28 April 2004 00:25
Prize fighters: Owen Bowcott reports on this year`s Goldman winners who have been recognised for their tireless
conservation efforts
Manana Kochladze has been accused of working for Russian intelligence and of being a spy for the Americans. By
training, she is an expert on the physiology of the brain.
Her mental powers, however, are now focused on preserving the environment. Last week, she received a prestigious
international award for her campaign to mitigate the impact on her native Georgia of an oil pipeline being constructed
by a consortium led by the British oil giant BP.
Work on one of the most contentious stretches of the 1,750km line is due to start shortly and Kochladze, 32, is at
the forefront of legal battles to steer it away from the landslide-prone fringes of Borjomi national park.
The Goldman prizes are worth $125,000 (pounds 71,000) to each recipient. They have been described as "the Nobel
prize for the environment". Six are given out each year to grassroots activists who have advanced conservation
causes and resisted exploitation of vulnerable natural habitats.
The citation for her prize from the San Francisco-based organisation declares: "Her fearlessness and tenacity in
the face of widespread government corruption and industry interests have won critical concessions to protect local
villagers and have prevented the environment from being steamrolled".
The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline will eventually pump a million barrels of oil a day 1,087 miles from the
Caspian Sea's gushing wells to Turkey's Mediterranean coast. British-based human rights and environmental
groups have also been at the forefront of the protest movement, warning that the subterranean pipeline may reignite
ethnic conflicts, threaten pollution and accelerate global warming. The project is underwritten by, among others,
Britain's export credit guarantee department.
Kochladze, who founded the Georgian watchdog group Green Alternative, helped to compile a 220-page dossier that
alleged the project breaches World Bank lending guidelines on 173 separate counts, including failure to consider the
danger of earthquakes or oil spills in the Turkish port of Ceyhan. It also argued that consultation with affected
villages had been inadequate.
The daughter of scientists, Kochladze trained in physiology, but says that science for science's sake felt like
a luxury compared to the immediate social and environmental crises facing her people.
Her new profession has not made her universally popular. "I have been described in the Georgian media as a
Russian spy for opposing the pipeline and also been accused of working for the Americans and Iranians," she
says.
But she is adamant that she has her country's best interests at heart. "The oil is only going through
Georgia, and has zero benefit [for most people] and little benefit for the state. The environmental danger, however, is
quite high compared to the income.
"There's a real threat to the Borjomi national park. The local mineral water brand brings in more money
than the pipeline ever will. It's a tourist area, part of our cultural heritage. The water firm employs about 25%
of the local population.
"Oil spills could result in job losses. It's an area subject to landslides. The experts told them not to
put the pipeline there. If any oil leaked out it would be catastrophic. It would pollute the source of the mineral
water.
"We never had any hope that we could stop this pipeline," she says, "the issue was to ensure that it
was in compliance with the highest international standards. Unfortunately, it is far below them.
"An advantage of the pipeline was that it would lessen tanker traffic through the Bosporus [which is dangerously
congested], but by routing it to Ceyhan, on the Mediterranean coast, they have simply displaced the problem: there are
two oil terminals unloading into the same bay, increasing the danger of tanker collision."
Work on the Borjomi section of the pipeline is due to begin when winter snows melt off the mountains, a spokesman for
BP confirms. "Extra shut-down valves will be installed in the section near Borjomi to minimise any leak," he
says. "We have done studies to ensure that appropriate measures are taken to deal with local geological
conditions.
"This was chosen as the best route. A lot of effort has gone into making sure that the people who own the land
are compensated. Many land records in Georgia were lost or inadequate; it was difficult tracking people down."
[The Guardian] |
RUSSIA IN FACTS
