№ 2 - 2002
Shvartz Ye.A.
The Forthcoming Summit in Johannesburg: What Can Russia Do?

Russian political science usually passes over ecological issues, although their relation to globalization problems is nowadays obvious. The author’s attention in this article is concentrated on the ten-year period that has elapsed since the UN World Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro and on the preparations that are under way, for the UN World Summit on Stable Development, to be held in Johannesburg. The author, first, analyzes achievements and failures in the attempted realization of the decisions taken in Rio, and, second, reflects on the opportunities opening for Russia at the forthcoming summit. He holds that the approaching event gives our country a unique chance to initiate a process of restructuring its external debts by means of tripartite exchanges according to a “Debts-for Nature” scheme. Considering that the debtor countries’ combined commitments to Russia amount to a quantity approximately equal to her own total external debt, it would be extraordinarily grievous and inexcusable to miss such an opportunity, Ye.A.Shvartz concludes.