VII.39 Kamchatka Volcanoes (Russian Federation)
IUCN summarised its recent report, prepared by two experts who visited this site at the invitation of the Russian Federation for Environmental Protection. IUCN reviewed a proposed mining project, whose location was determined to be about 5 km outside of the World Heritage area. The location of the mine may not pose a major environmental or aesthetic problem but would disrupt migratory wildlife of the region and fisheries resources. While the question of whether or not mining and conservation can co-exist in the area is yet to be answered, the Organization financing the mining company has placed the maintenance of the integrity of the World Heritage site as one of the conditions for the granting of the loan for the mining operations to commence. The Committee noted with interest that the setting up of an International Review Panel to monitor the environmental impacts of the proposed mining project had been proposed by IUCN.
The Committee invited the State Party to provide detailed information on the proposed mining project, EIAs carried out and other pertinent information and requested IUCN and the Centre to maintain links with the proponents of the mining project and the regional authorities to explore opportunities to link the proposed mining project's environmental impact mitigation actions to the conservation and management of Kamchatka Volcanoes World Heritage site.