Wednesday, 23rd December 2009
Scots Euro MP to tackle international role
A Scots Tory Euro MP has landed a major international role with the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the world’s largest regional security organisation.
On 1 January 2010, Struan Stevenson will be appointed the OSCE’s Personal Representative for Ecology and the Environment, having been invited by the Kazakh Government.
Taking on the remit of strengthening regional security in the OSCE area, which covers 56 participating countries spanning the geographical area from Vancouver to Vladivostok, Mr Stevenson will assess the environmental problems affecting Central Asia. Specific focus will be given to man-made ecological disasters and how they can undermine the economy of the region and lead to potential conflict.
Struan will be formally confirmed at the OSCE’s official headquarters in the Hoffburg Palace on 14 January 2010.
Kazakhstan will take over the rotating chairmanship of the OSCE from Greece in 2010. The OSCE Chairmanship is held for one calendar year.
Speaking following the announcement by Kanat Saudabayev, the Kazakh Foreign Minister, Struan Stevenson said:
"This is both a great honour and an enormous challenge. My remit is draw up a report on the environmental problems affecting Central Asia. To help achieve this I will have to visit all of the Central Asian Republics such as Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. I will spend at least a week in the Aral Sea area and a further week in the Kazakh Polygon, two of the greatest man-made environmental disasters on earth.
"The concerns of the OSCE participating States over environmental issues have increased during recent years, taking into account the growing impact of environmental factors on the prosperity, stability and security of States and the health of their populations. Environmental degradation, unsustainable use of natural resources and mismanagement in the processing and disposal of wastes, have a substantial impact on health, welfare, stability and security of States and can upset ecological systems. These factors, together with problems of access to resources and negative external effects of pollution, can cause tensions between countries. Ecological disasters resulting from natural causes, economic activities or terrorist acts, may also pose a serious threat to stability and security.
He concluded:
“My final report will be presented to a full plenary sitting of the OSCE in Vienna next winter and hopefully I will be able to offer some solutions to the many major issues affecting the environmental and economic dimension of Central Asia."
Notes to Editors:
1. The Polygon
In the remote area of Semipalatinsk in East Kazakhstan, near the borders of China and Siberia, Stalin created the ‘Polygon’ - a vast, top-secret, nuclear weapons testing zone, using the one and a half million citizens who lived there as human guinea pigs. From 1949 until 1990 the Polygon was the scene for 603 nuclear explosions, many of them above ground and in the atmosphere. The legacy of these 603 nuclear explosions, the equivalent of 20,000 Hiroshima bombs, is horrifying. Illness and disease are rife. Cancers are commonplace. Children are born with chronic anaemia and leukaemia. Awful deformities are a tragic consequence of the genetic damage suffered by the local population. Suicides, especially among teenagers and young adults are all too frequent. Now desertification, caused directly by the nuclear tests, is bringing new health problems to the local population.
2. The Aral Sea
Mismanagement of irrigation projects by the Soviets has caused the level of this inland sea to drop by a staggering 13 metres, decreasing its size by 50%. In turn, the change in size has changed the climate in the area, with swirling salt and dust storms causing devastating erosion over an area of three million hectares. The Aral Sea was once the fourth largest inland body of water on earth, with a surface area of 66,000 square km. In 1960, the mean water level was 53.4 metres. Its subsequent destruction constitutes one of the biggest man-made environmental disasters in history and has not only laid waste to vast areas of once productive farmland, but has devastated the health of the local population affecting a number of the Central Asian Republics.
3. Struan Stevenson MEP
In his capacity as a Euro MP Struan Stevenson spearheaded an international campaign to raise awareness and secure aid for the victims of radiation in the Semipalatinsk Region of Kazakhstan, where the Soviets tested 603 nuclear devices from 1949-1990, leaving an appalling legacy of pollution, deprivation, illness and death. He was awarded with an honorary doctorate in Science from the State Medical Academy in Semipalatinsk in recognition of his efforts and on his third visit to Kazakhstan in 2003, he was made an Honorary Citizen of Semipalatinsk.
In September 2004 he won a $50,000 prize in an international essay competition sponsored by the US-based John Templeton Foundation for an essay entitled ‘CRYING FOREVER’ charting the suffering of the people of Semipalatinsk. Struan donated the entire $50,000 to Mercy Corps Scotland to assist with their work in Semipalatinsk. He toured an exhibition of photographs taken in Semipalatinsk, from the Scottish Parliament, to the European Parliament, the Department for International Development in Whitehall, the UN headquarters in New York and finally, to Almaty, Astana and Semipalatinsk itself in Kazakhstan. In 2006 he published a book also entitled ‘CRYING FOREVER’ detailing his experiences in Kazakhstan. The book was launched at the UN Headquarters in New York and all proceeds from its sale were presented by Struan to the Children's Hospital in Semipalatinsk, totalling over $20,000.
In January 2007 Struan was decorated by the President of Kazakhstan with the ‘Order of Shapagat’ or ‘Mercy’ award for his humanitarian work in Semipalatinsk. In November 2007 the Academic Council of the Semey State Shakarim University conferred the title of Honorary Professor on Struan and awarded him the Shakarim University Medal for “activity in consolidation of the collaboration between Kazakhstan and the European Parliament, for his propaganda of the problems of Semey Nuclear Testing Polygon and for his charitable measures, done for the Semey Region.” In a ceremony in the Kazakh Mazhilis (Parliament) in Astana in November 2007 he also launched the Russian edition of his book ‘Crying Forever’ and handed over a further $10,000 to the clinic in the remote Kazakh village of Sarzhal. In September 2009 he delivered a further $5,000 donation that he had raised through Mercy Corps to the village of Znamenka, to help them to restore their water supply.
