Public campaign #Stop_E40

From July 19, 2017

A public campaign against the construction of the E40 waterway, which is to pass along the rivers of Poland, Belarus and Ukraine. The project developers assume that E40 will become the new trade route between the ports of the Baltic and Black seas, attract investment to the region and create new jobs. Bahna is part of the environmental coalition that made a stand against the construction of the waterway. We believe the project is poorly conceived, economically unviable, and the construction of E40 would be a disaster for the unique region of the Belarusian Polesye, as well as for several valuable natural areas of Poland and Ukraine.

Objective

The environmental coalition aims at drawing attention of Polish, Belarusian and Ukrainian governments and the European Parliament to this issue. We want to demonstrate that any decisions on the project of the construction of the E40 waterway should be made with the active participation of the public and independent experts. We are calling attention to the fact that the project of the E40 waterway is of dubious economic merit, but clearly poses a serious threat to nature. The world practice proves that in the 21st century, the ships need to be tailored to rivers, not the rivers — to the ships.

Participants

The coalition consists of the following organisations:Bahna NGOAPB BirdLife Belarus NGOEcohome NGOGreen network PartnershipCentre for Environmental Solutions Non-profit InstitutionFoundation for Clean PripyatEarth Time NGO

Target audienceThe governments of Poland, Belarus and UkraineThe European ParliamentPotential economic funders of the projectThe mass media of the three countriesThe local population

ToolsOn July 19, 2017, a press conference was held in Minsk for major mass media in Belarus, timed to the launch of the #Stop_E40 campaign. An informative video was presented there describing the importance of the Pripyat River for Polesye, as well as the potential risks linked to the construction of the E40 waterway. In August 2017 a subject-oriented website stope40.org was launched featuring articles and experts’ opinion on the topic. It also publishes the examination results of the feasibility study of the project, which has been conducted by independent experts at the request of Bahna. A sign-in was launched on Change.org website for the petition against the construction of E40. The work on collecting signatures under a common statement for organisations is in progress in Belarus and European countries.

The decision-making bodies

The governments of Poland, Belarus and UkraineThe European ParliamentPotential economic funders of the project