history museum in his home in the village of Verkhny Pereval.  His passion and commitment to the Bikin watershed was contagious.  At the time, the Bikin was under threat from Hyundai Corporation, which wanted to log the upper headwaters.  We helped launch an international campaign that helped protect these forests from loggers. 

These two stars of the Russian conservation movement will be warmly remembered – and our partners will be working to continue their traditions by protecting Russia’s most important wilderness areas and by promoting a sustainable vision for the region.

This morning, we woke up to news about another major Pacific Rim oil spill.   This time, it appears as though a barge with a crane struck an oil tanker off the coast of South Korea in the Yellow Sea, spilling over 10,000 tons of oil.  This is the third major oil spill we have seen in a month – in San Francisco Bay, in the Black Sea, and now in the Yellow Sea. 

Time will tell how bad the damage will be from this latest spill, though given the amount of oil spilled, and the likelihood that less than 20% of the oil will be recovered, we can expect the impacts to be severe.  Earlier this year, I attended an oil spill workshop in Japan and met colleagues in Korea working to prevent oil spills.  They were particularly worried about the growth in shipping of oil – symbolized by new tankers coming from Sakhalin along the coast of Korea – and the likelihood of accidents.  Up until then, their worst catastrophe had been the Sea Prince spill in 1995.  Today’s spill involves twice as much oil as the Sea Prince. 

Here’s an article that details the fact that this was a single-hulled tanker – a dinosaur that long ago should have been retired in favor of double-hulled tankers.  This area in the Yellow Sea is a very busy region for shipping.  Given growth of shipping around the Pacific Rim, I hope this will be a wake-up call for the International Maritime Organization and governments to address the dire need to improve shipping safety.   

Meanwhile, here in San Francisco Bay, more details are coming out about the bar pilot’s mishandling of the Cosco Busan, leading to our spill.  It seems clear that the pilot made numerous mistakes that led to the spill, including leaving port in such heavy fog without electronic equipment that either was working properly or that he understood and ordering the ship to full speed in heavy fog when he didn’t understand his location.  A terrible, preventable tragedy.  We need legislative action in Congress to make sure that such accidents around the Pacific Rim are prevented in the future.