It’s worth mentioning that in the letter of ad interim Minister of international relations of Ukraine V. Yelchenko addressed to the Prime Minister of Ukraine V. Yanykovich he suggested: “with the aim to explain the justification of the position of Ukraine concerning the necessity of construction of navigation canal and to prevent the creation of negative image of our state at the international arena in this context we suggest: to authorize Ministry of environment, Ministry of transport, State committee on radio and TV to conduct necessary public awareness efforts among Mass Media”.
– Ukrainian officials stated on several occasions that Ukraine don’t erect new shipping canal in Bystre branch but renew existing one.
These statements are absolutely not true: Bystre branch never served as shipping canal, neither before 1956, nor before the beginning of 1990. Only small fishing vessels with draught 1,5 – 2,0 m used it.
– It was alleged several times that objections against the construction of shipping canal through Bystre branch violate the right of Ukraine to renew the shipping on its sovereign territory.
These allegations are also groundless, as the variant of canal through the Bystre branch was not the only possible one. There are two economically and ecologically sounded alternative variants of shipping canal through Stensovsko-Zhebryanskaya sand belt or through Ochakivsky branch. The Ministry of transport and the Ministry of environment are persistently sabotaging the consideration of the alternative variants.
– Ukrainian officials stated that public doesn’t list specific international agreements, violated by Ukraine during the construction of canal, as there are no violations of any agreements.
We want to list now the conventions, violated by Ukraine during the process of canal construction through Bystre branch: Convention on Conservation of Migratory Species (Bonn
CMS Convention), African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbird Agreement (AEWA), Convention on
Cooperation for the Protection and Sustainable Use of the Danube River (Danube convention), Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context (Espoo Convention), Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat (Ramsar Convention); Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (Aarhus Convention), Agreement between Government of Romania and Government of Ukraine on Cooperation in Management of Boundary Waters.
4. It was alleged that this project doesn’t disturb ecological balance of delta and is ecologically safe.
These allegations are negated by the death of thousands of terns’ chicks in the eggs on Ptichya (the Bird) spit near the Bystroe estuary in the mid July. The noise from operating dredging vessels caused the death of birds.
Actually, the construction of shipping canal through Bystre branch notwithstanding with the official allegations from Kiev:
– Leads to the destruction of natural area, part of World heritage and unique in its global aspect;
– Posses the threat of possible international isolation of Ukraine;
– Hampers the renewal of shipping on the Ukrainian part of Danube Delta.
If our Ministry of transport and Ministry of environment, instead of lobbying the interests of close circle o? businessmen and politicians, had been really concerned about the renewal of shipping, economic prosperity of that region and about the welfare of its population, preservation of natural complexes of Danube Delta, they would have considered ecologically and economically sounded alternatives of shipping canal in Danube Delta.
In this case, we are confident that its possible to renew the shipping, load Ukrainian ports with work – without violating of national legislation by Ukraine, without involvement of Ukraine into international scandal and without posing threat to the existence of Danube biosphere reserve.
We consider the reason of the scandal around the construction of the shipping canal Danube-Black Sea lies in flouting of the law by Ukrainian authorities, but not because of the active environmental public.
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