Report - UNDP Russia

(MDGs), issued by the UN in 2000. The MDGs arewell-designed and relatively simple to use,setting out goals, tasks for achieving them, andrelevant indicators. The mission of Goal 7 in thissystem is to ensure environmental sustainabilityboth globally and in specific countries 3 (Table8.2). Adapted for Russia, Goal 7 proposes threetasks and eight indicators, focusing on the needto solve two major problems for environmentalsustainability:• to reduce human impact on theenvironment and depletion of naturalresources;• to improve the environmental conditions forhuman development, reducingenvironmental threats to human safety,health and quality of life;The importance of solving the secondproblem, connected with human developmentand improvement of the ecological conditionsfor human life and health, should be emphasized.This problem is often omitted when issues ofsustainable development focus onenvironmental protection and utilization ofnatural resources.In the MDG system energy intensity isreferred to Goal 7, dealing with environmentalsustainability and, specifically, to Task 1, whichis to include principles of sustainabledevelopment in national strategies andprogrammes, and prevent wastage of naturalresources (Table 8.2). In this context, energyintensity acts as an environmental-economicindicator.Other key indicators of sustainabledevelopment are also closely connected withtrends in energy intensity. Emissions of carbondioxide, volumes of which depend mainly on theenergy industry (Indicator No.4 in Table 8.2) areat the center of attention in issues of globalclimate change and ratification by Russia of theKyoto Protocol. At present more than 72% ofGHG emissions in Russia are due to burning offossil fuels 4 .The index of numbers of people livingin severely polluted cities has great importancefor Russia and also depends on the energyindustry (Indicator No.5 in Table 8.2). Theenergy sector and its products make a decisivecontribution to air pollution, accounting forabout half of all pollution from stationarysources plus emissions from combustion of carfuel. Addressing this problem has high priorityfor Russia, particularly in big cities with highpollution levels (there are 135 such cities withtotal population of about 60 million) 5 . TheTable 8.2Goal 7 of the MDG, ‘Securing Environmental Sustainability’, tasks and indexesTasks of MDG 7 for Russia Progress Indicators for Russia ValuesTask 1. Include principles ofsustainable development innational strategies andprogrammes and prevent wastageof natural resourcesTask 2. Provide the population withpure drinking waterTask 3. Improve housingconditions1. Percentage of territory covered by forest2. Percentage of territory, which is protected in order tomaintain biodiversity of the land surface environment3. Energy intensity4. Emissions of carbon dioxide (m.t.)5. Number of people living in severely polluted cities(million)6. The share of residential areas provided with mainswater (urban and rural)7. Share of residential areas with sewerage (urban, rural)8. The share of slums and housing in dangerousdisrepair45.42.40.324247858Urban – 100%Rural – 30%Urban – 98%Rural – 5%3.2%3This goal and its indicators are studied in detail by the author in the Chapter, ‘Securing Environmental Sustainability’ in the UN HumanDevelopment Report for Russia from 2005 (under general editorship of S.N.Bobylev and A.L. Alexandrova. M.: UNDP, 2005).4The bulletin, ‘Environmental Protection in Russia’. M.: Rosstat, 20085State Report, ‘On Condition and Protection of the Environment in the Russian Federation in 2007’. M.: RF Ministry of Natural Resources, 2007147