The Project: Environmental and Wetland State Monitoring in Belarus. Threat Map.

In 2015, Belarus has adopted the National Wetland Policy and Strategy. The core objective of Strategy is to elaborate the action plan about peatlands distribution according to purpose (protection or extraction) up to 2030.

The issue of peat extraction within the protected areas was the most urgent before adopting the document.

Since 2011 to the present time, NGO «Bahna» has been working on conservation and sustainable management of wetlands, which started from the public campaign «In Defence of Belarussian Marshlands» against the Regulation No. 794 «Certain Questions of Peat Extraction and SPNT-system Optimization».

As a result of joint efforts of organizations coalition and the Ministry of Natural Resources, a new project called «The Sacred 112» with the proposal of the annulment of the Regulation was directed to the Council of Ministers. The answer regarding the project was to consider the particular territories mentioned in the Regulation on its own and to adopt the new wetland sustainable management Strategy as well as preparation of the Law «On the protection and use of wetlands» in 2020.

Thus, the future goal based on further ecosystem degradation prevention and freshwater sources extinction is to focus on monitoring of the implementation of practical measures and action plan in accordance with the adopted National Strategy.

Project objectives:

• Set current state assessment and analysis of violations on the wetlands within the specially protected natural territories (SPNT).

• Monitor the compliance of previously adopted programs and schemes on the conservation and management of wetlands and poor environmental conditions, including wetland reclamation.

• Catalogue and mapping of special wetland areas.

• Design a threat map of protection required areas.

• Create an integrated ecosystem online-monitoring.

• Organize a pool of experts in different study fields gathered by the goal of improving wetland management techniques.

• Prepare a directory with scientific studies containing innovative approaches to wetland management.

• Formulate proposals for actions on crucial wetland areas protection.

• The project is presented as an online-map with the current state of the wetlands in Belarus. This tool helps us in monitoring and analysis of areas of concern.

The project was created in collaboration with:

• The National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Belarus (the State Research and Production Association «Scientific and Practical Center of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus for Bioresources», Institute of Experimental Botany n.a. V. Kuprevich),

• Research laboratories of Landscape Ecology,

• Research laboratories of Hydroecology of the Belarussian State University.