(flies buzzing) - [Narrator] An Eco-apocalypse
is fast and furious. But sometimes it's a slow moving sum of bad judgments by
leaders, greed, and absurdity. (Bulgarian folk music begins) (woman singing) (the sound of water) - [Iryna] I'm Iryna Vychrystyuk. I grew up by Sasyk Estuary. (wind in reeds) My childhood was there. Every summer my parents took me to a clinic (sheep bleating) on the
shore of Sasyk Estuary, a year round facility to cure Tuberculosis. Sasyk has mineral rich mud (chimes ringi
ng) created
by tides from the Black Sea. Retreating tides left a fine silt. For centuries, people
used it for many purposes, (rhythmic music fades
in) mainly to cure illness. The mud helped joint pain and skin. As a child, I knew Sasyk was special, a unique place. (rhythmic folk music) (laughs) - You couldn't get down the street. There were so many children. Our streets were alive; flowers and gardens, conversation and traditions. Tourists came to the spa
at Sasyk, even in winter, for medical tr
eatments too. Rooms were scarce—many visitors. Each morning they cleaned Sasyk's beaches. Horses pulled big rakes. (Laughs) People pitched tents. Impossible to walk down
the beach, so many people. July and August, even into October, it was so lively. (Laughs) - My first memory of Sasyk
is fishing there as a boy. Wagons of fish came
from Sasyk to our village. Fishermen sold excess fish to pig farmers at very low prices. Sasyk was famous for an abundance of fish. - Sasyk had salt water all of its
life. One day, five Volgas pulled up. Soviet generals got out. They looked at Sasyk,
turned around, and left. They decided to use
Sasyk for a pro-Soviet cause. In 1972, they began their project. - [Iryna] One of the highest
profile projects in the former USSR; reroute Ukraine's major rivers. Force their water into a canal system. They planned to convert
all estuaries into reservoirs. Boost agriculture in Southwestern Ukraine. Incredible resources
were spent to build it. - [Narrator] Communist pa
rty leaders
gathered villagers and promoted irrigation. Your soil here in
southern Ukraine is too dry. You need water. Sasyk
estuary, not far from Odesa, is huge and would make
a perfect reservoir. But it’s too salty. It needs to be adjusted. Thankfully party engineers
have come up with a brilliant plan: We’ll build
a dam across Sasyk, drain it completely, and bring in
fresh water from the Danube river. Your water problems here will be over. (mischievous accordion) Millions of cubic meters
of di
rt were trucked in. (waves washing on the shore) A 14 kilometer dam was built, cutting
Sasyk estuary off from the Black Sea. Salt water was pumped out
and dumped back into the sea. A canal was dug enabling
engineers to refill Sasyk with water from the Danube River. - Soviet leaders had one goal; Catch up to and beat America in every way. There was pressure to produce, especially in agriculture. Huge areas of Ukraine's famously rich soil were farmed continuously. Fields never rested. This gave ri
se to the
irrigation project at Sasyk. [writing on sign] IRRIGATION
LEADS TO ABUNDANCE! - [Iryna] People worked day and night. (music turns dark) (noisy construction work) A giant canal would send this
water even as far as Crimea. The Soviet system demanded
that plans get executed at any cost. Construction lasted ten years. (footsteps in pipe) Understand, back then Ukraine was under totalitarian
Soviet rule from 1917 to 1991. Independent thinking was
taboo in the Soviet Union. It was dangerous t
o
protest a government project. - [Narrator] In 1978, the Sasyk
dam was finally completed. Authorities wanted to
launch a grand opening. - [Iryna] Currents between Sasyk
and the sea were very strong. (distant thunder) Storms
broke the dam several times. - The sea continuously made openings. (mysterious music begins) Rocks
were trucked in to patch holes. They even stuffed old cars under here. Covered the cars with dirt
and they're here, buried. As a child, authorities
drove my class to the dam. S
howed us their grandiose new dam. "This dam and reservoir will
feed you and the entire USSR." "More fish, better
crops, you'll have it all." "Your life before and that
spa are nothing—a droplet" "compared to what we built." - [Iryna] The Soviet system
was about taming nature. Authorities thought they
could direct nature's processes. No one cared about healthy
ecosystems, quite the opposite. More and more money was
spent to desalinate Sasyk. Various experiments
to fight against nature. In that mo
ment, if someone had been
smart and stopped the irrigation project... But no one admitted mistakes
or stopped construction. Decades later, those
hostile acts against nature are still hurting us today. - This was part of that huge Soviet
Danube, Dniester Irrigation System. Our region, nearby Sasyk,
has ten such buildings. They redirected water from
Sasyk and sent it to local farms. This Soviet irrigation
project failed, spectacularly. Farmers used this water
from Sasyk for only three years, from
1978 to 1981. Over 30,000 hectares of
prime soil was destroyed. - [Narrator] Ironically after
all that effort, money, and time, using water from Sasyk ended quickly. But a new cascade of
complications was just beginning. - This irrigation infrastructure was saved. Even today, local
authorities say its useful. They claim expenses to keep
this equipment functioning, described as valuable by
our National Water Agency. And if it's functioning, then
government monies pay for upkeep. Our local water d
epartment
bills for power and maintenance, but everything here was looted. Walking around, one sees
what's left of the water pipes. At first, high ranking government
officials stole tons of metal, officials that looted Ukraine
in the post-Soviet era. Now, some local people take metal too. They're trying to make
some cash—holes everywhere. Construction of that irrigation
system dried what little water we had. Small and medium rivers were buried. The irrigation project failed
to raise agricultural
output. It dried out this entire region. (flies buzzing and grass blowing) - [Iryna] We lost our drinking water. Our steppes had fresh water streams. Streams were converted into drainage canals and the canals were used for irrigation. These changes forced people to leave. Young people left and never came
back, because water is the basis of life. [Graffiti] I love you. Irrigation led to over watering crops. (water sprinklers whirring)
Water led to weeds. Weeds led to pesticides. Farmers needed c
hemicals. Irrigation ushered in pesticides. Chemicals were added
to Sasyk for desalination. These chemicals sank into ground water. (somber guitar playing)
Local people started getting ill. Professor M. Rotar of Kharkiv University
studied our region's soil in 2004. He linked rising cancer rates
here to that Soviet irrigation system. - [Anatoly] Earlier, when
Sasyk was an estuary, in the villages surrounding Sasyk
we didn't hear much of cancer. Now, it's the first question we ask. Someone gets si
ck, it's
cancer, always cancer. Borisivka Village, Liman,
Trapovka, Hlyboke, Nerushay... We never asked each other about cancer. - Sadly, in the state of Odesa, our
region has the highest cancer rates. The main problem is what
happened to Sasyk—this dam. You can't blame heavy
industry. We have none here. Our environmental catastrophe is Sasyk. Our second challenge is pollution. Our law states that fields
must be 100 meters from water. But in our region, farms are
five meters from estuaries. Ever
y meter of land is plowed. Powerful pesticides are used. Rain washes chemicals into our water. We see bubbles in the
estuaries, like detergent. - Our community saw that this
irrigation system brought tragedy. They asked authorities to stop
experimenting on nature and people. But authorities spent more money
running tests, justifying their actions. Built more irrigation infrastructure
here. No one would stop. One huge plus is the Soviet
Union crumbled in 1991. No money left to
maintain irrigation
systems. In 1996, I got interested in
the environment of this region. I had questions about the environment here. And I became an Inspector of Ecology. In the 1990's, environmental
protection was not a career. The Chernobyl disaster of
1986 launched awareness. I started learning the truth
of what happened at Sasyk. It's a tragedy. Why isn't this taught in our
schools? Facts were hidden from us. Information about this
irrigation project was unavailable. Women living in the villages
bordering Sas
yk came to me. Their children were getting sick. Their children were dying. "Why? What's happening to our children?" "Our parents and grandparents
are living into their nineties." "They survived wars,
famines, but they're strong." I took water samples. Sent them to labs. Children with birth defects
often lived near Sasyk. Those farms were irrigated first. The dam cut Sasyk from
the sea. Tides couldn't flow. Sasyk was transformed into a pool, huge and shallow. - In summer, it's hard to breathe he
re. The algae smells and blooms everywhere. Frogs are naturally green. Sasyk frogs look painted green. - Like a toxic gas. Hard to breathe. Then and now, in summer,
residents close their windows. Keep the smell out. Residents developed asthma, skin illnesses. Parents warned their children about Sasyk. But it's hard to keep children
out of water in summer. People wanted information.
They had questions for me. I had no answers. We got proactive, but
worked within the law. As citizens of Ukraine, w
e wanted
to protect our environmental rights. Our first goal was access
to public information. We hunted for facts. What's
the state of our environment? We made a public awareness campaign. Check your well water. Sasyk has nitrates now. Avoid stagnant water. Algae blooms can be toxic. Contaminants can
cause illness, even cancer. Residents read this and
tried to protect themselves. My bosses warned me to
stay out of government politics. Best to stop asking questions. I was forced out of that job.
Circumstances changed.
People started showing up. Locals wanted to form a
community organization. I was born during Soviet times. No
one had community organizations. But the founders of our community
environmental organization were the mayors of every
village surrounding Sasyk. (pensive guitar music) - Adding water from the
Danube flooded Sasyk. Homes were deluged, foundations cracked. One of our oldest streets; many
people lived here. Now, it's abandoned. Families were forced
to move to higher
streets. Homes could not be saved.
Cracks so big, your arm would fit. - [Narrator] Salt comes into
Sasyk from underground springs. Engineers in charge of
desalinating this estuary drained and refilled it several times over. - [Iryna] Soviet scientists
raised Sasyk's water levels. This caused massive erosion. The western bank was very damaged. (somber harp music) This historic cemetery
has Cossack warrior graves. (somber harp under woman singing) Erosion exposes caskets,
human remains, bones. To
mbstones tumble down. It's falling apart. A moral problem. Authorities widened
the bank, but graves fall. Maybe ancestors want our attention? Sasyk shows the results
of that horrible project. (harp solo) - We think everyone is
eternal—our mom, dad. You can't imagine a world without them. For us Sasyk was eternal. (gulls squawking) I have childhood photos. (Jewish harp music) I see
my sister and neighbors. My mother's so young. Sasyk is there. You can barely see it. We loved it so much. The
pictu
res pull me back in time. Nothing is eternal. The world changes. But it's wrong when it changes
for the worse due to man. Sea air... as children we waited
for tides. They brought treasures. All gone. We have a dead lake. (music ends and folksy guitar begins) - [Narrator] The national agency of
water resources has a branch in Odesa responsible for monitoring Sasyk. - [Antonina] It's not a dead
lake. Sasyk was converted. Right or wrong, we irrigated. We take water samples
from Sasyk once a month.
We monitor the situation there. It's not getting worse. There's a shortage of technical
water in Southern Ukraine. Sasyk's water is marginally useful. You can't drink it. It's level two water. Out of four levels, that's not bad. And when Southern Ukraine has no
water? What then? We're out of sources. We can't stabilize our harvest. We get rain, we have
crops. No rain, no crops. Some farmers remember the
old irrigation. Better than nothing. Maybe find new sources of water?
New methods? But we mus
t irrigate. Now, Sasyk has fresh water
fish. Locals can work as fishermen. Their lives did not get worse. (folksy guitar music) -
Sasyk had mackerel (coughs) pike-perch, flounder,
sea bass, even octopus. Very little fish now.
(Laughing) There's carp... small pike fish. All fishermen at Sasyk work for a new
boss. Locals don't know who this person is. Understand? - [Serhiy] My father was a
fisherman. And, I'm a fisherman. I quit fishing at Sasyk.
So did my partners. It became too hard to work ther
e. We own our equipment. At Sasyk, you must rent their gear. We lose forty percent of
our profits by renting gear. It makes no sense to fish there. My dad told me stories of Sasyk. I never caught fish like that. I
grew up with the converted Sasyk. Dad described a lot of
beautiful fish, sea fish. (Jewish harp music) Vinter nets are used by
our grandfathers and us. Estuaries have shallow
water. This net is perfect here. And, it's meant for salt water estuaries. My father taught me
how to make Vint
er nets, handed down from generation to generation. - [Narrator] Villages surrounding Sasyk have traditions and folk
wisdom tied to fishing. The loss of this is hard to calculate
as local fishermen are displaced. - Fishermen here have strong beliefs. Fishermen never say, "rabbit." (laughs) -God, I'm by the water
and scared I just said it. I'll say, "hare" but never, "rabbit." Never whistle out on the water. God help you if you whistle on the water. - [Interviewer] Why? - I don't know. Elders tau
ght us, "Fishermen
never whistle on the water." - [Ivan] A guy shows up. He hires his own fishermen
and says, "Sasyk is mine." He won't allow locals to fish there. Plus, these fish have parasites now. - It was great when we had
more businesses at Sasyk. Every village had fishing
businesses locally owned. Now, there's one owner
and he does what he wants. - [Interviewer] Is he a politician?
- [Vitaly] No. - [Interviewer] Ukrainian? - [Vitaly] No. I hear he rented Sasyk for 49 years. Can't speculat
e because I don't know. People rent land. He rented Sasyk. Now, there's one owner.
We all work for him. - This group of people
ruin Sasyk by depleting fish. - The owner gets our permits and we fish. - [Interviewer] Where do you sell it? - [Vitaly] A truck takes the fish away. - They're unregulated. - We've caught 30, 40 tons at a time. Numbers are smaller now, but enough for us. - They usurped a public
estuary. Declared it private. Opening Sasyk would destroy their business. - If you open Sasyk
to the
sea, we'll get garbage, jellyfish. Our nets can't handle seaweed. That will happen here. - They're opposed to rehabilitating Sasyk. Residents feel helpless. - Sasyk fish are affected by nitrates
and parasites from the Danube. People get rashes and skin conditions. Dangerous to eat, but
sold at our local markets. Locals buy it, not knowing
where it came from. Someone's making money. - A dozen people benefit from
Sasyk now—incomprehensible to me. Surrounding villages gave up on Sasyk. Who d
oes this benefit?
What's the logic in this? This mystery owner and his
fishermen can change locations. But we live here. What
should we do? We're here. (water lapping at the shore) - The USSR spent millions
creating a cascade of problems. Now, we must find money to solve them. Removing the dam solves
a series of social problems. (hopeful music) - [Nikolai] When Sasyk was open
to the sea, the water was clean. You could see your feet. As kids, we caught fish, gobies, and mullet swam in to spawn. T
ourists bought fish from us kids. We earned enough to buy ice cream, soda, or go see a movie. Life was dynamic here. Fresh fish was on our table for every meal. My grandma had a barn. She fixed it up. Inside, she added furniture, beds. Tourists rented her barn.
It was close to Sasyk. Boats along the whole shore. Residents fished. It was… an interesting life. (birds chirping) - [Iryna] No one’s developing our tourism. This would bring jobs
and business for residents, get people invested where the
y live. Our local government is not
interested. Sasyk is exploited. The mysterious business
renting Sasyk takes advantage. Others sit in these old
buildings and guard them. This is not logical. Ukraine’s budget supports
infrastructure damaging this region. We’re stagnant economically. An ecological, social
problem that's uncorrected. - Some officials still
have a Soviet mentality, as if Ukraine was still in the former USSR. They’re not thinking of the future,
only how to fill their pockets today
. Officials at our local, regional,
and national governments are not concerned about people. I’ve warned of the
dangers in Sasyk's water. But officials argue, "In a drought
we’ll drink water from Sasyk." This water is not potable. The Soviet reservoir idea
failed. We've known for 40 years. Residents lost recreational use of Sasyk. Kids swam there every summer. You won’t see people now. Cows shouldn’t drink this water. Not used for irrigation. Stasis at Sasyk works for a select few. Our local wat
er department
also bills the nation for security guards. They guard equipment on these shores. Most of it no longer functions. But, they claim it
circulates water in Sasyk, and that their work matters. Circulation keeps Sasyk
in a fresh water state. Parasites sitting on our country. No one needs this except the parasites. The chemical make up of
Sasyk's water is finally stable. No need to change it. - [Narrator] In 2008 Iryna and
Ivan organized a crucial protest in their battle to save Sasyk. Th
eir goal was to remove part of the
dam and reconnect Sasyk to the sea. - Regional officials agreed
Sasyk should be rehabilitated. Yet, nothing was done. We decided to gather at the
dam on Independence Day. Our government is deaf and blind. Government does not hear us. We want to be heard. Our constitutional right
to a clean environment is being violated. We’ll go to the dam and show them. We’ll take our shovels and dig. We expected local residents to help. Drive to the dam by car, or a village b
us. Five to ten people per town. I expected 100 people. News of our plans upset officials. They stressed and called daily. "What are you up to?" "What are you planning?" Politicians didn’t know how
to respond to our protest. Many times, they had
promised to open the dam. But we weren’t waiting anymore. (soundtrack building) Finally,
officials came to the dam. Brought their shovels. Put
on a show of helping us dig. (soundtrack drops) We weren’t using social media back then. I was amazed. People
m
ade a huge effort to come, over five hundred people. The elderly came too,
a lot of elderly people. Seeing them cry was... (tuts) hard. - [Iryna B.] I went with
my husband and friends. We believed our protest would bring change. Many supported us. Young families helped. We rose up together. Journalists filmed us and spoke of Sasyk. We believed the dam
would finally come down. - Police at the protest
were guarding the dam. They yelled at us,
"This is national property!" "You’ve no right to touch
the dam!" We said, "The nation is us." "We have a right to protest." (rumbles of water rushing) (chimes ringing) Authorities make promises,
discuss Sasyk endlessly, then close this topic,
until the next elections. - [Narrator] After the 2008 protest. Iryna and colleagues continued
working to remove Sasyk Dam. Iryna became the
interim director of nearby. Tuzlivski Estuaries National Nature Park. A series of small water ways
connects Sasyk to this park. Both are wetlands of
international importanc
e and part of the Danube biosphere. - [Iryna] I’d love to spend more
time enhancing these territories. Educate a new generation of
environmentally aware youth. We have ideas, staff, volunteers. - [Narrator] Iryna and colleagues
lobby the Ministry of Ecology in Kyiv to incorporate Sasyk
into this national park. If they succeed, it could bring
about the rehabilitation of Sasyk. - I research birds at
Sasyk and nearby estuaries. At Sasyk, throughout a year,
one can see 300 species, representing 70%
of Ukraine's birds. Sasyk is huge. Birds see it easily. They like to migrate,
nest, and winter here. Upper Sasyk wetlands
are extremely valuable, perfect for nesting. When Sasyk was an estuary,
it sheltered migrating species. Endangered red breasted ducks stopped here. They came in the
thousands, but not anymore. Converting Sasyk to fresh
water changed its topography. More reeds and ice now.
Less welcoming for migration. We’re seeing cormorants, gulls. Fresh water birds have moved in. The endang
ered, exotic species are gone. If Sasyk was brought back to a salt
water estuary, water levels would drop. Migrating birds would return to nest. Birds need wetlands. Young people never saw Sasyk the estuary. They don’t know how precious it was. In 10 years, society will forget this. Decisions are needed about dam removal. Local people must
fight, not just activists. Want a healthy life for
your family? Get involved. (ocean waves) - [Iryna] Thanks to Sasyk, remaining estuaries were spared. They w
ere next in line for conversion. Indirectly, Sasyk helped the Black Sea. The health of the Black Sea
is intertwined with Ukraine. Our estuaries are a nursery
for biodiversity in the Black Sea. Sasyk added value back into the sea, for local people and the
businesses that were here. - [Ivan] Every year, resources
in this area are dropping, mainly due to poachers and pollution. People living here don't
understand resources can disappear. There are resources and
people who need them. We must balance
our needs
with what nature can produce. - [Iryna] Sadly, our environmental
work gets pushed aside. My staff and I lose precious
time on court proceedings. We face constant legal battles. We’re
at war with poachers; illegal hunting. Farmers take national open
space, plow it up as though it’s theirs. (tractor rumbling) We’re waging war against
land grabs at Sasyk and our park. - Move your bulldozer. (Motor running) - [Iryna] Illegal construction
and development; 80% of our time goes
to this viole
nt battle. We’re trying to keep
national open space safe. - [Ivan] We were protecting
birds from poachers. They hunt at Sasyk, or next
door at Tuzlivski Estuaries. They claimed, "Local officials
said we could hunt here." We said, "No, it’s a national park." They called this local
official. (Crowd arguing) Instead of one official,
twenty guys with guns show up. They threatened to drown us. - [Poacher] I will gladly
drown you in this estuary. - [Ivan] Let go of my camera. - Someone hit me with a h
eavy object. I fell unconscious. They broke three of my ribs. I posted my X-rays online. - I learned about corruption
when I started my business. We had honest competition here. Took clients fishing. Transported them by boat to
areas hard to reach by car... No problems and plenty of clients. A gang shows up and demands money, a lot of money. Claimed these inlets by
the estuaries are theirs. They had no deed or authority. I
won’t pay criminals more than I earn. They started harassing me. First, t
hey shot up my boat. Then, they torched my dock. Finally, they beat me up, tried to drown me in the estuary. Around 6:00 AM, a
boat pulled up to my boat. Their boat was faster, and they were armed with guns. Tied me up and took the motor off my boat. Left me floating in the
Dniester Estuary with no motor. -[Interviewer] You were tied up? - Yes. They said, "Pay
up or stay out here." In a normal country, police help citizens. My attackers bribed everyone.
The investigation has taken years. Eyewitn
esses saw me being attacked.
There’s video of my boats getting taken. No one was arrested or tried. Complete disregard for the
law. No fear of punishment. Facts exposed by
journalists, but no arrests. - The scariest moment? (In
English) (in Ukrainian) It was summer. I volunteer for Tuzlivski National
Park. We build landing areas for birds. (working in water) Evenings, staff patrol the park. We came across poacher’s fishing nets. Park staff and volunteers
constantly remove these nets. That night,
poachers
torched the park’s truck. (car horn screeching) I felt threatened, but
park staff face that daily. - We went to Tuzlivski
Estuaries Park to help dig a canal. A canal could unite
estuaries with the Black Sea, but poachers block estuaries to trap fish. They want quick profits,
no regard for ecosystems. They tried to beat us and threw sand. Local police did very little. They don’t protect activists,
scientists. Police wanted us to leave. They let poachers do what they want. - Corrupt offi
cials have private armies. They call in thugs to break up protests. We don’t see judicial
reforms, but we must protest. If we stop, poachers win. - I witnessed Ivan Rusev
and local students protesting. They blocked illegal
bulldozing of a wetland. The driver circled and
dumped gravel anyway. Ivan ran over trying to stop the driver. So, they dumped gravel on Ivan. We have videos. It was horrible. It’s hard to live through this.
We were protesting peacefully. We’re against the violation
of our env
ironmental rights, but they drove into and
dumped gravel on us. In shock, I took off my
rose colored glasses. With environmental issues,
there are no half measures. Developers are ruthless,
but we must protest, no other choice. - [Narrator] Ukraine has
been a free nation for decades. Yet, Iryna and friends battle bureaucrats
and poachers alike to save one estuary. Why is their task so difficult? - It’s hard here. Ukraine
is at war with Russia. We face Russian aggression and influence. Russia med
dles in the
affairs of America and Europe. As you well know. If Russia can meddle in
American and European affairs, then of course Russia
influences policies here. The situation in Ukraine is dire. Power brokers are mostly oligarchs. Oligarchs are interested
in growing their businesses. They don’t want
democratic societies, ideals. - Ukraine will fall like a
dead elephant or survive. We work so she makes it. - The ministers in charge
now will not live forever. We talk to regional
officials or mi
nistry aides. But young, motivated
professionals are moving in. Sooner or later, they'll be in charge. There’s hope for positive changes in
Ukraine, because of good individuals. We have many. - [Narrator] In 2015, the
regional government of Odesa voted to rehabilitate Sasyk Estuary. This was a huge win for the Eco-activists. Now, all that remained was to
decide on how best to "free" Sasyk. - Earlier, Sasyk and the
sea connected naturally. Sandy channels. One opened. Another closed. The sea
creat
ed them randomly. Removing a dam built by the mighty
USSR—demolishing granite is unrealistic. We could cut through
the dam by adding canals. Add sluices, allow ships,
reconnect Sasyk with the sea. We’ve built canals and
ports at other estuaries. And, yes, ships bring pollution. Sasyk should exchange water with the sea. Include the community. Do research. But do it, yes. - Adding new canals at
Sasyk isn’t the answer. Canals fill up with sand. Also, climatologists report
our weather is changing. S
outhwestern Ukraine is getting more rain. Agriculture is steady here. Modern methods of irrigation are used. But not with water from Sasyk. If we had ample resources, reverse this situation, I’d remove this dam, return
Sasyk to an estuary. Let it live. (somber singing over harp) - [Narrator] The Danube
Regional Water Department is responsible for the physical dam itself. But this department does not
have funds to remove the dam. Both national and regional entities
control some aspect of Sasyk. N
ew elections cause constant
restructuring of personnel. No single agency takes full
responsibility to dismantle Sasyk dam. (wind blowing grass) - [Antonina] Opening the
dam at Sasyk is dangerous. Look at nearby estuaries.
They’re muddy. Many are dry. At least Sasyk has
water. Who should we ask? What are the pluses and
minuses of taking the dam apart? Let’s not make a bad situation worse. - [Interviewer] But there was
a decision to open this dam. - Yes, there was a decision to open Sasyk, but a r
esearch project is also needed. This argument to free Sasyk, remove the dam is built on emotions. Hours of time spent on painful feelings. But a scientific prognosis? Haven’t seen it. - If a project materializes,
we’ll consider it. It must be comprehensive: include the community, invite specialists to review projects, address all sides of the Sasyk issue. (gulls calling and waves crashing) [Dr. Yuriy M.] We need a professional
project designed by experts. Odesa’s Regional Council can do this. We
voted to restore Sasyk in 2015. Yet, no one here is honoring that decision. No one’s funding research
on how to restore Sasyk. - Don’t know about this study. Ministry of Ecology should
fund it from our national budget. - The more barriers,
the stronger we become. What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger. Our Eco-collective gets better organized. (fast accordion music) - I love my country.
There’s potential here. I don’t want to work abroad. Instead, I want tourists to come here. Show our gorge
ous national parks. Changes of perception are needed.
Tourists should feel good coming here. Ukraine can do this. - Finally, we have some legal wins. Before, we only defended ourselves;
bogus lawsuits against us by thugs, mostly from the town of Tatarbunary.
Corrupt officials, inspections, fines... But now, we have a few
judges with fresh outlooks, with ethics and values. Everyone says our legal
system is dead, broken. But as an attorney, I
see how the law is written. And government officials
sh
ould obey the law. When I can get them to do what’s right, this brings our laws back to life. I’m inspired! (Chuckles) - [Iryna] Nature has amazing potential. She regenerates. Make a project to re-naturalize Sasyk.
Return Sasyk to nature and society. - I’m proud of our work here. We’ve protected birds,
fish, plants and open space. And we’ll save more. With a bit more support
from leaders, ministers, we can save ecosystems for
Ukraine, and this biosphere. - We protested here. "Return Sasyk To The
Sea." You see this pool of water. We dug by hand and shovels. Here we brought a bulldozer. A narrow opening. He took one scoop, not deep, maybe a meter. A geyser of salt water went up. It’s been years since 2008… (hopeful rock music)
But this opening remains. It’s not fed by a spring. Nature will reclaim her rights here. (chorus of women sing) - [Narrator] The 2015
Regional Government's decision to restore Sasyk Estuary has stalled. Although Iryna and friends never
set out to become Eco-activis
ts, they continue petitioning
the Ministry of Ecology to absorb Sasyk into
Ukraine's national park system. And, they search for international
expertise and funds to remove this dam. (song gets loud) (song ends)
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