NEWS


6
April 2017
Thursday

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology of Russia has developed a draft federal law “On Amendments Being Made to the Article 50.2 of the Forest Code of the Russian Federation” according to which cedar will be qualified as the finewood.

“Taking into account the high ecosystem significance of the cedar forests, a bill has been developed as an additional measure to protect them from illegal logging, according to which cedar will be qualified as the finewood,” said the head of the Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia Sergey Donskoy.

This legislative initiative is supported by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, the Ministry of Finance of Russia, the Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia, the Federal Forestry Agency, and currently is in the process of public discussion and interagency coordination.

Inclusion of cedar into the list of finewood will oblige the owners of cedar timber (persons harvesting cedar, and effecting transactions with cedar timber) to mark each log individually, to register it and enter the data about it in the unified state automated information system (USAIS) for recording of wood and transactions therewith.

The draft law also provides for a standard that will ensure the marking of all finewood, and origin authentication of each log – cedar, oak, beech, ash – not only in export, but also in turnover on the territory of the Russian Federation.

It will be recalled that the cedar forests are one of the most valuable forests in the natural and social respect. They are rich in biological diversity and have an important socio-economic importance in those areas where the harvesting of pine nuts is an important source of livelihood for the local population, and therefore they need special protection.

The cedar timber has high physical and consumer properties, which creates a steady demand for it and increases the risks of illegal logging and turnover. The illegal logging along with the wildfires and forest diseases cause significant damage to cedar forests.

“The snows vocalize, the streams run, the rivers murmur glittering, and the sun forwards its rays penetrating into every house” – these are the words from which a holiday dedicated to the Bird Day has started in Kolosok Daycare Center of the Spassky Municipal District of the Republic of Tatarstan. The event was organized by the teacher Vera Osintseva. The State Environmental Protection Inspector of the Republic of Tatarstan Lyubov Murzak took part in the holiday telling the children about the birds: “The feathered decorate our land, bring great benefit to nature. Their cheerful, sonorous trills, bright colors revive nature, inspire cheerfulness and joy. By April 1, not all migratory travelers return to us. Rooks appear the first, then starlings followed by waterfowl. Less and less we hear the hubbub and chirping of birds in the spring. In order for them to return and for children to observe their life and not just study them according to the textbooks, very little is needed. An ancient Russian tradition – to hang up the bird houses –has a profound meaning: a man not only helps birds, but by doing this he gets closer to nature, better understands his primordial unity with it”.

During the festival, children enjoyed reading poems about feathered friends, singing songs, distinguishing voices of birds, and solving riddles. At the end of the event, the children were awarded diplomas and sweet gifts from the administration of the sanctuary.


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