The market economy is getting into Belarusian protected areas
"The Humanitarian Ecological Magazine", No 1, 2008
From the Editorial board
The purpose of biosphere reserves, national parks, churches, libraries, museums and theatres is to save intangible values. It is impossible to expect profit earning from them because they are not the field of business. Their applicability is to make non-financial values. How, for example, can one count up the profit from the Tretiakovskaya Gallery or the Louvre ? Of course, it is possible to follow the other path by placing pinball machines, building a casino and substantial increasing income from tourism development in national parks. However, they will be no national parks more. This is the immoral and anti-ecological way in which, unfortunately, the management of the Belarusian National Park "Belovezhskaya Pushcha" has passed after creation of "The Belarusian Grandfather Frost Manor" there. Moreover, a Professor of Economics from one of the Belarusian High Schools has come to the point that ostensibly "the society has faced a dilemma of submission of ecology to economic laws", it means to a purse of businessmen. It is a pity that Belarusian scientists and experts have completely forgotten the simple truth - Dollar, if even being at a dog's lead, always threats to a wild nature. They eulogize "the market economy" but they do not know what they are doing. The article below is the example of that.How much does "Belovezhskaya Pushcha" cost?*
*Published at: http://bp21.org.by/ru/news/0607.html#9
The new aspect – ecology and economy at the same time - in the field of nature protection for especially protected natural territories was discussed by scientists of three countries (Belarus, Russia and Ukraine) at the Second International Conference "The ecological and economic mechanism of preservation of biodiversity on especially protected natural territories" which was held in the National Park "Belovezhskaya Pushcha".
The government today allocates budgetary funds for protection of natural objects twice more than it was two or three years ago, A.A. Molozhavskiy, PhD of Biology and a head of the Department of Nature Use at the Management of Protected Natural Complexes and Nature Use at the Property Management Department of the President of the Republic of Belarus, has emphasized when opening the conference. Money put up in any project including nature protection should come back and the state consequently has a right to count on economic benefit from target assignments.
I want actually to disappoint the one who has thought of cubic metre of cut wood and has mentally modelled a big sum of money from wood export. The matter concerns what financial feedback from conservation of biodiversity can be expected for each of us, for the people living on this planate, for what purposes and what means should be used to save these unique areas.
A.V. Neverov, Professor of Economics of the Belarusian State Technological University (the city of Minsk) and one of the organizers of the conference, has said when reporting that the society has faced a dilemma of submission of ecology to economic laws. Scientists dealing with economics have calculated and using figures have proved that protection, for example, of the forests of Belovezhskaya Pushcha is much more profitable than to cut them. As to the executors, national parks should earn finances for their nature protection activities themselves. Tourism management should become the basic component of it.
The national project "The Manor of Belarusian Grandfather Frost" in Belovezhskaya Pushcha realized three years ago which already became the brand because of a big quantity of visitors and popularity among children and adults is the example of the statement mentioned above. The finances spent for its construction, are coming back in the form of economic and social dividends. Therefore, the assembly of the venerable scientific stars has accumulated the most interesting ideas and proposals and has made an attempt to develop the uniform ecological and economic mechanism of conservation of biodiversity and nature protection.
The ideas on creation of the Belovezhskiy Ecological Region (BER) and, in its borders, the Free Economic Zone (FEZ) aiming attraction of foreign investments for development of nature protected areas and for improvement of the innovation climate were discussed in reports made by general director of the State Nature Protection Institution "The National Park "Belovezhskaya Pushcha" N.N. Bambiza and by Professor A.V. Neverov. Small and middle businesses can be developed in towns and villages to bring money to the state treasury for the nature protection purposes. The scientists consider that the forming of the necessary conditions to ensure continual production of the biologically sustainable natural complex on basis of raising the ecological values of the area can be a general concept of the regional development. This idea is as the following. Belovezhskaya Pushcha and the adjacent areas – the lands of the Kamenetz, Svisloch and Pruzhany districts of the surface of about 600,000 hectares and the population of over 70,000, with a lack of large industrial enterprises - should function as the integrated territory, the attractive core for tourists and the pilgrimage place where one can get clean air and unforgettable impressions. That means the market relations should be involved into the region. The beauty should bring money. The Grandfather Frost's Manor can be a tiny model of this. If it is so, in the present conditions the strategy of protection of flora and fauna demands to be economically supported. It covers issues including attractive features of grounds for construction of health resorts, economic benefit from health improvement and more favourable conditions for finances from abroad. As N.N. Bambiza has said there are already offers from foreign investors but each project will religiously be examined in order to prevent troubles for Belovezhskaya Pushcha and will be coordinated at the top level.
O.S. Shimova, Professor of the Belarusian State Economic University, when stating issues on economic assessment of the effect getting from actions on conservation of biodiversity, has expressed an idea that not all is measured only through getting economic benefit. If it is talking about preservation of animals, for example, of bison, to calculate damage caused to the forest is incorrect because protection of these giant animals, which are a symbol of Belovezhskaya Pushcha and Belarus, provides a social benefit.
V.I. Parfenov, Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, and the employees of the National Park have expressed concern about preservation of forests because of mass dying of spruce trees. He has called it the national disaster. Forests of the planet as a whole also suffer from natural cataclysms but from anthropogenic influence – drainage, tree felling and fires - to a greater extent. How to resist to these catastrophic problems – it was proposed as a topic for one of the future "The Pushcha's readings" which are offered to organise annually.
G.A. Motykin, Professor of the Institute of Market Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow), S.N. Bobylev, PhD of Economics, Professor of the Lomonosov's Moscow State University (Moscow), and I.N. Lytsur, PhD of Economics, an employee of the National Academy of Ukraine, have presented detailed reports at the conference. In particular, Professor Bobylev has said that 8 billions Roubles of budgetary funds, it makes 0,015% of all expenses, are allocated for the environment protection's purposes in Russia while economic losses from extinction or changes in the quantity and quality of biodiversity make 190 to 200 billions Roubles. He suggests that, if the economy will be such as now, it should be looking for other sources of financing of nature protection programs in Russia. The scientist has called the colleague-economists from Belarus to value natural complexes at as much as possible (more expensively) that to eliminate and to prevent extraction of minerals there, to the prejudice of nature.
When saying it, the Professor has calculated how much the recycling of carbonic gases by the Pushcha's forests costs. It proves to be that its absorption, if it would be carried out by a man-caused way, is annually estimated over $ 500 billions, while the National Park "Belovezhskaya Pushcha" provides this for the planet free of charge. Therefore, it is important that all international society could take part to save the Park's forests.
The other Ukrainian participant of the forum Dr. Lytsur said that national parks in his country are on the verge of the survival. The area of Crimea, where every little chief wants to construct a small house by wining a piece of ground from nature, suffers a disaster. As being a supporter of the theory of involving natural areas into the market relations, he has demonstrated the example of one of the Ukrainian reserves where trout is successfully produced that gives 30 percents of the overall profit of the nature protection institution. In his opinion, the project of creation of the manor of the fairy tale character in Belovezhskaya Pushcha is very successful. Realization of the ideas like this do not harm to the forest but gives financial means for development of the National Park, Dr. Lytsur has concluded.
The foreign scientists were greatly satisfied from the work of the conference and from the visit in Belovezhskaya Pushcha. They have offered close cooperation in the frame of the topic discussed.
All speakers (they were about 20) said about careful study of each ecological-and-economic project that to prevent damage to a magnificence created by nature and granted to us in order to save it for the future generations.
To those who like a language of figures I will put the following data gathered from the reports by A.V. Neverov and N.N. Bambiza. The total economic income gained from the use of riches of Belovezhskaya Pushcha makes about $ 250,000 to 300,000. This is the income from tourism, hunting, fishing, berry gathering etc. However, there is also the reverse of the medal, namely the alternative cost. Forest, water and wetland ecosystems, as well as fauna resources of Belovezhskaya Pushcha are estimated more than two billion dollars, although the scientists noted that its unique nature is actually a great invaluable gift for the mankind.
Thus, our country possesses such great natural values and saves only one of them – Belovezhskaya Pushcha - for the world society. There are a lot of beautiful natural objects on the territory of our country.
The scientists offer to estimate national riches in a worthy manner and to use their cost from the point of economic benefits. We think we will know in the near future the ways it will be done.
Beauty must and can bring money – this conclusion was made by the participants of the Second International conference "The ecological and economic mechanism of conservation of biodiversity of especially protected natural territories".
The scientists and experts from Belarus, Russia and Ukraine who have assembled in Belovezhskaya Pushcha have offered fundamentally new forms and methods of development of ecological tourism which can cover charges for protection and maintenance of areas of biological importance and which can give jobs to the locals. The idea of creation of the Belovezhskiy Ecological Region as a free economic zone was put forward.
Karimov has ordered to exterminate starlings
The President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov has charged immediately to exterminate all Afghani starlings living in the country. He has give reasons to do it because a bird brings the posterity three times per year and causes a serious harm to the environment, while the benefit from it is nothing. Special departments at the local police stations of the country are already created and are ordered to exterminate "the winged enemies". Poultry breeders of the country have already supported this initiative. According to the expert Ibragim Salikhov, the starlings delivered to Uzbekistan from Afghanistan not only consume insects but also attack other birds, in particular, sparrows. However, starlings are of a considerable benefit to the agriculture as, when eating locusts and brining up nestlings, they annually kill about 150,000 insects. We do not mention here about their right of life.
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