Greenpeace Calls on Jacques Rogge to protect World Heritage from «Olympic» Construction

Having voted for the Sochi application, Olympic officials now share responsibility with the Russian government for the effects of preparatoin for the 2014 Winter Olympics, including the  impact on the environment. They should be reminded that the Sochi application book provides for the large scale construction of sports venues and infrastructure in the buffer zone of the Caucasus reserve, included in the Western Caucasus property.

Allocation of unique nature territories for construction raised protests from both local ecologists and large Russsian and international environmental organizations. At the last session, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee expressed its concern about the construction plans and decided to send an inspectory mission to the Nothern Caucasus area. Based on the results of the inspection, the territory can be moved to the World Heritage in Danger list. This fact will damage the image of Russia, as the state that does not observe its international commitments to protect the environment, and the IOC as participating in the destruction of the World Natural Heritage.

According to the Olympic Charter, the Olympics aim to contribute to environmental protection. We are convinced that Olympic officials can raise the issue of protecting the buffer zone of the reserve from the Olympics. In its report, the evaluation committee of the IOC, who visited Sochi in winter 2007, has already noted the unsolved environemtnal issues. Then, Russian officials said that they could not make any changes in the application book until the final vote (which took place on July 4 in Guatemala). Now they have every reason to reconsider the construction plan and do everything possible to make the Olympics green and safe for the environment of the  Caucasus.