“This is the only way to influence the authorities”

Belarusan citizens and representatives of non-governmental organizations who signed a public petition in defence of Belarusan swamps consider it the only way to influence the authorities.

 Let us recall that the public campaign in defense of swamps which aim is the abolition of decree №794, abandonment of current plans for building new peat briquette factories and preservation of wetlands on specially protected natural sites is still in progress.

The cause why the ecologists were worried was decree №794 of 17 June 2011 “Some questions on fuel extraction and system optimization of specially protected natural sites” which was adopted by the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus. This document designates long-ranged deposits for fuel extraction which are situated within the boundaries of existing or estimated nature reserves both of local and republican significance, and it also changes the specially protected natural sites allocation scheme.

- This decree endangers not only the existence of ecosystem of each mentioned territory, but also leads directly to the weakening of the act about preservation and inviolability of specially protected natural sites, - organizers of the campaign assume ( the organizers of the campaign are non-governmental organization “APB BirdLife Belarus”, ecological association “Green network”, Non-governmental organizations “Ecohome” and “Centre for informational support of public initiatives “The Third sector” )

In the course of the public petition placed on the website change.org was collected more than 1700 signatures as of 5 November. Besides, 12 non-governmental organizations have already joined the campaign.
A member of ecological association “Green network” Natalia Porechina, who signed the petition, hopes that if a fair number is collected, the decree of the Council of Ministers will be abolished.

- This is the only legal way to influence the authorities, and we are obliged to use it, - she says. – I am sure that all the decisions which deal with ecology and therefore bear on the whole country, should not be made without public hearing of the people of Belarus.                   

Natalia Porechina emphasizes that it is completely pointless to use peat as a fuel, “ it is the same as to fire a furnace with money. It is an inefficient way of natural resources’ use; there are much more effective ways to solve the problem”.     

The officials forget about the significant benefit that the wetlands bring to Belarus. It is incorrect to say that the only use of swamps is in peat extraction, - Evgenij Lobanov, an associate director of Center of Ecological Ideas, presumes.   

- Swamps do ecological services, - he explains. – The authorities do not take into account the value of the swamps for preservation of biological diversity. Besides, the swamps play a very important role in climate support.

According to Evgenij Lobanov, specially protected natural sites play important role in formation of a positive image of the country on an international scale: “We got used to take our swamps for granted and we don’t see anything special in them. But at the same time we forget that they attract tourists to Belarus.”

As leader of a non-governmental organization “Centre for informational support of public initiatives “The Third sector” Vitovt Rudnik confessed he doesn’t have unrealistic expectations of ability of such kind of petitions to change something.  “Unfortunately we live in a country where decisions are made first and then are proved to be the only right,” – he remarks.

- Nevertheless we joined the petition in defense of the swamps with a hope that public opinion will also be considered. There are no other real ways to influence the authorities. We need political will to listen to people and to accept a decision considering their opinion, especially if the issue will  affect the whole country, - Vitovt Rudnik says.

Collection of signatures will continue till the very symbolic date of 2 February 2013, when World Wetlands Day is celebrated. By that time ecologists expect to collect 100 signatures from non-governmental organizations and 100 thousand signatures from citizens.

The petition will be forwarded  to the Prime-Minister of Belarus Mikhail Myasnikovich, to the head of the department of Presidential affairs Nikolaj Korbut, to the Energy Ministry Alexander Ozerets, to  the Minister of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Vladimir Tsalko.

According to the Act of the Republic of Belarus “About requests of citizens and legal entities”, which came into effect on January 22, 2012, a non-legible request should be regarded by corresponding public authorities on a par with the written one.

You can sign the petition in defense of Belarusan swamps here.