Chemical and biological pollution in the Amur River is a transboundary (transnational) issue. A chemical spill in Jilin, People's
Republic of China in November 2005 brought world attention ot the plight of Khabarovsk's residents, but chronic and continuing discharges
of industrial waste and municipal sewage to the southern tributaries and bank of the Amur River are problems that cannot be resolved
by the Russian government alone. Remarkably, the Russian Federation has delegated to the Khabarovsk Krai primary responsiblity
for working with the Chinese to resolve these problems, and much of that responsibility has fallen to Viktor Bardyuk, Chief of the
Department of Environmental Protection of the Khabarovsk Krai Ministry of Natural Resources. Mr. Bardyuk requested that his
program in the U.S. include some investigation of transboundary water dispute resolution mechanisms and the Oregon State University
Institute for Water and Watersheds responded with a half day program of instruction.
To the right, Professor Aaron Wolf (right) speaks
to Mr. Bardyuk in the Institute's computer laboratory.
Viktor Bardyuk met with the Institute for Water and Watersheds at Oregon State University to learn how the Institute uses good science
and common interests to create consensus on transboundary water disputes. The program included an introduction to the Institute's
Transboundary Freshwater Dispute Database. The Institute's services as a United Nations sponsored, non-governmental mediator
were of particular interest. Pictured left to right are Bardyuk, Dr. Aaron Wolf (Professor of Geography at OSU), Dr.
Michael Campana (Professor of Geosciences at OSU and Institute Director), Thomas Benke (Managing Member ECO International LLC and
Director of PKSCA Environmental Programs), William Patterson (member of the Lewis and Clark Law School Jessup International Moot Court competition
national championship team), and Irina Belyakova (translator).
Viktor Bardyuk also met with Tom Laurie, Government Liason for the Washington Department of Ecology in Olympia, Washington to discuss
the inter-governmental relationship between the State of Washington and British Columbia. This model for transboundary cooperation
for pollution control was of interest because it is independent of federal oversight and control. Among the more interesting
ideas presented to Mr. Bardyuk was the concept of a "Task Force" of interested stakeholders appointed by the State of Washington
and Province of British Columbia to address a particular environmental problem. A cooperative, consensus building approach to
dispute resolution is favored by the Khabarovsk Krai for many reasons, not the least being the Krai's inability to force compliance
with environmental norms in China.
