Environmental Pollutants Finally Marked for Removal
For Stepan Vasylechko, head of the Syanky Village Council, December 2006 was the moment he tasted victory. After six years of struggle, it was finally decided at that time that 13 tons of unusable hazardous pesticides that had lain uncovered within the village limit for years would be removed in 2007. This long-awaited news was announced by Stefan Tatukh, deputy head of the State Department for Environment Protection in Lviv region during a press conference organized by USAID-supported WETI, a journalist-based NGO and the village’s partner in resolving this protracted and serious ecological problem.
In 2001, Syanky – known for its pristine and striking natural surroundings, and part of the East Carpathians International Biosphere Preserve – became notorious throughout Ukraine and Poland for a dilapidated pesticide storehouse containing 11 tons of the hazardous material.
Every time it rained, streams of toxic water flowed to a small brook, the wellspring of the Syan River. The Syan carries its water to the Visla River, which runs through Poland, and eventually to the Baltic Sea. The hazardous chemicals discharged a dreadful stench and threatened ecological disaster.
To avert catastrophe, Council Head Vasylechko decided to act. He sent letters to everyone from the local district council to the Parliament and the Presidential Secretariat, only to receive standard letters of acknowledgement in return.
The situation began changing when WETI decided to get involved to draw attention to the problem. The NGO developed the idea for an eco-drawing contest for Syanky schoolchildren, asking them to depict Syan River landscapes. No one could have expected that harmless renditions done by young artists would bring heat upon their teachers. As it turned out, government officials were more concerned with who gave the assignment to grimly depict the small village rather than with the dire environmental problem facing the small community. Unexpected negative bureaucratic reaction for the contest spurred Vasylechko to write one more letter, this time to Poland’s Minister of the Environment.
The rather radical step brought international experts to the village to inspect the problem. International media attention and the ensuing uproar forced local government officials to seal 11 tons of the toxic pesticide into reinforced concrete containers, which were guaranteed for 50 years. The problem had been partially solved. But within a year, six of the 20 containers had cracks and the chemicals began to seep out.
In 2006, when four more containers ruptured, Vasylechko approached WETI for help again. To make Syanky pesticide-free once and for all, WETI volunteers decided to conduct an advocacy campaign. With UCAN/USAID support, they launched an information campaign and conducted public hearings, and invited Ukrainian and Polish journalists to visit the storehouse. National newspapers, TV and radio stations, NGOs activists and scientists joined WETI’s informational campaign. Heavy mass media bombardment had the desired effect; officials finally ordered approximately 4 tons of the toxic chemical to be shipped from Syanky in August. They also allocated additional funds in the budget to entirely remove the pesticide from the village in 2007.
To spread the success of the Syanky advocacy campaign, WETI held educational workshops in rural schools in communities in four Carpathian oblasts that faced similar problems with neglected chemical deposits. They explained the danger of grazing herds near pesticide storehouses, handed out informational leaflets and posted poison warning on local storehouses. Early in December, WETI held a public hearing on environmental issues for residents of Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Chernivtsi and Zakarpattya regions. The overall goal was to assess the extent of the pesticide problem and to de-termine the most optimal ways for its resolution.
Currently, WETI is preparing to present a documentary entitled The War on Pesticides: the WETI Files. The film traces the origin of pesticides, explains their influence on health and ecology as well as gives cases of successful problem solutions, including the one implemented by Stepan Vasylechko.
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WETI volunteers, biology students from a nearby university, take soil samples near a cracked container to test for pesticides
Photo Credit: WETI |
Students of secondary school and WETI volunteers near the pesticide storage in Dozhok village
Photo Credit: WETI |
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Oksana Zachko, a WETI volunteer, hangs a poster on the pesticide storage warning about the danger of using this chemical for agricultural purposes
Photo Credit: WETI |
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