Local Agenda 21 in Nuclear Regions Program
in Visaginas, Lithuania near Ignalina nuclear power plant


ECOLOGIA (ECOlogists Linked for Organizing Grassroots Initiatives and Action) is an international non-governmental organization. ECOLOGIA’s “Local Agenda 21 in Nuclear Regions” program promotes and assists in the creation and implementation of sustainable development planning in nuclear communities in Lithuania and Russia.  Like all regions in the former Soviet sphere, these regions are experiencing a significant social, economic, and environmental transition.  Communities with closing nuclear power plants, nuclear weapons facilities, and the political and cultural legacy of being closed nuclear cities face especially difficult environmental and economic challenges.  ECOLOGIA helps these communities cope productively with this transition using the international sustainable development method Agenda 21.  In Lithuania, ECOLOGIA works with the community of Visaginas, host of the closing Ignalina nuclear power plant.

Contents of handout:

  1. The Republic of Lithuania
  2. Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant
  3. The Nuclear Town Visaginas
  4. The Project “Mitigation of Social Consequences in the Period of INPP Decommissioning“
    1. Summary of Project
    2. Project Goals
    3. Accomplishments and Methods
    4. Future Plans
  5. Local Agenda 21 in Nuclear Regions Program
  6. ECOLOGIA
  7. Contact Information

1. The Republic of Lithuania.  Lithuania is situated in the geographical center of Europe, on the East coast of the Baltic sea. Lithuania borders Latvia, Belarus, Poland and Kaliningrad region (Federation of Russia). The area of Lithuania is 65.2 thousand sq. km. The population of Lithuanian is 3.7 million. Approximately 2.9 million of Lithuanians live outside their homeland. At present Lithuania is a Parliamentary republic. The republic is a candidate for membership in the European Union and NATO.

2. Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant. From Soviet times Lithuania inherited one of the most powerful nuclear power plants in Europe. Ignalina nuclear power plant houses two RBMK (Chernobyl type) reactors. During the last few years the safety of the first reactor was greatly improved, but still it is limited by the design of the reactors themselves, as they do not have containment structures to reduce radiation release in case of an accident. One of the necessary conditions for Lithuania to become a full and equal member of European Union is a requirement by the European Commission to close down both reactors of the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant (INPP) at the earliest practical date. Following negotiations between the European Commission and the Lithuanian government about the closure of reactors, the Parliament of Lithuania agreed to close the first reactor by 2005. In the middle of July 2002 a final decommissioning date for the second reactor was set for 2009. While environmentalists and Western governments welcomed the decision, citizens living near the plant in the town of Visaginas were shocked and scared by the plan for the closure of the town’s major employer.

3. The Nuclear Town Visaginas.  Visaginas is a multicultural town built in 1975 as a place for workers of Ignalina Nuclear Power plant to live. For the building and operation of the plant most of people were brought from different corners of former Soviet Union – because of the shortages of local specialists and also because of political motives. Currently the town has over 30.000 inhabitants and these people are of more than 40 nationalities, a large number of whom are Russian-speaking. The city of Visaginas is inside the 30 km sanitary zone of INPP. The power plant is the primary industry in the area and almost everyone either works at the plant or in related support services.

4. The Project “Mitigation of Social Consequences in the Period of INPP Decommissioning.”

4.1 Summary of Project

Since 1999, ECOLOGIA has been working with residents of Visaginas to address the social issues surrounding Ignalina NPP’s decommissioning by implementing the project “Mitigation of Social Consequences in the Period of Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant Decommissioning”  Experts from Russia and Belarus actively participate in implementation of this project. If Visaginas' residents are left alone to cope with the unemployment, depression, and increased social problems that will most likely follow the decommissioning of Ignalina nuclear power plant, Visaginas will become a symbol throughout the former Soviet Union and Central and Eastern Europe of the problems associated with de-nuclearization.

4.2 Project Goals

4.3 Accomplishments and Methods

Method 1: Creation and implementation of Local Agenda 21 plan for Visaginas

Goals

Methods

Introduce concept of sustainable development and Local Agenda 21 in Visaginas.

ECOLOGIA held two two-day long working meetings “Local Agenda 21 for Visaginas” in November 2001 and February 2001 with the participation of representatives of local municipality, NGOs and business sector, experts from other Lithuanian towns and Russia and Belarus. Conception of sustainable development and methods of Local Agenda 21 (LA21) were introduced to participants.

Creation of Local Agenda 21 plan for Visaginas

Participants in ECOLOGIA meetings prepared a preliminary LA21 plan, which was later approved by the Visaginas municipality board of administration. A support letter for the plan was also received from Ministry of Economy. The preliminary LA 21 does not call for the development of a new reactor (as some EU and Lithuanian government officials have proposed), but plans for the town to become totally non-nuclear and develop high-tech and alternative energy technologies. 

Promotion of LA21 plan.

A community initiative group was formed which works on the further development of the LA21 plan and which attempts to interest more Visaginas inhabitants in the sustainable development of the town. For instance, in October of 2001, the Visaginas Community Development Council, which was established as a result of ECOLOGIA's NGO training seminars, organized a seminar entitled "The role of the public in the management of the development of the Ignalina NPP region".

Integrate LA21 plan into other local and regional strategic plans to ensure implementation. Rally political support on the highest local and regional levels for the use of sustainable development planning.

Two separate workshops for both representatives of the Visaginas Municipality and local NGO leaders were held in June 2002 with a common name “Local Agenda 21 – a tool for strategic planning in a context of sustainable development”. As the result of the events an official  commission was established to conduct  further work on  the Visaginas strategic plan. The first meeting of a new commission took place in August 2002. A strategy structure, deadlines and responsibilities were set. In addition, to work on concrete sections of the strategy, a working group was established and started its work on August 20th.  The creation of this working group left a strong belief that interests of the people of Visaginas will be represented well enough to influence decision making on the main issues in the region.

Implementation of the Visaginas LA21 plan.

In order for a LA21 plan to become reality, it needs to be implemented.  In Visaginas, the implementation process was stalled because key decisions about the future of the Ignalina nuclear power plant – and therefore the town’s future - needed to be made at the federal government level.  This political uncertainty temporarily stalled the LA21 process.

 

 

 

The Lithuanian national governmental delayed making a final decision about the dates for decommissioning the Ignalina nuclear power plant. The delay in the decision caused tension, disappointment and a temporary apathy in Visaginas.  That mood caused the stagnation of the LA 21 implementation process in the city, since it would be difficult to work on plans for the future when some crucial decisions needed to be made by others.

After the government decided to close the second reactor by 2009, the political situation became much clearer.  Now Visaginas NGOs, Municipality members and representatives from the nuclear plant are ready to work on creating new strategic plan for the town’s future. Implementation of a new LA 21 for Visaginas is planned after prepared document should be approved by the Visaginas Town Council in December 2002.

 

Method 2: Visaginas NGOs capacity building

Goals

Methods

Strengthen citizens organizations in Visaginas so that they are:

  • Better able to participate in LA21 planning and implementation.  
  • Better prepared to play an important role in mitigating the social consequences of the closure of the Ignalina plant, including unemployment, depression, substance abuse, etc.

ECOLOGIA held a series of two-day long workshops for Visaginas NGOs leaders between the fall of 2000-spring 2001. Main subjects: Strategic planning of NGOs activities, preparation of grant proposals, legislation for NGOs, public relations, taxation.

Through grant-writing and fundraising support and consultations on a variety of organizational development topics, ECOLOGIA continues to support the development of Visaginas NGOs.

4.4 Future plans

Local Agenda 21. Support the formation and adoption of the official Strategy of Visaginas Development, promotion of the ideas to the wide lays of the Visaginas community and implementation of the LA21 development plan with the involvement of all stakeholders.  This will provide new jobs and create a vision for a sustainable town. Coordination of LA21 process and governmental INPP region development plan to ensure that locally-initiated LA21 plan is integrated into other government planning structures.

NGO Support. Continue to strengthen NGO involvement and public participation in decision-making about Ignalina NPP and Visaginas' future. Prepare NGOs to be better able to effectively deal with the social problems resulting from the closure of Ignalina NPP. NGOs capacity building oriented towards youth NGOs.

Coordination. Coordinate with other institutional structures working in Visaginas in order to avoid money lost and assure that the region gets a maximum possible support in the process of de-nuclearisation.  Increase cooperation between institutional structures to strengthen each institution’s work and to avoid duplication of work.

Integration. Support the integration of Visaginas residents into Lithuania's social and economic life.

5. Local Agenda 21 in Nuclear Regions Program

The project “Mitigation of Social Consequences in the Period of INPP Decommissioning” is a part of a broader international ECOLOGIA program called “Local Agenda 21 in Nuclear Regions.” This program is also carried out in Russia. Its activities are coordinated from ECOLOGIA USA office and financed by the private American foundations: W. Alton Jones Foundation, John Merck Fund, Trust for Mutual Understanding, and the Colombe Foundation.

6. ECOLOGIA

ECOLOGIA is a private, non-profit international organization which works to solve ecological problems at the local, regional, national and global levels. ECOLOGIA has offices in Lithuania, Russia, and the United States.  Other Lithuanian ECOLOGIA office programs are promoting local solutions to health problems and conducting an environmental mini-grant program.

7. Contact information

ECOLOGIA Baltic Programs office
Lithuanian Project Coordinator
Ingrida Zabuliene
Kalvariju 130-48, LT-2042
Vilnius
Tel.: +370 (5) 2765609
Fax: +370 (5) 2766737
e-mail: Lithuanianct@mail.lt

Updated November 2004