UN Environmental Programme
On May 19, 2011, the coalition "For the Forest in the Moscow Region" (including Greenpeace Russia, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Russia, Save Khimki Forest Movement, Biodiversity Conservation Centre, Russian Birds Conservation Union, International Socio-Ecological Union) sent a letter to Mr. Achim Steiner, UNEP Executive Director and Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations. This letter called on UNEP for support and expertise, especially within the framework of the UN International Year of Forests. The following issues have been suggested as an action plan to find an acceptable solution:
“We ask the United Nations Environmental Programme the following:
To undertake an independent environmental assessment according to international standards and practice and identify a solution suitable for all parties in order to both protect Khimki forest and find the best alternative for the highway construction;
To involve the UNEP Regional Office for Europe (ROE) into finding a consensus on the construction of the highway. According to its mission, the ROE promotes intergovernmental policy dialogue and regional cooperation, increases national capacity for environmental management and response emergencies, raises awareness and enhances information exchange, and translates global policies into regional action. Therefore we believe that UNEP and its Regional Office for Europe will be the best platform for a dialogue amongst national and international experts (including the UN Global Compact, the UNECE, EBRD, EIB etc.), NGOs, environmentalists, public and private parties in order to solve the problems surrounding the construction of the highway;
Considering that similar cases could take place in other countries (especially CIS countries) which have recently started introducing public-private partnerships (PPP) mechanisms, joint guidelines (UNEP, UNECE, the UN Global Compact, EC, EBRD) based on this case study need to be established, taking into account the importance of a diligent consultative process and the undertaking of comprehensive stakeholder engagement practices.”
No reply has yet been received from Mr. Achim Steiner.
UN Economic Commission for Europe
The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) published in 2008 a Guidebook on Promoting Good Governance in Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs). On May 26, 2011 Greenpeace met with Mr. Geoffrey Hamilton, Chief, Cooperation and Partnerships Section of UNECE in Geneva. Greenpeace informed UNECE that in the Khimki case – being a PPP - many of the principles of good governance of this Guidebook are not followed. Among them, the most important one, “putting people first” as well as the one that “urges the integration of the principles of sustainable development into PPP projects”. The way the Khimki Project is implemented so far, it sets a bad precedent for PPPs in the Russian Federation. Greenpeace asked Mr. Hamilton, what steps the UNECE can take to make sure the principles of their guidebook are followed and turn the Khimki project into a good example of PPPs instead. Mr Hamilton replied that the principles of Good Governance in the Guidebook are recommendatory in nature and the UNECE is not mandated to enforce them. The purpose of the Guidebook was to demonstrate how stakeholders can improve governance in PPPs and to provide a basis to develop training modules for PPP capacity building. Mr. Hamilton sees the current role of UNECE as informing about good practice, helping to build countries' capacity and provide training. He mentioned Conventions and International Codes of Conduct (like the AARHUS Convention and the OECD Guidelines on Multinational Enterprises) which might be able to find solutions acceptable to all stakeholders. Developing joint PPPs guidelines is going to be difficult in practice because of the involvement of many organisations, but the UNECE would be happy to work with UNEP if they were ready to do it. It could be interesting to use the Khimki Project as a case study to show challenges of PPPs in PPP emerging countries.
The European Commission
A reply letter to the coalition "For the Forest in the Moscow Region" from the European Commission from April 14 2011, prepared on behalf of the President of the European Commission, Mr José Manuel Barroso, stated the following: “The European Union (EU) is continuously raising with the Russian authorities the need to ensure the respect of human rights including freedom of expression and assembly. At the same time the EU is also encouraging the Russian authorities to improve the procedures for environmental impact assessments. With regards to the St Petersburg motorway construction, the EIB (European Investment Bank) and EBRD (European Bank for Reconstruction and Development) have informed the EU that the involvement that had been envisaged by each bank is currently not advancing as no progress had been made for some time in resolving the outstanding issues. Both banks will only consider the financing of the project if the project satisfies their standards and requirements from a financial, legal, technical, environmental and social point of view”.
The UN Global Compact
On 28 March 2011, the Movement to Defend the Khimki Forest and CEE Bankwatch Network wrote to the Global Compact secretariat to ask the secretariat to take up with Vinci the issues connected to its involvement in the Moscow – St. Petersburg motorway. Dowonload the letter here. As a Global Compact signatory, Vinci has bound itself to adhere to several principles including the following:
1) “Businesses should support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights”
2) “Businesses should make sure they are not complicit in human rights abuses,” and
7) “Businesses should support a precautionary approach to environmental challenges.”
In our opinion Vinci has not acted in line with these principles, even though no-one is claiming that it is directly perpetrating the violence against local activists opposing the motorway routing through Khimki Forest. The company has failed to publicly condemn the violence. Furthermore, when President Medvedev last year halted works in the forest pending further examination of the routing, the French Chamber of Commerce, presumably acting on behalf of Vinci, lobbied for the project preparation on the planned route to be resumed as quickly as possible. It must have been aware that this would result in further human rights abuses against activists continuing to resist the routing. Subsequently it has also come to light that representatives of the North West Concession Company, the concessionaire in which Vinci is a participant, were also present at the December 10 2010 meeting at which the final decision on the routing was made, thus casting doubt on claims made by Vinci that it cannot influence route decisions in the project.
According to Bankwatch, the Global Compact staff has committed to raise the issues with Vinci. However, the Global Compact's remit is very limited and a company can be excluded from the Compact only if it does not provide annual reports on the implementation of its commitments. Vinci has submitted annual reports on its activities within the scope of the Global Compact, albeit ones which are extremely weak in the field of human rights, and the Global Compact secretariat's influence is therefore very limited.
So far it looks little or no practical assistance and support in solving the problems surrounding the construction of the Moscow – St. Petersburg highway is forthcoming from the United Nations family and other international organisations. But the coalition "For the Forest in the Moscow Region" will persist in its efforts to involve the United Nations as the most neutral and universal platform for a dialogue, the European Commission and other international organisations in order to bring attention to this precedent case for Russia’s civil society, environmental protection movement, protection of human rights and proper application of the rule of law.