175 000 HA OF POLESIA MARSHES UNDER ATTACK
Les tourbières du Sud de la Biélorussie, où, au Moyen - Âge, vivaient tigres, léopards et chevaux sauvages, risquent d'être lourdement exploitées en 2013 (projet gouvernemental lancé dès l'année dernière). Une pétition d'opposition circule jusqu'au 2 février prochain.
Source : Belarus News du 26 Octobre.
A number of environmental groups in Belarus have launched a campaign for preserving Belarusian marshes.
The groups include Zyalyonaya Setka (Green Network), the Society for the Protection of the Fatherland's Birds, Ecodom, and the Center for Environmental Solutions, among others.
The campaigners are collecting signatures for an online petition demanding the abolition of the Council of Ministers' directive that allows peat mining within "specially protected nature areas," Viktar Fyanchuk, director of the Society for the Protection of the Fatherland's Birds, told BelaPAN.
Issued on June 17, 2011, the directive provides for reducing the area of eight preserves in Belarus, including the national-level Vyhashchanskaye Preserve, the Dakudowski Preserve and the Azyory Preserve, to enable peat production there.
The petitioners also express concern about proposal to use the Prypyatski National Park, the Byarezinski Nature Reserve and other wilderness areas for peat mining,
By using former peat mining fields and the least productive peatlands, developing new technologies and harnessing renewable energy, authorities could avoid the unnecessary draining of protected peat bogs, the petition says. Drainage projects would pose a serious environmental threat to Belarus and the region in general, the petitioners warn.
The collection of signatures will last until February 2, 2013. The petition will then be sent to Prime Minister Mikhail Myasnikovich, Mikalay Korbut, head of the Presidential Administration's property management department, and also to the ministers of economy, energy, and natural resources and environmental protection.
Voir aussi Belarus.Net
http://www.belarus.net/ECOLOGY/pripyat1.htm
