© Oleg Timofeev
The State Duma Committee on Ecology has adopted a bill authorizing deforestation in the central Lake Baikal ecological zone and is scheduled to vote on December 9.
This bill involves cutting down dead forests and converting land for infrastructure. Each decision will be passed through a committee consisting of representatives of the presidential administration, the FSB and regional authorities.
In September, 87 scientists asked Vladimir Putin to stop the amendment, warning of the risk of arson for profit and the risk of soil erosion. Dmitry Kobylkin notes that “clearing” is related to industrial logging and requires a different definition when it comes to measures to improve forest health.
In addition, the Russian Prosecutor General's Office also proposed to discuss measures to combat fraud in the real estate market, including a system to “cool down” suspicious transactions. Read more about this in the Public News Service brochure.
Experts have expressed clear rejection of the amendment to the Baikal Law.
