UNESCO experts called for an immediate halt to the destruction of the protected Lagonaki Plateau.

UNESCO—an organization whose list includes the plateau as a World Heritage Site—has unanimously taken our side in defending the Lago-Naki Plateau. International experts are calling on our country to preserve the Lago-Naki wildlife refuge! The fact is that, after attempts by big business to seize and develop this protected land for short-term profit, UNESCO experts paid an official visit to the Western Caucasus in September 2024.

Our comrades, who are now tirelessly fighting for Lago-Naki, sent me the UNESCO experts’ conclusion document. I studied the report carefully—it is indeed large and detailed! The experts note that the protected land “must be urgently and definitively restored, at least to the conditions in which it was included in the list.” In simple terms, Russia is obliged to return Lago-Naki to its lost protected status, and there is no time to delay.

Interestingly, the first attempts to “develop” the plateau were many years ago. In 2012 UNESCO also issued a decision in which the organization “strongly urges the State Party to immediately abandon any plans for recreational use of the Lago-Naki Plateau, the summits of Fisht and Oshten, and to cease all road works within the property.”

Yes, attempts to destroy the wildlife refuge had been made before, but now the lobbyists of big-business interests have more opportunities due to the changed political and social situation. Simply put, there is now an opportunity to ignore both international experts and agreements on nature protection, and even the public inside the country.

In 2014–2015, after UNESCO’s statement, the authorities backed down, and the planned “development” of the Lago-Naki Highlands was shelved indefinitely. They failed to push through the destruction of wildlife! Officials at UNESCO sessions officially declared that no construction was being carried out or planned within the property’s boundaries.

As it later turned out, it was very much planned, and for a long time: the attempts to tear the protected land apart were simply postponed until “better times.” Already in 2022–2023, officials, lobbying for big-business interests, began aggressively pushing laws that essentially legalize the appropriation of protected rent and the destruction of unique natural heritage.

We conducted an expedition to Lago-Naki, talked with activists, and filmed a documentary. The struggle has been going on for a very long time! The defenders of the plateau are among the most active in the country: they not only uphold the right of Lago-Naki to live, but also confidently repel constant attacks and pressure directed at them.

In the autumn of 2024, at the request of the UNESCO Committee, a joint monitoring mission of the World Heritage Centre and IUCN arrived in Russia. The task of the experts was to comprehensively assess what is really happening in the Western Caucasus: whether the boundaries and legal status of protected areas are preserved, whether road and resort construction has begun, and whether the integrity of ecosystems has been undermined. It was separately stipulated that the mission should find out whether the property is threatened with inclusion on the “in danger” list and give recommendations on how to avoid this.

According to the inspection’s findings, the situation appears dual. On the one hand, the experts stated that the “Western Caucasus” property still retains its integrity: in remote gorges and on high-mountain plateaus one can still find pristine places where little has changed since the last visit in 2012. But on the other hand, the mission frankly noted that this conclusion is based on incomplete data, as during the trip the experts were not allowed into several key “disputed” areas, including the Lago-Naki Plateau area (Lunnaya Polyana), the headwaters of rivers, and some park outskirts. Therefore, the experts had to rely on the assurances of the host side—that is, the official position of the authorities.

It is also alarming that important documents—boundary maps, construction plans, reports—were provided to the experts by officials with great delay, literally a few days before or even after their visit. The UNESCO experts’ report says that this did not allow many issues to be discussed in detail on site. Thus, the mission essentially worked blindfolded and with its hands tied.

The experts’ report also states that pressure around the property is growing rapidly: economic activity, road and facility construction are observed on the boundary of the wildlife refuge. It is also confirmed that “construction of a new road to the plateau has begun: the mission noted that since the last inspection, work has started on building a road between Lago-Naki and Guzeripl.” Moreover, it is clearly being laid not bypassing the protected zones, but “probably on the boundary, yet outside the northern buffer zone of the reserve.”

It also turned out that at the other end of the refuge, in Krasnodar Krai, a certain “Biosphere Center” with an access road has been operating for many years, officially called a scientific and environmental education base, but, according to the mission, de facto used as a ski facility. The experts were not allowed in there either, being told that it was almost a border zone! Most alarming is that officials insist that the “center” and road are outside the World Heritage boundaries, yet the collected evidence proves the opposite—the complex is inside the property.

Comrades, would I be mistaken if I said that the UNESCO mission is simply being led by the nose and that all the most important facts are being actively concealed from it?

In fact, following the 2024 monitoring UNESCO stated that it would not immediately place the protected Western Caucasus on the “in danger” list in the hope that Russian officials would take urgent measures to protect wildlife.

They published a kind of road map calling for all the confusion with specially protected areas in the plateau region to be resolved within two months. The point is that in recent years new nature parks—“Mountain Adygea” and “Upper Tsitsa”—have appeared in Adygea, replacing the former natural monuments. UNESCO requires full information on their boundaries and protection regime, as well as detailed maps of these areas. Similarly, the boundaries of the neighboring park “Bolshoy Thach” need to be checked and adjusted so that its conservation status is not inferior to that which existed at the time of inscription.

In addition, UNESCO experts reported the need to immediately stop the construction that has begun. The mission’s direct recommendation reads: “immediately halt the road construction project between Lago-Naki and Guzeripl” and conduct a full assessment of the road’s environmental impact. The experts point out that no work on the plateau should continue until the environmental review is completed! Moreover, UNESCO demands written guarantees from the government that neither the Lago-Naki–Sochi road nor, all the more, the megaprojects like a highway or railway between Arkhyz and Krasnaya Polyana are on the agenda.

Special attention was paid to that very mysterious “Biosphere Center” (Lunnaya Polyana) deep within the reserve. The mission recommends clearly specifying its location relative to the property boundaries and the nature of its actual use, as well as confirming with documents that no construction or repair work has been carried out there since 2023. UNESCO warns: neither the center nor its “forest” access road can be further expanded or upgraded without the Committee’s consent and all necessary impact assessments. This requirement is prompted by suspicions that under the guise of a scientific station there may indeed be the same mini-resort for the “chosen few,” to which an illegally laid road leads.

And now to the most important thing: UNESCO international experts once again reiterated their position that there should be no ski resorts on the Lago-Naki Plateau. The 2024 special mission report states that any construction of large facilities “within the property, including on the Lago-Naki Plateau,” will automatically create grounds for its inscription on the “in danger” list.

Essentially, Lago-Naki has been declared a “red line,” crossing which will mean an international scandal and acknowledgment that Russia has lost one of its natural treasures.

Let’s summarize.

I am publishing for you the full UNESCO report—a large document but a very important one. You can familiarize yourselves with the results of the international mission.

File UNESCO Report 4,3 МБ

For my part I will say the following: for a long time there have been active calls among our officials to ban UNESCO in Russia. First, parliamentarians proposed simply withdrawing from UNESCO agreements, and when the organization criticized attempts to destroy Baikal’s ancient forests, officials called for cracking down on it, declaring it illegal.

Naturally, this is primarily the position of big business, which has already, unofficially (and in places publicly), divided the protected rent of our Motherland among themselves, calculating colossal profits from “developing” the last wildlife refuges. And no one will give up the money—ultimately it is simpler to refuse any cooperation with UNESCO, declaring it an enemy of the country.

But there is also good news: within our state, there is a struggle against such ideas! I know that the president of the country, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Permanent Delegation to UNESCO have consistently and firmly stated that withdrawal is “inexpedient” and would be a gift to Russia’s opponents. In response to individual parliamentarians’ statements, the state replied that we will continue to bear responsibility for the preservation of wildlife.

For example, on 15 March 2022 the Deputy Speaker of the State Duma declared that Russia should withdraw from UNESCO. Already on 15 April 2022 Russia’s Permanent Representative to the organization, Alexander Kuznetsov, responded that there were no grounds for withdrawal.

But officials continued to push this topic, trying to achieve a ban on UNESCO in the country. On 7 September 2023 Pyotr Tolstoy again called for considering Russia’s withdrawal from UNESCO—right after the organization criticized a bill on clear-cutting forests at Baikal. Then, on 17 November 2023, the president himself had to publicly reject this idea: Vladimir Putin stated openly—“There is no need; it is a platform for work.”

Officials continued discussing plans to leave the organization: such ideas were echoed throughout the vertical of power. On 27 January 2025 they again had to be “brought to their senses”: Sergei Lavrov stepped forward and said: “We should not withdraw from UNESCO; we need to combat bias from within.”

So it turns out that even within the state there is infighting: apparently the forces of the oligarchy are too great, and they do not want to retreat from the devastation of our country’s protected heritage. But it is encouraging that the federal center is thinking sensibly, and I am convinced that with the proper shift in balance we will be able to resolve internal crises and achieve absolute protection for Russia’s reserves.

I perfectly understand how the struggle within the authorities works, when enormous forces are concentrated in the hands of oligarchs and the officials serving their interests. It is not so easy to “curb their appetites.” But I see that the right movements are already under way and I hope that the federal center will listen to UNESCO experts and the public and that we will be able to defend the right of the Russian Taiga to live.

Without people’s activity, without each of us, this cannot be achieved. Trust my colossal experience!

Mandatory reading: 

• Glavgosexpertiza has approved the destruction of the Lago-Naki Plateau
• Link to Glavgosexpertiza’s conclusion on Lago-Naki
• We have sent a statement to the Investigative Committee about radioactive contamination of the Lago-Naki Plateau
• A lawsuit against the destruction of the Lago-Naki Plateau has been filed in the Supreme Court
• What do activists and scientists say about the destruction of Lago-Naki?
• The Lago-Naki wildlife refuge is already being destroyed

© PAVEL PASHKOV