Russia

Living Earth Foundation has been working in Sakhalin Island, Russia since 2005. Sakhalin Island is the site of the world’s largest Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) processing plant. Offshore oil and gas reserves are rapidly being developed by a number of multinationals in the sector, including Shell, Sakhalin Energy International Corporation (SEIC) and BP. These developments undoubtedly have an effect on the local population of Sakhalin, environmentally, socially and economically and Living Earth is seeking to combat these issues.

Aim of Living Earth in Russia

Fortunately, many of the multinationals involved in this phase of Sakhalin’s development are sensitive to the potentially damaging aspects of oil and gas operations on local populations. The overall global trend is away from handouts, to keep communities onside during a tricky negotiation, to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and the seeking of long-term sustainable development programmes instead.  The challenge of today is actually recognising what is and what is not sustainable and being able to develop significant and appropriate partnerships for agreed programmes.

The aim of the work in Sakhalin is to encourage a tri-sector partnership in the region as a conduit for increased stakeholder engagement. This work has been carried out in partnership with a range of organisations including: Shell, Sakhalin Energy Investment Company (SEIC), the UK government (Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs – DEFRA) and Sakhalin State Univeristy (SSU).Living Earth seeks to develop the capacity of key stakeholders (government officials, representatives of civil society organisations, private sector leaders, academics, Indigenous Peoples) in the capacity of sustainable development.

Living Earth seeks to build upon lessons learned to date from our work in Sakhalin and to further develop cross-sector partnerships throughout the region.

Partnership with Sakhalin State University

Living Earth has been working with Sakhalin State University (SSU) since 2005; together we have been developing active learning programmes on Sustainable Development aimed at local government officials, members of civil society organisations and representatives of companies and local businesses.

The partnership between Living Earth Foundation and Sakhalin State University was formalised in February 2006 through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding. The LEF-SSU partnership has since gone from strength to strength and in October 2006, Sakhalin State University set up a Sustainable Development Department.

Projects

Global Links: Trisector solutions for sustainable development

This project aims to facilitate the formation of tri-sector partnerships to combat negative effects of resource extraction in Sakhalin Island.

Sustainable Development Training Course in Sakhalin

LEF designed and developed the training course An Introduction to Sustainable Development for key stakeholders in Korsakov city and District.

Local Government Training

This project ran from September 2005 to July 2006 and was aimed at developing understanding among key local government personnel on how different resources, knowledge and skills can address the complexities surrounding sustainable development in Sakhalin