The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Russian Olympic organizers to help make the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi green.
Sochi is located between the shores of the Black Sea and the Caucasus Mountains in Russia's Krasnodar Region. The area is renowned for its pristine and untouched setting. The efforts of UNEP to preserve the natural beauty of the area go as far as recommending that the bobsleigh and luge tracks be moved away from the Caucasus nature reserve, which is virtually untouched by human activity.
The organizers are committed to creating an environmental legacy for the future of the region and are investing $1.75 billion in energy conservation and renewable energy to offset the remaining greenhouse gas emissions from the use of electricity, air travel and ground transportation. They will also invest in reforesting the Sochi National Park.
"We developed the Sochi 2014 environmental strategy and this will ensure that the ecological situation in the Krasnodar Region is enhanced for generations to come," stressed Chernyshenko at the signing of the agreement.
This is a fantastic endeavor by UNEP and the Russian Olympic organizers as it shows the growing awareness of the impact that humans are having on the environment.
The Olympics has always been a bittersweet event because it celebrates the human spirit but at the same time it is an extremely wasteful event. Thousands of people flock to a city that has spent years overturning in anticipation of the Games and when all is said and done, the city is left decimated with massive infrastructures that no longer serve much of a purpose.
Let's hope that with UNEP's involvement in future Games, this impact can be minimized, especially in such an environmentally-sensitive area such as Sochi. The Games will certainly draw much attention to the area and increase tourism. My only hope is that all of this natural beauty isn't lost in the process.
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