Sochi 2014 At SportAccord, UN Environmental Report Released

3 June 2008--A delegation From Sochi 2014 arrived in Athens Tuesday for SportAccord and to give the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) Executive Board an update on its progress and plans and meet with members of the Olympic family, including IOC members, International Federations, members of National Olympic Committees and Olympic sponsors.

According to a media release Sochi 2014 President and CEO Dmitry Chernyshenko said, “I am proud of what our team has already achieved and am determined to continue this work with increasing vigour to ensure that Russia’s first Winter Games is one of the most innovative and inspirational in history.

“I am looking forward to continuing our dialogue with the Olympic Family to both update them on our progress and to discuss how we can further accommodate their needs through Sochi 2014. By committing to this dialogue I am convinced Sochi 2014 will be a Winter Games that will inspire the world”.

Meanwhile, in its final report on the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games released May 31, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) confirmed that the proposed construction of bobsleigh tracks and an Olympic village on the mountainous Grushevy Ridge could cause environmental damage to the environment, reports RIA Novosti.

The UN report said the bobsleigh track and mountain village remain key issues that need to be addressed urgently. It says “as a decision on these venues has not been made, UNEP would like to encourage the partners in the Russian Federation and the International Olympic Committee (IOCO) to look into the suitability of alternative locations”.

UNEP said the planned location “may compromise other efforts to ensure the Games are environmentally friendly”.

Earlier this year environmental groups said the planned bobsleigh route running along the border of the Caucasus Nature Reserve was one of the most harmful of the Olympic projects, along with a mountain Olympic village and a rail link in the region, classified by UNESCO as the only mountainous area in Europe that remains virtually untouched by humans.

Reacting to the UN report Greenpeace Russia said in a media release, “Greenpeace welcomes UNEP’s criticism of plans to build 2014 Winter Olympics facilities on a site critical to rare and endangered species”.

According to RIA Novosti, Russian environmentalists have already appealed to Sochi 2014 and the Olympstroi state corporation to think about alternative locations for the venues.

WWF Executive Director Pyotr Gorbunenko said, “unfortunately we have to admit that none of these organizations has given us a clear response to our proposals”.
Meanwhile, Yury Trutnev, the minister of natural resources, denied there were any plans for relocating the facilities. He said, “most of the report says it is a good plan which should be implemented and not that something or other must be relocated. UNEP backs the plan developed by the Russian government on the environmental dimensions of the 2014 Olympics”.

Following the IOC Coordination Commission’s visit to Sochi in late April, Chairman Jean-Claude Killy said Russia was on the right track in its preparations for the 2014 Games.

Andrei Petrov of Greenpeace Russia said, “after a visit by the IOC in April Russian authorities said that no facilities would be relocated, but we hope that the UNEP report will make the officials reconsider and prompt the IOC to encourage an independent review of alternative locations for the facilities”.

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