Word: yablokov
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...world's last pristine northern frontier also misses the mark. Kamchatka is but a tiny piece of Siberia, and elsewhere this continent-size region has been grievously wounded, and continues to be wounded today. "Let's say you decide to get away from it all in Siberia," says Alexei Yablokov, Russia's leading environmentalist and once President Boris Yeltsin's top adviser on ecology. "You travel up the Yenisey River toward the Arctic. You look across the empty tundra and think you are alone in nature, miles upon miles from the nearest person, and you decide to stretch...
According to environmentalist Yablokov, the problem can be traced to the waning days of the U.S.S.R. when the parliament, seeking to circumvent the power of the central government, passed laws that gave local authorities enormous power over resources, as well as the implied right to contravene federal regulations protecting ecosystems. Nonetheless, it was thought that the strong central government could still maintain the balance of power. Then came the August 1991 attempted coup against President Mikhail Gorbachev and the rapid unraveling of Soviet authority. With no federal checks on local power, according to Yablokov, these laws became the legal basis...
...local officials hand out dozens of concessions, often to friends and relatives. He says that in the Khor River watershed, a region of about 12,000 sq. mi., more than 90 forest enterprises are operating with almost no oversight from the government. "What is the solution?" asks an exasperated Yablokov. "Chechnya? Send troops to Novosibirsk...
...these possibilities point to a gloomy future of more governmental paralysis and more clashes between the executive and the legislature. "It's an agony of the political system," says Alexei Yablokov, a senior presidential aide. "I think Yeltsin will choose a new constitution with a new parliament. It's the only way." The sides may come to a tentative agreement about holding elections this year, ahead of schedule, but stall them by continuing to disagree over whether to rewrite the constitution...
...overhaul the country's environmental laws. In the works is a resolution that would call for environmental-impact statements for all construction projects, a reappraisal of the Soviet nuclear-energy program and a review of the chemicals used in industry and agriculture. The costs will be considerable. Yablokov estimates that for the next ten years the government will need to spend more than $40 billion annually on environmental programs...