Kamchatka refused 15 billion rubles. investments to preserve the status of volcanoes
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Governor of Kamchatka Vladimir Solodov in an interview RBC stated that the region refused investments of more than 15 billion rubles so that UNESCO would not assign the status of World Heritage Sites to the volcanoes of Kamchatka under threat.
According to the governor, the regional authorities have abandoned multi-billion dollar investments in the Rodnikovo gold deposit, the Mutnovskoye gold deposit and a number of smaller alluvial deposits. “There is no exact estimate, but I think we are talking about an amount of several tens of billions of rubles. More than 10–15. Approximate estimate – there were no more accurate calculations. “Thank God, we didn’t reach this stage,” said Mr. Solodov. He emphasized that we are talking about potential investments, investment projects have not been launched.
The refusal to invest in favor of preserving the status of a world heritage site for volcanoes is explained by the fact that for the governor, the state of nature and the high status of volcanoes have priority, RBC reports the words of Mr. Solodov. “World Heritage status under threat is a fairly serious reputational assessment in the world community, when a negative assessment is given to the efforts of the authorities to preserve nature. Considering the work we are doing, I would consider receiving such a status unfair,” he said.
The volcanoes of Kamchatka were inscribed by an international organization on the World Natural Heritage List in 1996 as “one of the most outstanding volcanic regions in the world.” Its total area is about 4 million hectares; The facility includes the Kronotsky Nature Reserve, the South Kamchatka Nature Reserve, as well as the Nalychevo, South Kamchatsky, Bystrinsky and Klyuchevskoy natural parks.
The 45th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee is taking place in Riyadh from 10 to 25 September. As Kommersant reported, on the eve of this event the organization “again expressed its extreme concern” about the situation around the natural site “Volcanoes of Kamchatka.” Moreover, the draft decisions of the committee recommended that volcanoes be given the status of World Heritage Sites that are under serious and specific danger.
On September 14, the UNESCO committee decided not to include the “Volcanoes of Kamchatka” in the list of World Heritage Sites in Danger. For the third year now, the organization has been concerned about plans to build a “volcanic” ski resort. However, Russia promised the World Heritage Committee to create a national park in Kamchatka that would protect the nature of the region. True, “resort” areas will not be included there, so UNESCO proposed giving them protected status. The Russian side promised to “do everything to preserve the natural diversity of the territory.”
More details in the material “Highly Discussed Natural Area”.
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