Olympics

NO ! FOR OLYMPIC GAMES ZAKOPANE 2006.

The international coalition of environmentalists, scientists, cultural leaders, journalists, and individualists won the battle to save the Tatra N.P. The I.O.C. didn't give Zakopane much chances during the voting on the host of the Games in 2006. The new letter from P.A.E.A. to the I.O.C., and the final letter from P.A.E.A. explain the issue.

New letter from P.A.E.A. to the I.O.C.
Tlumaczenie na polski
Letter from P.A.E.A. to the I.O.C. Members
Tlumaczenie na polski
Deutsche Ubersetzung

letter form Workshop for All Beings

official leter from PAEA to the 4 Olympic Committees

open letter from Save the Carpathians Coalition

letter signed by Polish famous artists (not readable for some browsers)

The final letter from P.A.E.A. about "Zakopane 2006" issue
tlumaczenie na polski

The Polish Olympic Committee (PKOL) announced project of winter Olympic games Zakopane 2006, Governor of Zakopane, which is in Nowy Sancz Province, supported project. Zakopane is located next to Tatra(Tatrzanski) National Park, which -if Olympic plans start- will be threaten with skiing investments. Most of skiing events are planned to be in National Park. The proposal is in direct conflict with Polish Law (which say National Park may be open for visitors, not for recreation and sport), implant assessment wasn't carried out, as is required by the International Olympic Committee. On local level, the Strategy of Develpoment (from March '98) of Nowy Sancz Province (with its part, Zakopane) says about slowing down and taking off urban investitions from its teritory. The Olympic villages make exactly oppose effect. The application to host the Olympic Games 2006 in Zakopane was submitted to I.O.C. without consultation with Polish Environmental Ministry or Poland's National Park Authorities,either its scientists. So Director of Park Mr. Bercyn didn't approve any Olympic investments in the Park.
Skiing lobby accused Mr Bercyn for over use his position and asked Gov. of Nowy Sancz to dismiss Bercyn. But Environmental Minister Radziejowski and government institution didn't find nothing wrong about Bercyn's work. The environmental part of application for the Olympic Games is a secret and even Environmental Minister's scientists and nature conservation experts or environmental organizations couldn't see it. The Environmental Ministry got this document after on October 6th (almost 6 weeks after the application was submited), and the Tatra Park got it on October 28th, both with note that nobody else can se it. It's totally against the law and indicated that there is something to hide in the environmental part of the aplication. During the meeting of European Environmental Ministries in Aarhus in summer '98, Polish Minister signed that ALL environmental documents will be publicly known...
Unfortunately skiing lobby is very strong, its includes Environmental Vice Minister (brother of Zakopane's Governor). Zakopane Governor himself, the Polish Olympic Committee, foreign investors and local newspapers. Officials associate with skiing lobby made false promises, for instance that only few trees will be cut off the National Park (which is against the law), and local newspaper lie against environmental groups.
The Olympic villages, hotels, and more tourist routs will brink additional destruction for the unique park. Also all Olympic targets must be check out (at least 1 international event + local) before the olympic games, and must be use after. That mean more and more dangerous for environment, projects will come to National Park Area. All those investments will kill Tatra (Tatrzanski) National Park. Other important locations like Szczyrk, Tatry Mountains & Krynica (health center) will share Park's situation.
Olympic "square" Krakow - Nowy Sancz - Zakopane - Bielsko Biala, is very rich in unique natural areas. There are 4 National Parks & 55 national reservations, plus 2 parks without national status bit also under constitutional protection. In this region are places indispensable for European ecosystem, that includes fragments of ancient Karpaty rainforest, river valleys, streams & rivers (in some part with clean water) & caves where bats spend winter. Mountain forest have also important & unique role in European environment. The tourist way will brake animals natural way, and so many people will give stress for animals. -The Park is already overlanded with tourists - around 3 000 000 of them annually- We can't forget about invasion to environment those animals who come with people. Tatra (Tatrzanski) National Park is one of the last existing places fore some kinds of animals like Bear, capercaille (tetrao urogaillus), alpine marmot (marmota marmota), lynx, otter, wolf, goat, owl & wild bear, stag & deer, falcon, grouse, eagles, many of those ae listed in Red Book of Endangered Spacies. Tatra Park is located on the border with Slovakia, it was established in '54. Currently its area amounts to 21,164 ha, out of which 54.4% are forests, 26.7% are alpine meadows & rock towers, 1.8% is arrable land & water. Strict protection is exercised on 54.4% of the Park. The snad rane of mountain forms a valuable wildlife sanctuary and Alpine ecosystem, the only of its kind in Centrl & Eastern Europe. Tatra mountains are recognized by many as most valuable ecosystem in Poland.
Olympic "square" is already full of tourists, not every cities in this area have water treatment, or have them not good enough. If the Olympics will take place in Zakopane, there will be necessary to pomp out underground water in Tatra National Park, and that will help to kill the environment. Chemical compounds with nitrogen and P (phosphorus) from agriculture contaminate water too. Because of growing water deficyt in Zakopane, limited supply of water & tragical sanitary condition in "square", is unpossible to brink more than currently, tourist into this area.
Here are few statements from Polish law: All investments in National Park must go common with nature conservation, which is the priority. The main purpose of National Park is to save all natural system on its territory, including help for threaten places to restore. You may want to know that, because of UNESCO Mab reservation of global importance in Tatra N.P. & Tatransky N.P. (Slovakia) from '93, Polish side should make agreement with Slovakia about events such Olympic. Slovakia did it with Poland, when they planned Olympic games in 2002 (turned down). Tatra mountains are a UNESCO international Biosphere Reserve. By the way some areas where PKOL plans to make ski events are unconvinion for sportsmen. It's just unsafe. Second, there is no way to make artificial snow without invade in nature.
According to all of above facts, is clear that organize Winter Olympic Games in Tatrzanski National Park is intolerable, as it's in contradiction with the purpose of National Park and with Polish law. If there will be known who will have to pa for conservation of destroy by olympic territories, for sure, the number of Olympic ideas supporters will drop off.
This whole situation is clear, some officials try to avoid constitution and make Olympic games in Zakopane, even when it will kill local (but important for all Europe) environment. There is already too many industrial business i this area. If the Winter Olympic Games in 2006 will take the place in Poland, the unique Tatrzanski National Park will die. National Parks make less than 1 procent of country's teritory, while in U.S.A. it's 3.4%, in Canada 1.4%, in Finland 2.4%. The International Olympic Committee didn't make the decision yet. At 07.02.'98 House of Rep. took resolution supporting the idea of Olympic games "Zakopane 2006". Resolution says, PKOL must be consider about Tatra. This resolution is not a law because it could be oppose to nature conservation law, but already some experts work on making changes to this law. On August 24 '98 Polish Government made decision to pay off the coast of Olympics if Zakopane can't.

Many scientists, environmental organizations (including international), cultural leaders, individuals, Warsaw University Senate and some officials & journalists stay united against purposal of Winter Olympic Games in Zakopane. Please join them and write to International Olympic Committee an letter opposing the idea of the Olympic Winter Games Zakopane 2006. Feel free to use the letter form PAEA or others.
International Olympic Committee
Chateau De Visy
C.P. 356
1007 Lausanne
Suisse (Switzerland)
FAX: 0 11 41 21- 621 62 16 Send also letters to:
President of Poland Aleksander Kwasniewski
Prime Minister of Poland mr. Jerzy Buzek fax: 011 48 22-628 68 46
Chairmen of Rep. Environmental Commission mr. Czeslaw Sleziak
Environmental Minister mr. Jan Szybko (he is against "Zakopane '06', so every letter to him will be helpful) fax: 0 11 48 22-825 0001 ext.222
Usually fax takes much better effect than e-mail.

PS: While Olympic opening Ceremony in Albertville, in next city 5000 people joined antyolympic demonstration. That was their last chance to show what they think of killing environment for sport purpose. Let's hope that in the case of Zakopane, we can defend environment before is too late.

Bob Sobanski.

If you like to send questions or comments click here

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This is the letter to 4 (Fin. Aust. Switz. Ita.) Committees running up for the Winter Olympic Games in 2006:
To: address of centrain comittee from:PAEA Dear Members (President) of XXXXX Olympic Committee, we would like to inform you that the Polish sport lobby, supported by several governmental and local officials is running a campaign for the Winter Olympic Games "Zakopane 2006". Zakopane lies very next to Poland's most precious national park - The Tatra Mountain National Park. The project "Zakopane 2006" represents one of the most dangerous for natural environment projects ever recorded in Poland's history. Olympic Games, if they take place, will have only extremely destructive (and irreversable) impact on the National Park's unique natural environment. According to the project, some of the Olympic events are even supposed to take place inside the National Park. It is clearly in conflict with Polish Constitution which prohibits any use of national parks for recreational activities, including sports. We stand united with several scientists and environmental grassrots as we express our categorical protest againts "Zakopane 2006". We wish you the best for your preparation of the Winter Olympic Games "XXXXX 2006" and we hope that they will be another great success. Bob Sobanski, Co-founder of Polish American Environmental Alliance; Slawomir Dobrzanski, activists of Polish American Environmental Alliance.top

Dear Friends,
Greetings from the staff and members of Workshop for All Beings in Poland! This message is a small part of our campaign to protect the Tatra Mountains from ecological and cultural damage that will occur if the Polish proposal to host the Winter Olympics 2006 in Zakopane, Poland is granted. Below this introduction you will find a letter in English regarding the potential Olympics in Zakopane. A copy has been sent to the International Olympic Committee in Switzerland. Workshop for All Beings is sending this letter to our friends and colleagues and asking for your support! We hope you will have time to read the letter, edit it to fit your needs, print it, and mail it to the IOC to support our efforts. The IOC address is shown on the letter. Please spread the word by sending this letter or its contents on to your friends and contacts who you believe will contribute to our campaign. Feel free to publicze the issue and write about it in journals and newsletters. For more information or questions, please contact:
Workshop for All Beings
43-304 Bielsko-Biala 4, P.O.Box 40
Poland
Tel./Fax.: 048(33)183-153
Thank you very much for contributing to the protection of wilderness in Poland. For the Wild, Workshop for All Beings/Pracownia na Rzecz Wszystkich Istot
The letter is as follows:
-----------------------------------------------

letter from P.A.E.A. to I.O.C. members.
_______________________________________________

September 21 1998

From: Jacek Purat
P.A.E.A.
School of Information Management and Systems
102 South Hall
University of California
Berkeley, CA 94720-4600
USA

(name of the I.O.C. member)
(address)
Dear Members of the Olympic Committee:
We are writing in response to the candidacy of the City of Zakopane, Poland, which is proposing to organize the Winter Olympic Games in year 2006. Both the idea, and the means and ways utilized to achieve this goal by the Government of Poland and the City of Zakopane raise several concerns, which should be brought to your attention. Primary concern is related to proposed location of the Games in Zakopane. This City is practically surrounded by the most unique and fragile natural alpine ecosystem in northern Carpathian mountains. It's value was reflected by granting it a status of first National Park in Poland. It is called the TATRZANSKI PARK NARODOWY (Tatra National Park), after its highest range called TATRY. The astablishment of this national park, spearheaded the emergence of modern conservation movement in Poland, and thus could be only compared to the establishment of Yosemite or Yellowstone National Parks in western United States. Several reports done by the members of the academia, government, and non-governmental organizations clearly indicate that Olympic Games, if they take place, will have an extremely destructive and irreversible negative impact on the National Park's unique natural environment. The City of Zakopane, although not in the Park boundaries is completely enclosed within park's fragile ecotone. Because of this it must comply with numerous local, national, and international restrictions on development. Since the location of games under proposed plan or any plan would necessitate the extensive use and construction in national park, such action would destroy large parts of the park, and with it a century of efforts of conservationists to save these mountains. These games would be simply illegal in accordance to Polish environmental laws. The use of National Parks in Poland is regulated by the Constitution and a set of Laws passed by Polish Congress. These Laws limit the use of Parks for those activities that have minimal impact on the environment. Thus only selected sporting activities such as hiking, rock climbing, cave exploration, some skiing, are allowed, yet even those are restricted to marked trails and regulated by the system of permits.
Secondary concern is related to the irregularities and unethical ways which were and still are utilized the Polish Government and the Government of the City of Zakopane in order to win the olympics for Poland. Those examples include the attempts to fire the Director of the Tatrzanski National Park for releasing information about the harmful effects that the proposed games would have on the Park. High position of the Vice-Minister of Environment was given to the brother of the President of Zakopane City, indicationg the possibility of nepotism and conflict of interest. Polish government recently commited some funds to cover the costs of potential projects, yet the budgetary constrains in current unstable economy are so severe, that the governments ability to finance the games has been questioned by non-governmental organizations. Another set of activities relates to the current situation of Athletic Clubs and the sporting community as whole in Poland. Many clubs suffer a severe organizational crisis: many of them were implicated in illegal activities in recent years, such as alcohol smuggling, internal infighting for power and lack of financial accountability, to mention just few of them. This certainly does not paint a picture of a cohesive and honest sporting community, which shouldbe rewarded with olympic games, as none of above activities reflect the genuine Olympic spirit.
We are looking forward to cooperating with you and providing you with all sources of information available to us. Please, do not hesitate to contact us in case you need any additional information regarding proposed site in Zakopane.
Przemyslaw Sobanski, Board Member
Polish American Environmental Alliance
WEB TV Systems
bobsobanski@webtv.net
Slawomir Dobrzanski, Pianist, Board Member Polish
American Environmental Alliance
University of Connecticut, Storrc,CT
Jacek Purat, Biologist, Board Member
Polish American Environmental Alliance
School of Information Management and Systems University of California
Berkeley, California, USA
email: purat@ims.berkeley.edu
back to the previous text

Liebe Mitglieder des Olympischen Komitees, Wir schreiben Ihnen in Erwiderung der Kandidatur der polnischen Stadt Zakopane für die Olympischen Winterspiele 2006. Sowohl der Plan, als auch die Mittel und Wege, die von der polnischen Regierung und von der Stadt Zakopane vorgeschlagen werden, um diesen umzusetzen, bieten Anlaß zur Sorge, die hier erläutert werden sollte. Die schwersten Bedenken hegen wir gegenüber dem vorgeschlagenen Ort der Spiele, Zakopane. Diese Stadt ist umgeben von einem einzigartigen und sensiblen alpinen Ökosystem in den nördlichen Karpaten. Sein Wert wird nicht zuletzt dadurch ausgedrückt, daß es den Status des ersten Nationalparks Polens erhielt. Dieser heißt Tatra Nationalpark, benannt nach seiner höchstgelegenen Fläche "Tatry". Die Errichtung dieses Nationalparks war der Beginn der modernen Umweltschutzbewegung in Polen und kann eigentlich nur mit der Errichtung des Yosemite oder des Yellowstone Nationalparks im Westen der Vereinigten Staaten verglichen werden. Verschiedene Studien, die von Vertretern der Universitäten, der Regierung und Nicht-Regierungs-Organisationen durchgeführt wurden, weisen eindeutig darauf hin, daß die Olympischen Spiele, so sie durchgeführt werden, extrem zerstörerische und irreversible negative Auswirkungen auf das einzigartige Ökosystem des Nationalparks hätten. Zakopane ist von diesem fragilen Ökosystem komplett eingeschlossen, obwohl die Stadt nicht innerhalb der Grenzen des Nationalparks liegt. Daher muß sie verschiedene lokale, nationale und internationale Restriktionen befolgen. Da der Bestimmungsort der Spiele gemäß dem vorgeschlagenen Konzepts oder auch jedes anderen Konzeptes eine intensive Nutzung sowie verschiedene Bauvorhaben im Park bedingen würde, würde die Durchführung große Teile des Parks zerstören, ebenso wie die jahrelangen Versuche der Umweltschützer, diese Berge zu schützen. Die Spiele wären einfach unvereinbar mit den polnischen Umweltgesetzen. Die Nutzung von Nationalparks ist in Polen durch die Verfassung und eine Reihe von Gesetzen geregelt, die vom polnischen Parlament beschlossen wurden. -diese Gesetze limitieren die Nutzung von Nationalparks auf solche Bereiche, die einen möglichst geringen Einfluß auf die Umwelt haben. Daher sind nur einige wenige Sportaktivitäten erlaubt, wie Wandern, Bergsteigen, Höhlenerforschung und teilweise Schifahren. Aber auch diese dürfen nur auf markierten Wegen ausgeübt werden und bedürfen einer speziellen Erlaubnis. Wir sind weiters besorgt über die rechtswidrige und unfaire Art und Weise, wie die polnische Regierung und die Stadt Zakopane versuchten und immer noch versuchen, die Olympischen Spiele nach Polen zu bringen. Beispielsweise wurde der Direktor des Tatrzanski Nationalparks gefeuert, weil er Informationen über die schlimmen Auswirkungen veröffentlichte, die die Spiele für den Park hätten. Hingegen wurde der Bruder des Bürgermeisters von Zakopane zum Vize-Umweltminister gemacht, was darauf hinweist, daß Vetternwirtschaft im Spiel sein könnte und ein Interessenskonflikt besteht. Kürzlich rief die polnische Regierung einige Fonds ins Leben, um die Kosten der geplanten Projekte bzudecken, denn die Budgetzwänge in der derzeitigen wirtschaftlichen Lage sind so ernst, daß die Fähigkeit der Regierung, die Spiele zu finanzieren, von Nicht-Regierungs-Organisationen in Frage gestellt wurde. Weitere Initiativen wurden in Zusammenhang mit der derzeitigen Situation der Sportklubs und des gesamten Sportbereiches in Polen ergriffen. Viele Klubs sind in ernsten organisatorischen Schwierigkeiten: viele waren in den letzten Jahren in illegale Aktionen verwickelt, wie etwa Alkoholschmuggel und Probleme mit der Buchführung. Das zeichnet nicht gerade das Bild einer ehrenhaften Sportgemeinschaft, die vorhanden sein sollte, wenn einem die Durchführung olympischer Spiele übertragen wird. Der olympische Geist wird durch solche Aktivitäten jedenfalls nicht widergespiegelt. Wir freuen uns darauf mit Ihnen zusammenzuarbeiten und werden Sie mit allen Informationen und Quellen versorgen, die für uns verfügbar sind. Bitte zögern Sie nicht, mit uns in Kontakt zu treten, wenn Sie weitere Informationen über den vorgeschlagenen Schauplatz in Zakopane benötigen.
Przemyslaw Sobanski, Brett Bauteil Polonisch amerikanisches umweltbundnis- Bündnis
WEB Fernsehapparat System
bobsobanski@webtv.net
Slawomir Dobrzanski, Pianist,
Brett Bauteil Polonisch amerikanisches umweltbundnis Bündnis Schule von fein kunst, Universität von Connecticut, Storrs,
Jacek Purat, Biologe,
Brett Bauteil, Polonisch amerikanisches umweltbundnis- Bündnis Schule von Information Management und System Universität von Kalifornien an Berkeley Berkeley, Kalifornien, USA
email: purat@ims.berkeley.edu back to the previous text