On January 29th, 2021 an internet-Event on Pandemic and Barents Region Environmental Danger was held within the framework of the World Social Forum - 2021 where experts from different countries of the Barents Sea Region discussed the worsening of the environmental situation in the Euro-Arctic region during the pandemic.
It was organized by a newly established Barents Region Independent Ecology Society (BRIES) which is a broad association of ecologists, environmentalists and journalists of the countries of the Barents Sea region.
The event started with the minute of silence in memory of Kurt Oddekalv a known Norwegian environmentalist who tragically died recently. During the whole event all the speakers supported the idea of establishment of “Kurt Oddekalv Award” to support the environment activity in the Barents Sea region. The governing body of the Foundation should consist of representatives of all the Barents countries. It was specially underlined that representatives of Iceland, the Faroe island and Greenland should be invited.
The speakers stressed that in the Euro-Arctic region, environmental problems have worsened over the year of Pandemic, and independent NСOs are in distress - thousands of nature protection structures have closed here. The new association of BRIES in these conditions is called upon to play a new reuniting role for the common struggle for a better cleaner World.
The situation in the region is heterogenic - for example some harmful enterprises in the Russian Arctic are closed, and their neighbors are growing rapidly - for example, in Norway.
New investors from Germany and the United States are coming to Scandinavian countries, but the question remains open: are they ready to spread new eco-standards here, or do they want to parasitize on loopholes in local legislations?
The speakers emphasized the inadmissibility of closure of our struggle within the regional framework. The fight to preserve the environment must be truly international.
Daria Mitina, noting the extremely important role played by the World Social Forum and congratulating the participants of the event on its 20th anniversary, called for a dramatic improvement in coordination with the WSF. Lack of experience did not allow the representative of BRIES to speak at the Plenary meeting of the WSF, but at the next WSF BRIES should report to friends and comrades from different countries about the environmental situation in the Barents Sea region in order to jointly search for solutions to worsening problems and establish contacts with fraternal organizations.
Johan Beckman, a journalist, public figure, and human rights activist from Finland, notes that in his country, the environmental agenda has disappeared from the media altogether: "Hybrid wars and threats from Russia are in the foreground in the media. There are simply no discussions on important environmental issues in the Finnish press, as this state of affairs is beneficial for the government."
Vasyli Borisov, co-chair of the Whale Protection Fund, emphasized the need to stop driving whales in Taiji Island and the Faroe Island, and the ongoing commercial whaling of Norway and Japan, which are destroying ocean ecosystems already under unprecedented anthropogenic pressure.
Speaking about the situation in Sweden, Tord Bjork, a politician and head of the Green Union, stressed that the country's authorities filter environmental issues, allowing news outlets to publish only small, insignificant, environmental topics.
Before and during the Event the organizers received written requests from friends from different countries of the region. For example, a friend from Norway suggested that BRIES send a joint letter to the representative office of the American company Orion Mine Finance, which two years ago became an investor in the Nussir mine, asking whether the American company intends to practice the old, barbaric method of depositing waste in the sea, or if, as a representative of the country, which has signed the Convention on the Prohibition of such Discharges, is ready to make the process of mining more environmentally friendly?
The participants criticized the organization of the Event because of many faults starting from quality of sound and light and ending with public opinion coverage and suggested to consider the Event as a “training session” and carefully study all the mistakes during the preparation of the event because otherwise the BRIES cannot represent its participants at the WSF.