Black gold taints land of the Golden Fleece

KULEVI, Georgia (AFP) – Legend has it that the mythic Golden Fleece was snatched from the Black Sea shores of present day ex-Soviet Georgia. Now a modern-day quest for oil riches threatens this wetland’s natural treasures.

Standing within the territory of what will soon be the seaside Black Sea Oil Terminal at Kulevi in the Kolkheti National Park, it is hard to believe that on paper this area is protected by international convention as one of the world’s most important surviving wetland nature reserves.
Home to some 300 species of birds, many of them endangered, rare sturgeon breeds and a seaside dolphin nursery, the park has of late become the site of a giant oil terminal that is to launch into operation later this year.

The building project “is a catastrophe that could be irreparable. The wetland is an important part of the larger eco-system and it’s hard to predict what kind of damage an oil spill could do,” said Irakli Macharashvili, an activist with Green Alternative, a leading Georgian environmental group.

AFP