it is necessary to exclude the possibility of clear cutting from the Baikal protection project – Kommersant

Chairman of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin instructed the State Duma Committee on Ecology, Natural Resources and Environmental Protection to finalize the bill on the protective zone of Lake Baikal. According to him, the norms on the possibility of clear cutting of trees should be excluded from the document.

“We see that the concept of clear-cutting causes great criticism. This norm requires adjustment, we need to study this issue and find a different solution,” said Mr. Volodin during a meeting held in Ulan-Ude on legislative initiatives on the protection of Lake Baikal (quote from website State Duma). He asked parliamentarians from the relevant committee to “find a solution that would protect us from hasty steps.”

According to the Speaker of the State Duma, the law being considered in the Duma should solve people’s problems, promote the development of the region and be aimed at protecting Lake Baikal and its natural territory.

On October 4, the Russian government demanded that the bill on the protection of Lake Baikal be finalized. In particular, the government drew attention to the clauses of the document allowing clear logging in the central ecological zone of Lake Baikal. In their current form, according to officials, these norms contradict the Forest Code. The draft law on the protection of Lake Baikal was previously adopted by the State Duma in the first reading: according to the authors, it is necessary for the construction of roads, wastewater treatment plants, cafes, restaurants and toilets. The amendments allowing clear felling of trees in the lake’s protected zone were criticized by the State Duma’s legal department and UNESCO, where they saw “a weakening of the standards for permissible impact on the Baikal ecosystem.”

Read more about the bill in the Kommersant article “They’ll still fight for Baikal”.

Alexander Kislov