Cartinal Gydropower

Round table on the construction of GEC on the rivers of Belarus organized by the Ecod Community and the Neman-Neman Environmental Group (Ms. Grodno) Initiative Group

The idea of building GPPs on rivers in Belarus is renaissance. After the tragedy of Chernobyl, nuclear power is not in the public domain. Heat stations, burning masuit, not in the ranks of nature's protectors because of carbon dioxide emissions. The most green TECs work on the gas, and it's getting more expensive. Its industrial oil and gas reserves are virtually non-existent. But there are some rivers. Although it is well known that their real potential is not to yield more than 1 per cent of the energy supply, the construction of new dams for GES has been almost approved at the level of the Council of Ministers of Belarus.

This decision was initiated by the Belenergo Concert and there was no broad public debate. Meanwhile, environmental activists, scientists, non-violent experts have many claims to this idea. There are a number of threats to the environment that do not take into account the designers of future GECs in Belarus.

The right to participate in the discussion of nationally important decisions gives us the Aarhus Convention on Public Access to Environmental Information and the Decision-making Process, which has been ratified. Republic of Belarus 1999.

We hope that the outcome of the round table discussion will affect the decision-making process on the design and construction of GEC on the rivers of Belarus.

Nina Polutzkaya, eco-journalist, leader of the eco-group from Grodno

The subject of our discussion is the development of a GEC on the rivers of the Baltic Sea basin in Belarus. As the two rivers are known, West Dwin and Neman. And both Belarusian energy plans to build GEC cascades. We will focus today on the Neman River and its basin, the most inhabitable project in Belarus.