S m a l l   G r a n t s   I n i t i a t i v e

Beahrs Environmental Leadership Program,

University of California Berkeley

 

 

 

 

 

 

Project Proposal

 

 

 

 

Building a Russian Node

 of the Ecological Footprint Network

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Submitted by:

 

Svetlana Chernikova

Natalia Belova

Mathis Wackernagel

Robin Marsh

 

 

 

 

December, 15 2003

A Proposal to the “Small Grants Initiative for Alumni” of Beahrs Environmental Leadership Program, UC Berkeley

From Svetlana Chernikova et. Al. Environmental Leadership Program Alumni 2003

November 1, 2004December 16, 2003

 

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

 

 

Project Title:  Building a Russian Node of the Ecological Footprint Network

 

Background and Problem Statement: Russia’s proposed ‘Ecological Footprint’ language in the Johannesburg proposal is evidence of the high-level interest in the Footprint accounting tool in Russia. But there are few Russians who have used the tool, even at the academic and local levels. Exposing influential NGOs and academics to this tool, and inviting them to participate in this newly formed Footprint Network will help to generate momentum towards sustainability.

 

The potential for the Footprint to develop as an effective tool for sustainability in Russia is hindered by a lack of access to information and training.  Presently, there is no information available in Russia on how to account the Ecological Footprint, as well as no timely and reliable source of information about the accounting experience elsewhere.  No consultation opportunities on Ecological Footprint accounting in the Russian Federation are available, and no structure is in place for exchanging the experience of Ecological Footprint application in various Russian Federation regions.  While information is available on the Internet, it is generally inaccessible for Russian users due to difficulties in understanding English terminology.

 

General Description of the Project’s Overall Goals, Activities and Outcomes: We propose to (1) establish a Russian node of the Ecological Footprint Network; (2)  participate in the new Footprint Network and develop applications that are consistent with the Footprint standards; (3) train sustainability leaders for the organization in Russia; (4) communicate results to government agencies, media and NGO’s; (5) publish educational materials; and (6) promote cooperation between Environmental Leadership Program Alumni and Russian node of the Ecological Footprint Network. This project will establish connections between proponents of The Ecological Footprint and Sustainability while enabling the Russian community to harness and develop the Ecological Footprint in conjunction with the rest of the world.

 

 

Problem statement

 

Sustainability and Russia

As the world’s largest country (12% of global territory) and one of the richest deposits of natural resources, the Russian Federation is necessarily a major player in the global sustainability movement.  Russia accounts for 21% of all forests in the world and 46 % of those excluding rainforests. Also, Russia’s territory accommodates a large percentage of the world’s biological species  (e.g., Russia’s plant species make approx. 9% of the world’s total). Russia has the planet’s largest proportion (15%) of “undeveloped” lands, occupying 2/3 of the Russian territory. An important environmental role is played by the Siberian taiga which is a major accumulator and supplier (with the river runoff) of free freshwater on the planet.  Thus, Russian territory represents a significant portion of the world’s natural resources and provides an important ecological contribution to the global biosphere.

 

Nature and People Impact

However, the resource use and industrial waste generated per unit output in Russia’s economy significantly exceeds that of other industrialized countries. Now, Russia is faced with a set of problems relating to natural resource use, development management, and balancing the social, ecological, and economic components of development. This makes the promotion of sustainable development, which is essential for preserving Russia’s ecological potential and its social well-being extremely urgent.

 

Situation in Russia

Many regions in Russia are adopting strategies for transferring to a sustainable development path, working out sets of sustainable development indicators, and initiating Local Agenda 21 processes. Svetlana Chernikova has been participating in these processes and has witnessed a significant increase in awareness of the adverse human impact on the natural environment and of the need for redefining approaches to development management. Thus, the Russian people are very knowledgeable about, and committed to the pursuit of sustainability. They have come to realize the importance of proceeding to implementation of the planned reduction of anthropogenic impact on nature. Both local grass roots and high level action in Russia is evidence of the strong and growing interest in sustainability.

 

In order to take concrete steps towards sustainability, we need instruments to measure the extent of environmental impact and keep track of its dynamics. Among the most efficient and informative instruments suitable to this purpose is a complex indicator of sustainable development - the Ecological Footprint.

 

Sustainability and the Ecological Footprint

Like any responsible business that keeps track of its spending and income in order to protect its financial assets, regions need ecological accounts to protect their natural assets. That's why we are developing the Ecological Footprint, a comprehensive resource accounting system that compares people's use of nature with nature's ability to regenerate. Beyond providing a summary result, these accounts organize in consistent and comparable ways information relevant to human demand on nature. The Footprint has become a widely used measure of core sustainability aspects: overall human demand on nature compared to nature’s regenerative capacity as well as resource distribution among people.

 

Barriers on the way towards sustainability

Though attracting ever growing interest and activity, the Sustainable Development and Local Agenda 21 processes are restrained by some “barriers”, namely:

·         the lack of measurable and specific principles of Sustainable Development concept and the lack of instruments for keeping track of the actual advances towards sustainable development;

·         a language barrier which largely prevents the Russian general public from comprehension of the existing world-wide experience in development and implementation of instruments to measure the advances towards sustainable development.

 

Overcoming the barrier

We believe that the mentioned barriers can be overcome by undertaking the following activities:

·         Translating and adapting the Ecological Footprint into a format comprehensible to the general public in Russia will allow Russians to take an active role in developing instruments to measure the advances towards sustainable development;

·         Creating a space for gathering information and exchanging experience on implementation of steps towards sustainability. For the Russian Federation, with its vast territory, this task can be most efficiently accomplished by establishing an electronic network interacting with/linked to the world-wide network. 

 

The SGI proposal focus

In this context, our SGI proposal will be focused on:

·         Ecological Footprint information dissemination interaction with the Ecological Footprint designers is essential for getting reliable information about accounting procedures, as well as for correct adaptation of the information and for getting advice in cases of difficulties);

·         Creation of space for initiation of discussions and exchange of experience on the Ecological Footprint implementation in Russia and Russian language-speaking countries (CIS) (a feedback is essential for keeping track of the Ecological Footprint application results and enrichment of the available approaches).

 

With the vast land and natural resource base combined with an inspired and dedicated Russian people, Russia represents a phenomenal opportunity for the sustainability movement.

 

Project activities

 

With a view to solving the problems outlined, we are formulating the following objectives and are going to take the following steps to their implementation:

 

Objective 1: Establish a Russian node of the Ecological Footprint Network.

The Footprint Network will serve the expanding community of practitioners, educators, scientists, businesses, and governments that are interested in making sustainability specific. In addition, the Network will create ever-improving standards for Footprint applications, advance the scientific research underlying the analyses, and develop effective ways to communicate findings. The Russian node will help promote them within Russia.

 

The network offers extensive opportunities, e.g., considerable openness, strength, common interests, reliability, and wide scope for research. However, we are sure to encounter certain difficulties in our work, e.g., the need in adaptation to various educational levels and experiences. The network enables open and common expression of opinions but also implies the people’s learning to understand one another and one another’s interests.

 

Ecological Footprint accounts allow national, regional or local governments to track changes in their region's biological capacity over time. They also give regions the ability to monitor their population's demand on nature specific to residential consumption, producing value added, generating exports, and assessing the ecological capacity embodied in imports upon which the region depends. This helps in evaluating a region's constraints or future liabilities in comparison with other regions in the world, and in identifying opportunities to defend or improve the quality of life within the region. Further, the Footprint allows governments to become more specific about sustainability. They can use these accounts to support their training of staff and for communicating issues with officials and the public.

 

Footprint accounts add value to existing data sets on production, trade, and environmental performance by providing a comprehensive way to interpret them. For instance, the accounts can help guide 'environmental management systems' by offering a framework for gathering and organizing data, setting targets, and tracking progress. The accounts can also serve environmental reporting requirements, and inform strategic decision making for regional economic development.

 

Launching the Footprint Network at the seminar-training may encourage a number of regions to actually use the accounts. The more regions use the accounts, the more Footprint results can be compared among various regions. Also, an increasing number of regions will be able to make a strong case for sustainability and become leaders not merely for a sustainable world, but for a future where each region can more effectively secure its quality of life within the ecological capacity of the planet.

 

To accomplish this task, we are planning to take the following steps (activities):

 

·         providing reliable information on Ecological Footprint and Ecological Footprint accounting technique; adaptation of this information to the Russian Federation;

·         offering new information about the Ecological Footprint accounting experience in various regions of the world;

·         providing analytical information on comparative assessments to be made by the world-wide Ecological Footprint Network expert group;

·         giving advice on how to overcome difficulties in Ecological Footprint accounting for specific regions;

·         producing publications on the new experience in information dissemination and Ecological Footprint accounting for specific regions of the RF to be gained by Russian network participants;

·         communicating information about the Russian experience to the world-wide Ecological Footprint and ELP Network;

·         supporting the interactions and communication between Russian and foreign organizations interested in Ecological Footprint applications and sustainability;

·         organizing cyber-discussions on Ecological Footprint reduction possibilities.

 

Objective 2: Participate in the new Footprint Network and develop applications that are consistent with the Footprint standards. This objective will be achieved by:

·         disseminating experience of Ecological Footprint accounting consistent with the existing standards;

·         enriching the world practice with Russian accounting results;

·         arranging discussions on Ecological Footprint reduction possibilities based on the accounting results.

 

Objective 3: Training of sustainability leaders for the organization in Russia.

The central activity will be a small 3-day seminar-training with Mathis Wackernagel, bringing together key local actors (practitioners, governmental and non-governmental stakeholders) and international experts from various regions. Based on our previous experience, we have found that workshops are an effective and efficient way to develop a process of collaboration for advancing theoretical and practical approaches to Ecological Footprint accounting, exchange of experience, further development of Ecological Footprint accounting techniques and methods, and strengthening awareness of the problem of interest.

The seminar-training will accomplish the following tasks:

·         Indicating the place of Ecological Footprint among other sustainable development indicators; providing prompt and reliable information about the Ecological Footprint, Ecological Footprint accounting, and Ecological Footprint accounting experience in various regions of the world;

·         Providing analytical information on comparative assessments to be made by the Ecological Footprint world-wide network expert group;

·         Giving advice in cases of difficulties with Ecological Footprint accounting for specific regions; adaptation of this information to the Russian Federation (RF);

·         Leader training on: the enhancement of leadership skills; specific aspects of network activities; specific aspects of the work with various target groups; Ecological Footprint accounting practice consistent with the existing standard procedure; interactive methods in working out strategies for Ecological Footprint information dissemination among various population groups;

·         Compiling methodical guidelines on Ecological Footprint accounting in the RF; preparation of the Ecological Footprint dissemination plan (including techniques, mechanisms and barrier overcoming) for the provinces; identification of the prerequisites to the Russian node interaction with the Ecological Footprint Network

 

Objective 4: Communicate results to government, media, and NGO’s

There are the following communication paths for achieving this objective:

·         Via network participants in various regions: website www.la21.nw.ru

·         Via other networks: Ecological North-West Line, Ecoline, ELP Alumni Network, Ecological Footprint Network, NGO Development Centre (St. Petersburg), Information Center of the Independent Women’s Forum  (Moscow), etc.

·         Via articles in journals, e.g., St. Petersburg State University Bulletin (Vestnik SPbSU), “Ecochronicle” journal, the St. Petersburg District N 8 Municipal Council newspaper, Bulletin of Information Center of the Independent Women’s Forum (Moscow), “Volna” ecological journal (Irkutsk), etc.

·         Via presentations at seminar-training and conferences

·         Via electronic channels (e-mail) (distribution of the activity results to the partners).

 

Objective 5: Publish educational materials

This objective will be achieved via publishing prompt and reliable information about:

·         Ecological Footprint;

·         Experience in Ecological Footprint accounting and also via summarizing the analytical information on the comparative assessments based on the Ecological Footprint experience in various regions of the world.

Possible ways to this end include:

·         Electronic publications at www.la21.nw.ru

·         Paper publications: articles in journals and newspapers

·         Separate editions: brochures and leaflets (with financial support from St. Petersburg municipal authorities).

 

Objective 6: Promote cooperation between Environmental Leadership Program Alumni and Russian node of the Ecological Footprint Network

Hopefully, dissemination of information about the work of the Russian node of the Ecological Footprint Network will draw ELP Alumni’s attention and increase interest in measuring the anthropogenic impacts on the nature. We also hope that ELP Alumni will exchange the Ecological Footprint accounting experience.

 

Target groups:

 

Target groups include academic groups, NGO’s, and government agencies interested in applying the Footprint.

Suitable as target groups are various levels (regional, city, municipalities, NGO), i.e., organized parties interested in taking on the Footprint in a standardized way so that the results could be compared.

 

At present, the greatest interest in Ecological Footprint is demonstrated by:

-          authorities (they regard Ecological Footprint as a technique for assessing the region’s situation and potential and comparison with other regions, as well as a planning tool);

-          NGOs (they regard Ecological Footprint as a source of information about the region’s situation and development trends, as a means of comparison with other regions, and as a technique for determining the region’s own Ecological Footprint);

-          educational institutions (they regard Ecological Footprint as a means of making more specific the practical information which provides insight into sustainable development and our impact on the environment);

-          scientific organizations (they regard Ecological Footprint as a technique for analyzing the existing impacts of regional anthropogenic activities on the natural environment).

These stakeholders were arranged into target groups based on the existing interests. Business has not demonstrated an interest in the subject as yet and will expectedly be involved later.

 

Participation criteria:

For region and city levels, good contacts with Administration (or direct participation of Administration) are extremely important for successful Ecological Footprint accounting.

Obligatory criteria include:

·         activity: practical application of the experience gained and communication of  the results to the network.

Desirable criteria include:

·         transparency: dissemination of the information gathered

·         inter-sector interaction: communications with various sectors during the Ecological Footprint work

 

What has already been done:

ELP Alumni are encouraged to build on their Leadership Change Contracts for developing SGI proposals. Alumni partners work together, before submitting the proposal.

 

The Ecological Footprint Network attracts much interest in Russia. We had e-mail and telephone contacts with many Russian regions and organizations that are potentially interested in taking part in the Russian node of Ecological Footprint Network. Today we have more than 20 participants from different parts of Russia who have an interest in Footprint accounting from: Komi Republic, Gelendzhik, Korolev, Saint-Petersburg, Moscow, Novosibirsk, Irkutsk, Ulan-Ude, Saratov, Barnaul, and two countries – Moldova and Kazakhstan.

 

We have organized an initiative group on establishing the Russian node of the Ecological Footprint Network; these are 6 high-quality persons able to support the work of the Russian node. We have studied and translated into Russian a lot of Ecological Footprint information. Nowadays, we are preparing information materials for website publication.

 

We concluded an agreement with the Saint-Petersburg State University Webmaster on providing an institutional home for website of the Russian node of the Ecological Footprint Network.

 

We have been in contact with Mathis Wackernagel since August 2003. He regularly supplies us with new information about the work and progress with the Ecological Footprint Network, as well as about the “Quality Standards” development and the Footprint in general.

 

We have been in regular contact with Dr. Robin Marsh, Director of the Beahrs Leadership Program at UC Berkeley. Robin has been providing us with advice on Network development.

 

Minimizing Risks and Uncertainties

 

Having already established a website and developed connections with a large number of interested organizations, we do not anticipate major uncertainties in this project if we can garnish the necessary resources for the project. The main obstacles we anticipate are the following two:

1.        Not enough participants are able to apply the Footprint for lack of resources

 (remedy: help them reduce the project and just do an informational campaign using the existing accounts for Russia as a whole.)

2.        Finding a good date for the seminar that works for local and international participants

(remedy: allowing possibly more time until seminar is held, doing seminar as a midterm exercise, so participants are already more familiar with Footprint and will be able to ask more specific questions).

 

 

Collaboration statement

 

This will be a collaborative project involving two Beahr`s ELP Alumni, Svetlana Chernikova and Natalia Belova; one member of the UC Berkeley academic community, faculty, Dr. Robin Marsh; and researcher, extension specialist, Mathis Wackernagel.

 

Mathis Wackernagel, Ph.D. is the Founder and Executive Director of the Ecological Footprint Network, an organization which advances rigorous natural capital accounts to make sustainability requirements measurable and relevant. The mission of the Network is to help realize this vision by making sustainability requirements measurable and comprehensible through the advocacy and advancement of the Ecological Footprint. It strives to make the Ecological Footprint one of the most rigorous, relevant, and influential measures worldwide in support of global sustainability.

 

Mathis will be responsible for providing materials on Ecological Footprint accounting; informing about the world-wide network development; providing training at a seminar.

 

Robin Marsh  is  Co-Director, Beahrs Environmental Leadership Program; Academic Coordinator, Center for Sustainable Resource Development – University of California at Berkeley.

 

Robin will be responsible for reviewing seminar materials and help in preparing "lessons learned" document from Russian Ecological Footprint Network to disseminate for use and adaptation by other Environmental Leadership Program Alumni.

 

Svetlana Chernikova is Assistant Professor at the Department of Environmental Safety and Regional Sustainable Development of the Saint-Petersburg State University.  She has attended the Beahr's ELP program. Dr. Svetlana Chernikova organizes and successfully facilitates seminars and conferences addressing Sustainable Development and Local Agenda 21 issues. She leads seminars not only at the St. Petersburg University, but also those for others population groups such as authorities, NGOs, business, etc. in various regions of Russia, e.g., the Leningrad oblast, Moscow, Irkutsk and Baikal Region, Komi Republic, Petrozavodsk, Volga Region, etc.

 

Svetlana will be responsible for network coordination; adaptation of the materials; preparation of Internet-publication and paper publications; distribution of the methodical guidelines; organization of a seminar-training; making a presentation; arranging a practical course.

 

Natalia Belova  work at the  NGO "Ecocity" in the position of vice-director and environmental education trainer. Also she is the head of Environmental and Sustainable Development Research Department. She has attended the Beahr's ELP program. The sphere of her scientific interests is sustainable environmental management.

 

Natalia will be responsible for adaptation of the materials; preparation of Internet-publication and paper publications; distribution of methodical guidelines; organization of a seminar-training; making a presentation.

 

 

The Russian Working Group was organized, including:

 

1.        Svetlana Chernikova – coordinator (organizing the operation of the electronic network of participants; organizing and holding a seminar-training)

2.        Natalia Belova (organizing the operation of the electronic network of participants; organizing and holding a seminar-training)

3.        Laura Barbanel (literature translation)

4.        Vladimir Shestakov (literature adaptation and edition; preparation of guidelines to electronic publication)

5.        Dmitry Slavinsky – webmaster (website and electronic network development and maintenance)

6.        “Local Agenda Team” – students, NGO of SPbSU (volunteer work; organizing the operation of the electronic network of participants; organizing and holding a seminar-training)

7.       Municipal Council of St. Petersburg District No. 8  (providing finance for publication of brochures and leaftets informing about the Ecological Footprint Network; dissemination of information on Ecological Footprint among the St. Petersburg population).

 

Connection of proposed project with learning/skills developed during summer course at Berkeley

 

Connection to Beahrs Environmental Leadership Program:

This project is founded on an integration of lessons learnt and skills developed during the summer course at Berkeley, particularly in the following broad topics:

·         Population, Poverty and Environment;

·         Building Effective Leadership Skills;

·         Collaborative Processes for Managing Conflict;

·         Urban Environment;

·         Natural Resources and Ecosystem Management.

 

Especially helpful was the “Sustainability Workout and Ecological Footprints” Workshop of the Berkeley course developed by Mathis Wackernagel (when at Redefining Progress) to help people accelerate sustainability. This workshop constituted an interesting and important part of the Berkeley course, addressing an urgent topic, which initiated our further study and comprehension of the existing environmental problems and human impact on the environment.

Knowledge of Ecological Footprint gained from Bearhs ELP in UC at Berkeley guides the design and implementation of the proposed project.

 

Expected results and outputs

 

·         Organization of “The Russian node of Ecological Footprint Network” involving at least 20 participants from different regions of Russia;

·         Internet-publication of methodological guidelines covering the experience, best practice;

·         seminar-training organized and held to initiate the Ecological Footprint calculations in Russia;

·         More prominence and clarity about Sustainable Development challenges within the Russian Academic/NGO/government/agencies community (who are participating in our events);

·         2-3 Students’ diploma and undergraduate’s theses will be prepared on Footprint applications or related topics;

·         Ecological Footprint information incorporated into the lecture courses given at St. Petersburg State University;

·         Establishment of new inter-sector, interregional, and inter-state interactions and conversations about sustainability;

·         Analysis of Ecological Footprint applications: evaluation of learning process applications produced to help understand the scale of human impact on nature, and to what extent it helped initiate reduction of the human impact and redefine regional development management strategies;

·         Stakeholders will be supplied with methodical guidelines on Ecological Footprint accounting.

 

We hope that this project will have positive impact beyond Russia, Project results from Russia can enrich the world through the new Ecological Footprint applications and techniques. Vehicles for carrying these insights into the world are both the Ecological Footprint Network as well as the Beahr Environmental Leadership Program and its alumni.

 

Timeline and duration

 

ACTION PLAN FOR THE PROJECT