Environmentalists again preoccupied by the fate of Belarusian marshes. Has risen in price of Russian gas is pushing the state to use local sources of energy. In particular, the Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Semashko said recently that in the next five years, there comes a golden era for peat enterprises in Belarus, and peat extraction will be increased two-fold.

The Belarusian swamps under threat - a golden era for peat enterprises

Another reason for increasing the volume of peat was expanding capacity of the Belarusian cement plants, for which decided to use peat. It turns out that the Belarusian bogs have only recently begun to recover from the time of "great" Reclamation 1980, again offering to drain. But this time it turned out that had nothing to drain. As a leading researcher told the Scientific and Practical Center for Bioresources of the National Academy of Sciences, Alexander Kozulin, almost all large swamps of Belarus are on Protected Areas (PAs) - Sanctuary Vygonoshchanskoye "and" Osveysky "in the national park" Pripyat "on which Of course, prohibited by drainage and peat extraction. The rest of the peat reserves of Belarus dispersed in small swamps, dispersed throughout the country. Therefore, to produce still can be made, it is necessary to abolish the protected areas, said the specialist. According to him, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has already received orders of the Council of Ministers to establish a special legal act for the abolition of protected areas and identify areas in which peat extraction is possible now. However, the ministry concluded that the appropriate fields there, and the increase in the fund can only be developed through agricultural peat land or through the protected areas. In the Sanctuary "Vygonoshchanskoye", for example, offer one piece of bog "cut" to extract peat, and another left in its natural state, but Alexander Kozulin does not endorse this approach. He notes that, to preserve intact part of the bog must apply complex engineering design, otherwise the whole pond will be ruined.

An alternative to turf grass and scientists believe pesticides

According to Kozulin, enterprises in Belarus does not need to switch to burning peat, and the use of renewable energy sources that are available on the same swamp. The ecologist said that Belarus has already mastering the use as an energy source marsh vegetation (rushes, cattail, sedges). In the canted to add peat bog biomass and form briquettes. Productivity of pellets "just awesome," said Kozulin, besides for their production should be significantly less than the peat, and "grass" in the swamp grows continuously, rather than a millimeter per year, as peat. In addition, instead of peat pellets can be added and sawdust. However, the production of ecological briquettes in Belarus is still only the entrepreneurs, the state does not support this approach. "One ton of wood pellets from plants and sawdust are sold for a hundred euros. It is believed that the company will get 50% of the profits", - said Kozulin. According to scientists, the use of alternative energy in general, biomass is 6.5% in the U.S., 6% - in China, 5,7% - in the EU (by 2015 is projected to reach 20%). In Belarus, some businesses take the initiative and introduce yourself to use biomass - such as wood waste, but after the order "from above" are forced to move to turf, said the expert. National Coordinator of the Small Grants Programme Global Environment Facility in the Republic of Belarus Alexander Levchenko said that back in 1997 on the proposed cement plant to burn waste, pesticides and thus solve two problems at once - to save fuel and get rid of harmful chemicals. "In 2000 on one of these plants in Norway, save up to 30% less fuel by burning waste going to bring this figure up to 50%," - said the expert. According to Levchenko, factories save on fuel and additionally received the money for the incineration of waste, while we have huge amounts of money being spent on disposal of chemicals. However, the Belarusian government at the time of this method is not approved, referring to the toxic emissions, etc. By the way, now the wastes buried in the Grodno region and will be removed for destruction in a European country.

Who protects the Belarusian swamp?

According to a senior researcher of the Institute of Nature NASB Nina Tanovitskaya, official figures state that in Belarus, about 1400 hectares of wetlands, but the satellite images showed that the natural state remained only 860 thousand hectares, of which only 40% are in good condition, the remaining wetlands disturbed hydrological regime. In the management of biological and landscape diversity Ministry reminded that peat extraction in the reserve and the reserve is prohibited. According to Deputy Head of Department Natalia Zarkin, Belarus is a state program of development of protected areas, and the National Security Strategy is established that the area of ​​protected areas should be not less than 8%, although currently it is 7.8%. Besides, Belarus is a party to the Ramsar Convention on the Conservation of Wetlands and the Convention on Biodiversity. Let's hope that these documents do not give water to destroy Belarus. Protection of Belarusian nature and deal with international environmental organizations. With their support, NGO "APB Birds Batskaўshchyny implements a project in Belarus," Climate and Biodiversity ", under which the recovery of more than 14 thousand hectares of degraded peatlands. The project also aims at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and biodiversity conservation. The program by the end of summer in the reserve "Sporovsky planned to start production of fuel Brick