The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has agreed with WWF and Greenpeace that the Olympic facilities need to be relocated to prevent harm to the ecosystems of the Russian Caucasus.

In its long-awaited report on the Sochi Games, released on Friday, May 31, UNEP said the planned Olympic construction in the mountain area called Grushevy ridge poses a serious threat to the Caucasus reserve ecosystem.

“The location of the bobsleigh and mountain sub-village remains a key issue that needs to be addressed urgently”, the report says. “As a decision on these venues has not been made, UNEP would like to encourage the partners in the Russian Federation and the IOC to look into the suitability of alternative locations. Our view is that the currently planned location may compromise other efforts to ensure the Games are environmentally friendly.”

WWF and Greenpeace fully agree with this statement and are open to cooperation with all stakeholders. We call on the International Olympic Committee to find alternative locations with independent international experts in order to minimize threats to the fragile and unique ecosystems of the Caucasus mountains.

WWF, Greenpeace and Transparent World NGO have proposed 16 alternative sites for the bobsleigh and luge track, and sent the list to the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee. All of the sites meet requirements of the International Federations of luge, bobsleigh and skeleton (a type of sled race). At a meeting on January 24, 2008, the organizing committee said it would forward the list to the federations and would ask the IOC for its opinion. However, the organizing committee reneged on this agreement.

“Unfortunately, the organizing agencies still have not given us any serious feedback on our proposals”, says Igor Chestin, WWF-Russia CEO. “We hope that the UNEP mission report will spur the Organizing Committee to address the issue.”

According to Mr Chestin, the UNEP report will provide the environmental NGOs with a powerful argument in favor of the environmental NGOs if they are obliged to sue the IOC.

“We hope that the conclusions of the joint UNESCO World Heritage Centre and IUCN report will coincide with UNEP conclusions and the World Heritage Committee will clearly state that Olympic venues and facilities cannot be constructed in the buffer zone of the Western Caucasus World Heritage. In April, during the IOC's visit to Sochi, Russian authorities said they were not planning any changes in locations of Olympic facilities. We hope that UNEP conclusions will help change this decision of the Russian authorities and convince the IOC to objectively look into alternative sites”, says Greenpeace-Russia World Heritage Project Coordinator Andrey Petrov.
http://www.wwf.ru/resources/news/article/eng/3978

For editional information please contact:

tel: +7 (495) 727-09-39, tel/fax: +7 (495) 727-09-38 ,
or
Darya Kudryavtseva, Press officer,
tel: +7 (495) 727-09-39, tel/fax: +7 (495) 727-09-38