The West Caucasus under threat

By Vestnik Kavkaza

This year 19 new objects have been added to the UNESCO World Heritage list. 14 of them are artificial and five natural. UNESCO decided to preserve the Kremlin and Red Square, the Kizhi churchyard, the historic center of Yaroslavl and the Solovetsky Archipelago.

Meanwhile, according to a member of the International Preservation Council, Irina Markina, “not only those who manage World Heritage facilities doubt about the development of Yaroslavl. There are a lot of problems with the development of city systems and the development of certain complexes. This especially concerns the Cathedral Church. There was a fight between the administration of the city and such structures as the Union of Architects, the Academy of Architecture and Construction Sciences. They held a lot of sessions and made statements in the mass media. They say that the new cathedral is twice as high as the former, destroyed church. If we continue to develop the centre of Yaroslavl in such a way, we will lost it completely.”

At the same time, there were no disputes about the Kremlin and Red Square. The scientific secretary of the Heritage Council of the Union of Architects of Russia, Irina Zaika, states that “preliminary decisions which appeared on the website of the World Heritage Committee were adopted without changes. However, in recent years the Kremlin hasn’t presented any report on its preservation. Moreover, there were several constructions undertaken on its territory that were not agreed with the World Heritage Center. I mean the 17th bulwark of the Kremlin, which is still under reconstruction. I mean the helicopter site for the heavy helicopter MI-8. I mean the Kutafya Tower, we all have seen the disfigured Kutafya Tower for guests to pass by. These projects should be presented at the earliest stage and be agreed with the World Heritage Committee.”

UNESCO is worried about preservation of natural sites of Russia – Baikal, the virgin forests of Komi, the Golden Mountains of Altai, the volcanoes of Kamchatka and the West Caucasus. The president of the Union of Architects of Russia, Alexei Butorin, said about the West Caucasus as a site of World Heritage: “This site is discussed intensively; a well-known problem is discussed – a probable change of the site’s borders, considering the Lago Naki Plateau. The Caucasus Reserve is included in the site, and the Lago Naki Plateau is part of it. For a long time the Resorts of the North Caucasus, the administration of Adygea and the administration of the Krasnodar Territory have been discussing the possibility of using a part of the Lago Naki Plateau for development of mountain-skiing infrastructure. The problem was studied by the mission of the International Union for the Protection of Nature, which visited the West Caucasus last year. A compromise was found: a part of the Lago Naki Plateau is not an outstanding natural masterpiece, it was significantly transformed by pasturage. If a re-nomination is held, and it is proved that the exception of the part of the Lago Naki Plateau doesn’t threat the world value of the territory, such a re-nomination can be adopted by the World Heritage Committee. It means that the site would have new borders, considering new big parts in the south. These are parts of the Sochi National Park. The added territory is much bigger than the part which is planned to be eliminated from the Lago Naki Plateau as a world heritage site.”