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Ukrainian lawyer wins environmental prize for efforts to protect the Danube
Gland, Switzerland – A Ukrainian lawyer is one of the winners of this year’s prestigious Goldman Environmental prize for her work in the Danube Delta, an area where WWF has been concentrating its conservation efforts together with other organizations and local advocacy groups. The prize went to Olya Melen for successfully using her legal skills to temporarily halt construction of a massive canal that would have cut through the heart of the Danube Delta, one of Europe’s most valuable wetlands. “As a public interest environmental lawyer, my goal is to seek the rule of law to preserve nature for present and future generations,” Melen said. “Our fragile planet badly needs legal defenders.” In 2004, the Ukrainian government — without public notice and in violation of national and international environmental law — began dredging a canal through the delta to allow large vessels to travel directly between the Danube River and the Black Sea. The Danube Delta is one of the world’s most valuable wetland areas, home to a rich diversity of flora and fauna, including the 300 species of birds, including the globally threatened Dalmatian pelican, and 45 freshwater fish species. Working with the Ukrainian-based Environment-People-Law (EPL) organization, Melen filed lawsuits to prevent the construction of the canal and filed complaints with several international environmental conventions to force the Ukrainian government to justify its canal plans at a time when the country was seeking acceptance to the European Union. In her first significant victory, Melen proved that the environmental impact assessment (EIA) of the canal was inadequate. The judge ruled that the canal development flouted environmental laws and could adversely affect the Danube Delta’s biodiversity. “Olya really put her life on the line. She represented the other side before it became safe to do so,” said WWF Danube-Carpathian Programme Director Michael Baltzer, who nominated Melen for the international environmental award on behalf of WWF. “She and her colleagues and the other people that were fighting against the canal really do symbolize the whole spirit of the Orange Revolution.” Melen’s high-profile challenge played a pivotal role in prompting the new Ukrainian government, which swept into office as a result of the Orange Revolution, to temporarily halt additional construction. In September 2005, the new Ukrainian Environment Minster rejected plans for the second phase of the proposed canal. Although the government still intends to construct the canal, everything is on hold until an EIA has been accepted. There is mounting pressure, both nationally and internationally, to put a halt to the plans and to develop a shared vision for the conservation and sustainable development of the delta. The US$125,000 Goldman Environmental Prize allows individuals like Olya Melen to continue winning environmental victories against the odds and inspire others to take actions to protect the environment. Other winners of this year’s prize includes: a Vietnam veteran fighting Pentagon plans to incinerate chemical weapons stockpiles; a civil society leader who tipped the United Nations to illegal logging in war-torn Liberia, a researcher who documented the socio-economic impact of dams on Chinese communities; a lawyer who forced logging interests in Papua New Guinea to pay damages to indigenous land owners; and a community leader in Brazil behind the creation of the world’s largest area of protected tropical rainforest. The Goldman Environmental Prize was established in 1990 by San Francisco civic leader and philanthropist Richard N Goldman and his late wife, Rhoda H Goldman. It has been awarded to 113 people from 67 countries. Eight previous winners have been appointed or elected to national office in their countries, including several who became ministers of the environment. The 1991 Goldman Prize winner from Africa, Wangari Maathai, won the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize. END NOTES: • The WWF Danube-Carpathian Programme has worked in the region since 1998 to promote the conservation, restoration and sustainable management of nature for the benefit of both people and environment. The work is primarily focused on freshwater and forest resources in the Danube River Basin and Carpathian Mountains. The region between the Danube River Basin and the Carpathian Mountains includes all or part of Germany and Poland, Austria, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Serbia & Montenegro, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova and Ukraine. |
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