Holiday romance
The Lagonaki plateau is one of the most beautiful places in the Western Caucasus, which means that its transformation into a resort and entertainment area was only a matter of time.
Until recent years, the plateau enjoyed a more or less dual protection status: it is part of not only the Caucasus State Nature Biosphere Reserve but also the Western Caucasus World Heritage Site. But such a tempting slice of nature couldn't remain untouched for long.
Environmentalists from the ANO "Civil Initiative Against Environmental Crime" obtained official correspondence between the Federal Agency for Tourism (abolished in October 2022, functions transferred to the Ministry of Economic Development), JSC "Corporation Tourism.RF" and NAO "Krasnaya Polyana", as well as master plan the future ski resort "Lagonaki".
How do businessmen and officials plan to circumvent Russian and international environmental legislation? And what environmental damage will they cause?
"NeMoscow" met with investigation, conducted by the ANO "Civil Initiative Against Environmental Crime" and spoke with its director, Dmitry Shevchenko.
"The development plans for the Lagonaki plateau have been going on since 2010, and discussions began even earlier," says Dmitry Shevchenko. "So, what's the catch with the very idea of building a ski resort on this plateau? Firstly, there's basically no space left in Krasnaya Polyana: everything has already been divided up and redistributed. And now companies interested in ski projects are looking for new sites. No one really wants to go to the North Caucasus. So, for many years, the idea has been floating around: why not build a ski resort in Adygea, right next to Krasnaya Polyana? There are advantages there for developing a ski resort: it's on the northern slope of the Greater Caucasus, the snow there is better quality than in Krasnaya Polyana, and it stays longer."
But there is a significant drawback: to the great regret of future developers, the Lagonaki plateau is part of the Caucasus Nature Reserve, and the Caucasus Nature Reserve, in turn, has been part of the Western Caucasus World Heritage Site since 1999—there are only 11 such sites in Russia.
When the resort's construction was first discussed in 2010, the project was deemed impossible to implement for precisely these reasons. The issue with the nature reserve was resolved: in 2021, Mishustin issued a decree establishing the Lagonaki Biosphere Reserve. Under its regulations, construction of various physical education and sports facilities on the Lagonaki plateau is permitted. While the beneficiaries of the future resort have resolved the issue at the national level, from the perspective of Russia's international obligations and international law, construction on this territory is still prohibited. — Dmitry explains.
So, talk had long been going on: should we move this very World Heritage site? And then, from talk to action.
In order to change the boundaries of the Western Caucasus site, it was necessary to submit an updated draft of the site's boundaries to the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, justify the need for changes, and obtain approval of the draft at a session of the World Heritage Committee.
The first attempt was made back in 2014, but it caused too much of a scandal, and Russia was forced to withdraw the project for a new nomination of the “Western Caucasus” object.
And so, D.G. Sekachev, Deputy General Director of the recently created JSC "Corporation Tourism.RF," invited G.V. Prokuronov, Deputy Head of the then-existing Federal Agency for Tourism, to review the master plan for the development of the Lagonaki tourist area.
The deputy general director of the Krasnaya Polyana NAO informs him that "the Russian Federation, through the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources and the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has notified the World Heritage Committee that it is considering the possibility of constructing the Lagonaki mountain resort on a limited area of the Lagonaki plateau, in the Sukhoi Kurdzhips River basin. Therefore, both the intention to establish the resort and its location are the official position of the Russian Federation and are enshrined in an official document submitted to the UNESCO World Heritage Center."
In other words, a second attempt to revise the boundaries of the VPN object took place.
Incidentally, the master plan specifies that all facilities of the future resort will be located outside the boundaries of the "Western Caucasus" site. However, judging by the resort's plans, the authors assume that the UNESCO World Heritage Center has already accommodated them and excluded from the "Western Caucasus" site anything that would interfere with the ski resort.
Although a year before these letters were written, a resolution was adopted at the 44th session of the World Heritage Committee, which, in particular, stated:
"The World Heritage Committee (...) notes with concern that the construction of a 'mountain resort' on the Lagonaki Plateau has been confirmed. (...) The Operational Management reiterates its position that the construction of large-scale infrastructure on the property, including on the Lagonaki Plateau, would constitute grounds for inscription of the property on the List of World Heritage in Danger, in accordance with paragraph 180."
Russia corresponded with UNESCO and awaited the arrival of a monitoring mission from the World Heritage Centre. Furthermore, the entire matter was supposed to be examined in more detail during the 45th session of the World Heritage Committee, scheduled to take place in Kazan in July 2022. However, for obvious reasons, both expected events failed to materialize, and the matter remained unsolved.
"We saw from this correspondence, from this master plan, that Russia insisted on revising the boundaries of the 'Western Caucasus' so as to specifically exclude areas for the resort. This is nonsense, it's absurd. This has never happened before in the history of the World Heritage Convention—that they simply cut out a piece of heritage for a commercial project and claim it has supposedly lost its value.", - Dmitry Shevchenko comments on the situation.
"It has lost its value" was practically the only possible justification for revising the site's boundaries: an honest explanation like "there's a desperate need to build a resort" would hardly have pleased the UNESCO Committee. Therefore, the Russian side argued that the area in question 1) had already suffered fatally from overgrazing and 2) continued to suffer from uncontrolled tourism.
Neither of these claims, however, is supported by documents. On the contrary, the materials from the Caucasus Nature Reserve cited in the investigation suggest that the areas most affected by economic activity are gradually "approaching their pre-grazing state." And the estimated flow of "uncontrolled tourists" is seven to eight times higher than official data, which indicates that this flow remains well within acceptable limits.
What will “controlled tourism” bring?
— We made a preliminary damage assessment based on the materials that we have — this is not the final damage, it will most likely be greater., - Dmitry Shevchenko answers. - But it's already clear that a significant amount of soil will be removed from the plateau, containing unique vegetation, including species found nowhere else, all endemic to the Caucasus. At least 32 kilometers of temporary technical roads will be built for the resort alone, along with 36 kilometers of ski slopes and 27 kilometers of cable cars.
Soil damage will amount to tens of hectares—and this is only the preliminary minimum damage that can be expected. A water extraction facility will be built in the Sukhoi Kurdzhips River valley—it is needed for both hotels and snowmaking on the slopes. Water will be extracted upstream, and wastewater will be discharged downstream, along the Kurdzhips River valley. This will alter the hydrological regime and water quality of the Kurdzhips River.
The third aspect is that a large number of hotels will be built on forested areas. At least 62 hectares of forest will be destroyed—the equivalent of approximately 88 football fields. More than 9 trees will be cut down. Naturally, after such work, it's impossible to talk about preserving the pristine nature, as they claim in their master plans.
Back in 2021, when a biosphere reserve was established on the Lagonaki plateau without an environmental assessment or public consultation, posing a real threat of development, more than 200 scientists signed an open letter to Putin.
Here are just a few quotes from it.
"The proposed construction on the territory of the Lagonaki Highlands will inevitably lead to changes in the relief, the undercutting of slopes and, as a consequence, to the activation of avalanches, landslides, and mudflows."
"Any large-scale construction will inevitably lead to the degradation of karst landscapes and, most importantly, could disrupt and pollute clean drinking water supplies, which could have extremely negative consequences for residents of the Republic of Adygea and the Krasnodar Krai in the future. The Lagonaki Plateau should be considered, first and foremost, as a groundwater reservoir, and the design of any activity in this area should be guided by the primary objective: preserving the geological structure and hydrological regime."
"The Lagonaki Highlands are extremely important for the conservation of rare and endangered species. 196 rare species of animals, plants, and fungi have been recorded here, listed in the Russian Red Data Books of federal and regional significance. This is a record number compared to other similar areas of the Caucasus Nature Reserve."
At the end of the letter, the authors ask the president to fulfill his own order to the Russian government—to introduce a bill providing for a complete ban on the seizure of land and forest plots from state nature reserves and national parks.
It is easy to see how this order was carried out.
***
The Civil Initiative Against Environmental Crime (CIVIC) has contacted the prosecutor's office regarding a number of issues related to the planned development of the Lagonaki plateau, but has not yet received a response.
NeMoscow also sent editorial inquiries to ministries and departments.
You can read the full investigation by the ANO "Civil Initiative Against Environmental Crime" about who, how, and on what grounds plans to build the Lagonaki mountain resort in specially protected areas. HERE.
