The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has invited representatives of Greenpeace as well other groups to meet with Olympic officials who will be in Russia August 27 for the IOC’s first visit to Sochi since it was chosen host city for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games.
AFP reports that while not opposing the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games, Greenpeace Russia reportedly urged Sochi 2014 organizers Thursday to move the planned bobsleigh venues and Olympic village because they could damage a unique natural site. The environmental group said under current plans those two Sochi 2014 venues, as well as associated tourism facilities, would be built in the protective belt of the Caucasus Nature Reserve, which is part of a protected UNESCO World Heritage site.
UNESCO describes the Western Caucasus area as “one of the few large mountain areas of Europe that has not experienced significant human impact”.
Andrei Petrov of Greenpeace Russia said, “we foresee a lot of problems that could be created if this construction starts. We tried to explain to the government that the Olympic movement likes to be environmentally friendly, and those unique places will be destroyed with Olympic construction. That is not in line with the principles of the Olympic movement”.
Greenpeace Russia urged authorities to change the plans and said the bobsleigh, luge runs and parts of the village could be moved nearby in the Krasnaya Polyana area without causing as much environmental harm.
There were also concerns about the environmental impact of road construction, a planned hydroelectric power station, and the intensity of the work needed to build Sochi 2014 from scratch.
Petrov said a ream of legislative changed introduced over the past year had softened rules about national parks and the surrounding “buffer zone”, and brought about boundary changes mainly to suit Sochi’s Olympic bid. He said, “it was impossible before the changes in legislation to construct anything like sports facilities or infrastructure on the territories of the national parks. We’re asking the International Olympic Committee to push the Russian government to explain the need to change the legislation in those places”.
