Electronic Communication and Environmental Policy in Russia and Estonia

This article examines how a transnational environmental group, the Peipsi Lake Project (PLP), based in the two former Soviet republics of Estonia and Russia has developed communication strategies that have enabled them to overcome the challenges of working on a boundary environmental problem. The Peipsi-Chudskoye Lake constitutes a significant portion of the border between the two countries and was heavily polluted during the Soviet period of industrialisation. At the time of this article, it was in need of a coordinated effort between the two countries if it was to be revitalised and protected. While the article initially focuses on the PLP's use of electronic communication resources such as email, it also discusses the communication efforts they used in the immediate villages of the lake in an effort to involve locals in the process of developing a sustainable development plan for the region.

The author believes that electronic communications can be effectively used to create "perceived spaces of resistance" that strengthen the voices of grassroots organisations. According to O'Lear, these spaces are vital when groups are attempting to either influence government policy or activate local populations in an effort to effect change on things like the environment. They support organisations by facilitating the exchange of information and ideas and are a necessity for the maintenance of a transboundary group such as the PLP, which may otherwise be limited by national conceptions of geography.

The PLP is a decentralised organisation with staff members in four different cities in Estonia and Russia. The group uses email in order to remain in constant contact with each as both travel and telephone communications in the region are prohibitively expensive. This internal communications network enables all participants to come together in the same "place" to discuss their work and to strengthen their interdependence and political power. These technologies are also employed in an effort to draw attention to the situation at Peipsi Lake from other regions of the world and to collect information from those other places, thereby increasing their "stocks of knowledge." They are also able to collect information from various alternative sources that have enabled them to challenge the otherwise total monopoly of information of the governments in the region.

The PLP has found that there are, however, limits to the suitability of email and electronic communications for these types of movements. One challenge is that many of the people in the immediate vicinity of the lake are relatively economically poor and do not have access to these types of technology. It is therefore necessary for them to also conduct a personal communications campaign.

According to O'Lear, this personal contact and communication in an environmental education campaign is especially important in an area where there are strong and pre-existing ethnic and regional divisions that may frustrate the regional cooperation that is a fundamental necessity for the success of a project such as the PLP. Through a programme that trained and used local university students as community organisers, these students were able to gain and record the insights and sentiments of the villagers surrounding the lake and were able to communicate to them the intentions of the PLP. Having the students work closely with the villagers prevented misunderstandings and enabled operation at a level that was meaningful to both groups. The goal was to allow the PLP to organise and present the people's opinions in a proactive manner to an otherwise "faceless government" and its poor standards regime. PLP also worked to bring these villagers into contact with experts and others that may help to make the desires of the villagers more tangible and who can discuss with them what is and what is not possible.

The PLP has also used its communications strategies to develop a network of support from other groups in other countries. This involves developing relationships with groups sharing similar value structures that may furnish the PLP with both resources and information pertaining to their struggle to change the policies of the local governments.

Update:

The communications strategies of the group have expanded significantly since the time of the publishing of this article. They have changed their name to Peipsi Center for Transboundary Cooperation and now have a website to further enhance their communications practices. They have expanded their efforts to assist other regions to improve their ability to influence government policy and drive regional cooperative measures. They have also developed new participation methods in 2003 known as River Dialogue that is "aimed at identifying the best approaches to increase public participation in implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive, including preparation and implementation of river basin management plans."