Just 5 days after US congress held China’s quest for resources, which largely omitted Sino-Russian resource trade issues, WWF Russia released English edition of a comprehensive analysis of environmental consequences of cooperation between Russia and China presented in a collection of essays written by 18 authors coming from diverse backgrounds. RwB Coalition coordinators and experts actively participated in preparation of this book, which was published in Russian version in 2010. New English edition is supplemented with updates on most important recent developments.
SEE: Environmental Risks to Sino-Russian transboundary cooperation: from brown plans to a green strategy. WWF’s Trade and Investment Programme report. Evgeny Simonov, Evgeny Shvarts, Lada Progunova (Eds.). Moscow-Vladivostok-Harbin: WWF, 2011. DOWNLOAD
The study analyzes development strategies and programs of the border regions; programs of transboundary cooperation between Russia and China; environmental risks associated with individual resource-intensive sectors; as well as approaches to the greening of economies and natural resource management in both countries. It also provides practical recommendations aimed at the governments of Russia and China, as well as at the environmental and business communities in these two countries.
Book contains several essays very relevant to RwB work: analysis of Sino-Russian Regional Cooperation Program by Oksana Yengoyan, paper on cooperation and competition for transboundary water resources by Vladimir Karakin, economic critique of plans to export electricity from hydropower by Konstantin Tattsenko.
RwB Coalition wants You to pay specific attention to a paper by Eugene Simonov on history and several conceptual scenarios for the future development of hydro-power in the Amur River Basin. It describes in detail history of Sino-Russian relations in the context of river basin management and joint and unilateral efforts in hydro-engineering.The paper pays specific attention to the risks associated with the Trans-Sibirskaya hydropower plant on Lower Shilka River planned by YES-Energo-a joint venture that was founded by Chinese Yangtze Power and Cyprus EurosibEnergo (belongs to Russian billionarie Deripaska). Environmental risks associated with new hydropower plants are evident, while the economic need for their construction seems questionable-and these doubts are getting stronger with time. See full PDF paper