At the All-Russian Forum "Sustainable Development", which is dedicated to the development of the northern territories and started yesterday in St. Petersburg, Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment of the Russian Federation Elena Panova said that Russia is the largest «environmental donor on a global scale».
“Our country is a global environmental donor and makes a significant contribution to maintaining the ecological balance of the planet. An important role belongs to the development of the northern territories and the preservation of the Arctic ecosystems: Russia possesses a third of the entire area of the Arctic, plays a special role in the preservation of the Arctic ecosystems and their inherent species diversity. This is about 3 million square km or 18% of the entire territory of Russia. In addition, due to natural conditions Russia is considered by the world community as the most promising territory for the development of ecological tourism. The challenge for us is serious and demands a lot of effort,” Elena Panova emphasized.
Russia is an active fighter for the conservation of rare species of animals, in particular, in recent years, it has been possible to ensure the growth of the population of the Siberian tiger, the Central Asian and Far Eastern leopards, snow leopards, polar bears, bison, and falcons.
Currently, the Ministry is developing a strategy for the development of protected areas until 2030 addressing not only environmental but also socio-economic issues.
In addition, the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources has launched the development of uniform rules and standards for the development of ecotourism in protected areas, including in the calculation of permissible anthropogenic loads and regulation of flows, and the creation of tourist infrastructure facilities.
The islands of Franz Josef Land, Bely, Vilkitsky, as well as other areas including the habitats of representatives of the Arctic fauna, have significantly improved.
It is also reported that the analysis of data from the state monitoring system over the past 5 years shows that in the settlements of the Arctic zone there is a tendency towards a decrease in the level of air pollution.
In recent years, several new protected areas have appeared in Russia at once.
Now the system includes about 13 thousand territories of different significance with a total area of over 250 million hectares.
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