Do not believe Nord Stream 2: help us saving Kurgalskiy Peninsula!

CCB • February 5, 2018

On 6 February 2018, Nord Stream 2 AG will be hosting in Geneva a Round Table on the Biodiversity Conservation Strategy for the Kurgalsky Nature Reserve.

Why in Geneva? Apparently, because the company wants to impress the Secretariat of the Convention  on Wetlands of International Importance especially as waterfowl habitat (Ramsar Convention) and the International Union of Nature Conservation ( IUCN ), that holds the International Red List of Threatened Species,  many of which can be sacrificed by another multi-billion and truly political project.

Just a week ago a similar roundtable was held in St.Petersburg, Russia and did not impress anyone, except governmental officials and the company itself. Because local scientific community knows that company uses ‘alternative facts’ or in plain words – simply lies .

Why is it so? Simply because the company, that claims highest level of openness, transparency and public involvement in decision-making, has just persistently followed its own logic of Environmental Impact Assessment. It is based on the assumption that the chosen option of routeing the gas pipeline is the best one. And it does not matter for them that the route will pass across the Specially Protected Natural Area of the international importance, that is covered by two international conventions – HELCOM and Ramsar. If it is in business interest of a single company or national interest of a single state – it does not matter, if this area has unique nature values. Because money matters! Nature does not!

Article 4 of the Ramsar Convention leaves a possibility for a Contracting Party to delete or restrict the boundaries of a Ramsar site in case of ‘urgent national interests’. What are those and how Article 4 should be applied – read in the Guidance from Ramsar Convention.

Read more about the dirty tricks of Nord Stream 2 AG in an article

Full coverage of the independent Public Environmental Assessment of the Nord Stream 2 plans on the the Russian side of the Baltic is available here

To understand the scale of inconsistencies and falsifications – read the Summary and full Conclusions of the Public Environmental Assessment .

And even more on the matter – at the dedicated webpage for Save Kurgalskiy campaign.

Share this and spread a word! WE NEED YOUR HELP!

 

CCB is looking for a Network Officer to join our team at the CCB International Secretariat

By CCB • April 9, 2025
Coalition Clean Baltic – CCB is a politically independent network, uniting 27 environmental non-profit organizations, as well as partners and experts from 11 countries surrounding the Baltic Sea. The main goal of CCB is to promote the protection and improvement of the environment and natural resources of the Baltic Sea region by encouraging new and constructive approaches and engaging people to become part of the solution instead of part of the problem. CCB Secretariat is based in Uppsala, Sweden.

Attacks on NGOs: 570+ Organisations Join Forces to Defend Civil Society

By CCB • April 7, 2025
European civil society organisations (CSOs) are currently facing an attack coming from certain Members of the European Parliament. Spearheaded by some MEPs from the European People’s Party (EPP) and by far-right groups, this attack resorts to misleading arguments to fabricate a scandal. This portrayal has been amplified through the media, with notable exceptions of articles that attempted to clarify this misleading narrative. European CSOs are crucial to ensure the voices of citizens from different parts of Europe are heard in the EU institutions. Attacks against civil society are unfortunately not new and are exacerbated by this harmful idea. Furthermore, for-profit corporate lobbying is through the roof when compared to non-profit advocacy. In 2024, the 50 corporations with the largest lobbying budgets collectively spent nearly €200 million on lobbying the EU alone (66% more than in 2015). Comparing this to the funding environmental NGOs receive under the LIFE programme - €15.6 million annually of a €700 million yearly budget - truly shows the weakness of this ‘scandal’. This is why over 570 civil society organisations from 40 countries, including all EU Member States, have joined forces to call on those in power to act now and ensure that civil society is adequately funded and enabled to share our crucial perspectives . In this statement, we address: The source of this false narrative; Inaccurate claims made about how CSOs obtain and use funding; Why it’s paramount that CSOs receive sufficient funding; The need for civil dialogue to enable CSOs participation. Democracy is about the right of citizens to be collectively heard for building an inclusive society and a shared European future; properly funded independent CSOs are a crucial tool for that. We call on decision-makers to ensure civil society organisations can thrive and play their role in interacting with policy-makers in order to have a more fully informed decision-making process. Read the full statement here . -END Civil Society Europe (CSE) is the coordination of civil society organisations at EU level. Through its membership, CSE unites EU-level membership-based organisations that reach out to millions of people active in or supported by not-for-profits and civil society organisations across the EU. CSE was created by several civil society organisations as a follow-up to the European Year of Citizens and was established as an international not-for-profit under Belgian law in 2016. Since then, it has become the point of reference for EU institutions on transversal issues concerning civil dialogue and civic space.