In partnership with Crude Accountability , GW's Central Asia Program is pleased to host the public launch of:

Dangerous Work: A Study of Reprisals Against Environmental Defenders in the Former Soviet Union and the United States
Crude Accountability, in partnership with the EcoForum of NGOs of Kazakhstan and Fractracker (based in Pittsburgh, PA), is proud to announce the public launch of a publication, Dangerous Work , which reports on reprisals against environmental defenders in the US and in countries of Eurasia. Environmental defenders are under increasing threat around the world, including in the regions highlighted in our report. In 2018, 164 environmental defenders lost their lives around the world; many more suffered harassment, threats, and violence.

Dangerous Work is a compilation of stories of reprisals against environmental defenders, describing the multitude of ways that governments and corporations and their watchdogs retaliate against activists, particularly those working in the extractive sector. It also describes the disturbing trends of increasing threats to environmental defenders in each of the countries highlighted in the report.
Speakers Include:
David “Brook” Lenker is the Executive Director of the FracTracker Alliance and based in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania. He oversees the strategic programmatic, operational, and fundraising activities of FracTracker and works with the board of directors to assure a well-managed, fiscally-sound organization. Previously, Brook served as Manager of Education and Outreach for the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and as Director of Watershed Stewardship for the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay. He holds a Master of Arts degree in Geography and Environmental Planning from Towson University. Outside of work, Brook enjoys writing, gardening, and exploring outdoors – afoot, underwater, or by canoe or sailboat.
Vadim Ni is the Chair of Ecoforum of NGOs of Kazakhstan, a national network of environmental nongovernmental organizations. He has held this position since 2014, when he was elected by the members of the Ecoforum. He is one of Kazakhstan’s leading experts on environmental law, and, in particular, the Aarhus Convention, for which he served as a member of the Compliance Committee from October 2002 till June 2011. Vadim is currently a member of the Compliance Committee of the UNECE Water and Health Protocol, having been nominated by the Swiss Government.
Vadim’s professional experience includes more than 20 years of work in the area of environmental protection. He began working as an environmental legal expert in 1997, while still carrying out legal studies. He worked as a freelance legal consultant for UNECE, UNDP, UNESCO, USAID, OSCE, World Bank, EBRD, OECD, Ministry of Environmental Protection of Kazakhstan. He also worked as an international consultant in Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. His main areas of professional experience are environmental, climate change and water law.
Andrey Rudomakha is founder and coordinator of Environmental Watch on the North Caucasus, an environmental nongovernmental organization based in Krasnodar Krai, Russia. Andrey has been a member of the Russian environmental movement for over thirty years and is respected leader of the movement, particularly for his work monitoring environmental violations in the North Caucasus region since the early 1990s. Andrey led the project to hold accountable the Russian government and the International Olympic Committee for violations associated with construction and preparation for the 2014 Sochi Olympics, which destroyed pristine forest and wetlands. He has also led EWNC’s efforts to stop land grabbing and construction of luxury properties on the Black Sea coast in Russia, including properties belonging to President Putin, the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, and the former Governor of Krasnodar Krai. Andrey has been harassed, physically attacked, accused of libel, and arrested numerous times for his steadfast protection of the environment. 
Sergey Solyanik is a consultant to Crude Accountability since 2009, and is responsible for the organization’s activities in Kazakhstan. He has been an active participant in Kazakhstan’s environmental movement since 1990. For nearly twenty years he worked at the Ecological Society  Green Salvation , one of the oldest and most respected public environmental organizations in the country. Sergey has a degree in electrical engineering and a Masters in Environmental Politics from Keele University in the UK, which he studied under a Chevening Scholarship granted by the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office. In 2001, Sergey participated in the US government sponsored “Contemporary Issues Program,” through which he conducted research on the interactions between American non-governmental organizations and transnational corporations. Sergey’s interests include protecting the human right to a healthy environment, and monitoring and influencing the activities of transnational corporations and international financial institutions operating in Kazakhstan and throughout Central Asia. Sergey speaks Russian and English.
Kate Watters is co-founder and executive director of Crude Accountability, an environmental and human rights nonprofit organization working with natural resource impacted communities in the Caspian and Black Sea regions since 2003. Kate oversees the management and development of the organization and works closely with the board of directors and staff to build sustainable and effective programs and campaigns. She also works closely with activists in affected communities to develop strategies and campaigns to protect environmental and human rights on the local, national, and international levels. She has worked with human rights and environmental defenders in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Russia since the early 1990s, has lived in and traveled extensively throughout the region, and speaks fluent Russian. She is the author of numerous reports and articles on civil society in Central Asia and the Caspian region and has been interviewed for print media, radio, and television about environment, oil and gas, and human rights in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Russia. Kate holds an MA in Russian Area Studies from Georgetown University and a BA in Russian literature from UMASS-Amherst. 
When: October 17, Thursday
4:00 -6:00 PM

Where: Elliott School of International Affairs
1957 E Street NW, Washington, D.C. 20052
Voesar Conference Room, Suite 412
The Central Asia Program
Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES)
Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University
1957 E Street, NW | Suite 412 | Washington, DC | 20052
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The Central Asia Program (CAP) promotes academic and policy research on contemporary Central Asia, and serves as an interface for the policy, academic, diplomatic, and business communities.