2014 Olympics in Sochi

Mistakes of the Olympics

1. Wrong place has been chosen. From the point of view of nature protection, the entire mountain cluster is included in the Sochi National Park, a specially protected natural area with the largest number of species in Russia. In terms of tourism development, the valley of river Mzymta has a capacity of no more than 30 thousand people a year. In preparation for the Olympics, the infrastructure was developed for 100–120 thousand people. There are simply not enough slopes for a large ski resort.
2. Because of the haste, engineering and geological surveys were not carried out. When developing projects, only literature data has been used, and even those were carefully selected. This led to odd incidents, when in the design documentation for the development objects of the mountain cluster there were mentions of dolphins dwelling there and nesting of pelicans.
3. The projects themselves were of very poor quality and did not take into account extremely difficult natural conditions. As a result, a completely regular storm washed away the port that was still under construction. During a water rise in river Mzymta temporary barracks for the workers have been washed away. In both cases, people have died. A number of development objects of the mountain cluster are located in the area of powerful landslides, which began to move.
4. Due to the lack of basic information on the territory (places of concentration of ungulates in winter, migration routes), the organizers of Sochi-2014 did not carry out measures to compensate for the damage, which could somewhat reduce it.
5. During the construction process there was practically no monitoring of impacts on biological objects, large mammals in particular.
6. In the end, river Mzymta basically lost its fishery importance due of the construction of the senseless combined road Adler-Krasnaya Polyana, where 20% of the entire Black Sea trout used to spawn (salmon included in the Red Book of the Russian Federation and the International Red Book). About 3 thousand hectares of one of the rarest forests of Russia of Tertiary period with a significant share of yew and boxwood have been destroyed; wintering grounds of ungulates (wild boar, red deer) on Psekhako ridge were destroyed; as well as migratory routes of bears and mountain goats on Aibga ridge.
7. Under the pretext of the Olympic Games needs, environmental protection legislation in the area of specially protected natural areas and ecological expertise has been significantly weakened. For example, in 2006, the Law on Specially Protected Natural Territories has been amended, which resulted in the permission to hold mass sports events in national parks (which was previously strictly prohibited). Since January 2007, the state environmental expertise of the facilities under construction has been canceled in Russia. At the end of December 2009, State Duma has approved another change in the Forest Code, which allowed cutting of rare species of trees and shrubs for the construction of Olympic facilities.
8. The government refused to provide financial support (about 1 billion rubles) for the post-Olympic rehabilitation program of the territory. The program was developed in 2012 by leading experts of Russian science and international experts from the International Union for Conservation of Nature and UNDP.