Russia may lose 2.5 million hectares (6.2 million acres) of precious forests in the next five years if it fails to work out a reasonable strategy to preserve the existing forest resources, the director of World Wildlife Fund Russia, Igor Chestin, told Sputnik on Friday.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th September, 2018) Russia may lose 2.5 million hectares (6.2 million acres) of precious forests in the next five years if it fails to work out a reasonable strategy to preserve the existing forest resources, the director of World Wildlife Fund Russia, Igor Chestin, told Sputnik on Friday.
Earlier in the week, the Russian government introduced the main provisions of a national Project "Ecology." The project aims to improve environmental protection and sets the relevant tasks which are to be implemented by 2024. The government has so far introduced only the passport of the project, since the latter is still at the drafting stage.
"If the national project gets implemented without changes, Russia will lose 2.5 million hectares of the most precious intact forests over five years. For the formation of economically valuable forest, it is critically important to take care of woods," Chestin warned.
According to Chestin, the project mainly provides for forest-restoration, while lacks the measures aimed at maintenance and preservation of the existing forests.
He also stressed the need to create stimuli for businesses to make long-term investments in forest preservation efforts.
