Section 4: Success Stories

Chebocksary Environmental Assessment Activities (November 2000-May 2001)

An important success was the environmental assessment of the Dieselprom plant in Chebocksary. The Chebocksary activities were widely publicized by regional media who interviewed the USAID-Moscow Environmental policy advisor, the SPAN program manager, Ecoline staff and experts as well as "Dieselprom" managers and workshop participants.

The SPAN/IREX project in Chebocksary was a major step in the wider dissemination of effective environmental management systems in the Russian Federation. The supportive and open involvement of the partner enterprise, Dieselprom, was critical to successfully promoting public participation and involving various interested parties in the implementation of the first EMS in the Chebocksary region. Success in the Chebocksary region is important because it is a large and highly industrialized region with serious environmental problems. The successful implementation of EMSs in this region will be noticed by industries throughout the Russian Federation.

The Chebocksary program was built upon the successes of earlier programs, and the lessons learned from this program will in turn be used to build even better programs in the future.

Tomsk Synergy Effect (April-June 2001)

One of target regions of the project was the Tomsk region. The "Tomsky Instrument" Plant was selected to participate in the project.

Based on the environmental assessment, a number of recommendations were developed and agreed to with both the environmental managers and the top management of the company. Eco-mapping was successfully used for mapping the facility's environmental "hot spots" and it was then used for training and planning purposes.

One of the key issues was the necessity to improve scrap metal and waste management practices. Detailed procedures for better waste management and scrap metal flow and losses were developed and put into practice. Based upon the recommendations the Plant specialists managed to achieve significant improvements within two months. Temporary waste storage locations were improved and isolated from the overall production activities. Important actions were taken, such as the development and implementation of more effective scrap metal collection, storage and recycling procedures.

The facility's environmental manager, Mrs. Nadezhda Zhukova participated as a trainee and as an assistant teacher during the AED/USAID training course "Environmental Management Systems (EMS) and Environmental Auditing (EA) as Modern Tools for Promoting Environmentally Sound Industrial Management for West Siberia Region" which was held in Tomsk on the 26-29-th of June, 2001.

Gus-Khrustalny voluntary environmental activities

The Gus-Khrustalny district of the Vladimir region, known as the 'crystal' land and Meschera fairytale regiona, has become a center for voluntary environmental activities at industrial enterprises. Industries taking part in IREX/SPAN project have 'adopted' unique nature parks and even families of waterfowl nesting in the area.

The "Symbol" factory developed an Open Environmental Policy. The policy was developed in consultation with the local community and local NGOs. The Policy was also published in the local press for full review by the public. This procedure attracted substantial interest from businesses, government officials and NGOs at the last Regional Industrial Forum held in Vladimir in spring 2001. In addition, as part of its Celebration of its 190th Anniversary of the factory, its management announced the intention to implement a full scale Environmental Management System gradually integrating it with the existing (and certified) ISO 9001 conforming Quality Management System.

At another facility in Gus-Khrustalny, "Krasnoye Echo", plant management decided to undertake a full scale Environmental Impact Assessment for the reconstruction and putting into operation of an old industrial site located within the boundaries of the nearby Meschera National Park protected landscape. The procedure will include public consultations and it is likely that regional IREX/SPAN project partner NGOs, namely "Meschera" and "Planet" will lead the process.

Participation in ISO TC 207 meeting in Kuala Lumpur (July 2001)

One of the most important and successful components of the project was the joint participation of Ecoline and ECOLOGIA experts in the work of the Technical Committee 207 of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO/TC 207) responsible for the development of international standards in the field of environmental management (ISO 14000 series).

Ecoline and ECOLOGIA experts participated in the 8th ISO/TC 207 plenary meeting in Stockholm in June 2000. At that time, ECOLOGIA and Ecoline representatives were panelists in a roundtable discussion devoted to the issue of environmental reporting and presented a paper on external communication partially based on the Russian experience in this area; and participated in NGO Contact Group meetings.

In July 2001, ECOLOGIA and Ecoline were granted authority from the ISO/TC 207 secretariat to organize an official workshop at the meeting. The workshop "Implementing ISO 14000 In Transition Economies: Opportunities and Obstacles" was held during the evening session on the 5th of July. About 25 people attended workshop, representing countries in transition, as well as developing and developed countries. They represented state bodies for standardization, environmental NGOs and consulting companies.

ECOLOGIA representatives moderated the meeting. There were 7 presentations from different countries - the Czech Republic, China, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Romania, and two presentations from Russia. The presenters discussed the history of EMS approaches in their respective countries and provided information on some practical cases along with an analysis of the positive and negative issues associated with putting EMS programs in place in their country. Ecoline presented the results and conclusions of the EMS projects implemented by Ecoline in Russia. The workshop then was continued with an open discussion, where many of the issues were found to be common in developing countries, and many possible solutions were identified.

ECOLOGIA and Ecoline actively participated in the development of a new international guiding standard, ISO/AWI 14063 Environmental Management - Environmental Communications - Guidelines and Examples and establishing procedure for its development. Of particular importance for ECOLOGIA and Ecoline was sharing views on the environmental communication status in different countries, approaches used and suggested for the inclusion into the standard that is planned to be published in fall 2004. ECOLOGIA and Ecoline are planning to continue participating in the development of this standard, bringing the Russian experience of public dialogue and collaboration in environmental management system development.

ECOLOGIA and Ecoline actively participated in the activities of the NGO Task Group established as the result of activities of NGO contact group in Stockholm in 2000. The NGO Task Group was created to address the major issues important to NGOs throughout the world with respect to environmental management systems standards. The issues that are the focus of the NGO Task Group are: 1) resource impediments to effective NGO participation in the development of ISO international standards in environmental management; 2) structural/procedural limitations to effective NGO participation, and; 3) mechanisms for establishing an interface with the broader NGO community and enhancing communication, education and coordination within the NGO community on the work of ISO/TC 207. The ECOLOGIA/Ecoline representatives joined all three working groups formed within the NGO Task Group responsible for addressing these three issues.

During the ISO/TC 207 meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Ecoline and ECOLOGIA experts were able to communicate with world's leading experts in the field of environmental management, to network with various NGOs, and to present and share their experience during many sessions and meetings.

In general, the international component of the current project sponsored by USAID has allowed ECOLOGIA and Ecoline to present the Russian experience in environmental management systems development to international EMS community and is one more step in integrating Russia into the international community.

International conference on environmental management in Moscow (September 2001)

The final project event meeting in Moscow during 24th-26th of September, 2001, turned into an highly visible and important national conference. The conference attracted the attention of environmental authorities, industrial corporations, regional governments, the Russian Organization for Standardization, the Russian Academy of Sciences, along with NGOs representing the Volga region, Siberia and Urals. In addition, materials prepared by ISO/TC 207 Secretary Ahmad Husseini and ECOLOGIA expert Ed Shoener were presented at the Conference along with reports of TNO (the Netherlands) consultants Eric Creemers and Netherlands Economic Institute Director Max van der Sleen.

This final SPAN/IREX project Conference was a significant step in the wider dissemination of effective environmental management systems as instruments of the Sustainable Economic Growth in the Russian Federation.
 
 
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Section 5: Partnership Development and Sustainability