Patrushev named conditions for realizing the potential of protected areas

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Patrushev held a meeting on December 25 with representatives of specialized agencies to improve state policy and management in the field of protection, use and development of specially protected natural areas. According to him, the development potential of the latter can be realized only by solving the accumulated problems. This was reported by the press service of Deputy Prime Minister.

Patrushev drew attention to the fact that the country's reserve fund is the largest in the world - about 12 thousand territories with an area of more than 240 million hectares. During the period of implementation of the national project "Ecology" in the Russian Federation created 25 new federal specially protected natural areas and more than 600 regional ones.

"Until 2030, 20 more such territories are expected to be created within the framework of the national project "Ecological Wellbeing". Of course, it is necessary to proceed not only from the quantitative indicator. It is necessary to understand how effectively this activity is carried out in our country," the press service of the Deputy Prime Minister's words.

He recalled that Russian President Vladimir Putin has set the task to continue the development of ecological tourism in national parks. For this purpose, the appropriate infrastructure is being created, which contributes to the increase of tourist flow. According to him, it has grown from 6 million to 17 million people in six years.

"Specially protected natural areas have great potential for development. However, it can be realized only if the accumulated problems are solved. In this regard, it is necessary to systematize the work in all areas that we have discussed," Patrushev said.

Following the discussion, he gave a number of instructions to specialized agencies, among which were to accelerate the preparation of a bill on automatic transfer of land into the appropriate category when creating and expanding a protected area, to work out additional sources of funding for the system and others.

Earlier, on December 5, Patrushev said that the national project "Environmental Wellbeing" is a continuation of the national project "Ecology" and it is dedicated to solving the tasks that have not been realized within five years. In particular, within the framework of the project it is planned to build a closed-cycle economy in the work with solid municipal waste and eliminate landfills. In addition, it is necessary to implement the "Clean Air" project to reduce polluting emissions into the atmosphere in cities and reduce the amount of untreated wastewater.