Journalists and Public to Inspect “Belovezhskaya Puscha” :: Charter'97 :: News

Expedition of journalists and public representatives to the state national forest reserve “Belovezhskaya Puscha” is scheduled for January 29, BelaPAN was told by Valery Dranchuk – editor-in-chief of the newspaper “Belovezhskaya Puscha” and head of the new public initiative “Terra-Convention”, set up for the purpose of protecting this ancient European wood.

As you know, in the beginning of the year 12 prominent Belarusian and Russian journalists, including Valery Dranchuk, addressed the head of the UN representation in Belarus Nil Bune with a proposal to organize a three-day long press-trip to the “Belovezhskaya Puscha”, attracting the public and scholars, who are dealing with the problem. By so doing the initiators of expedition intend to draw the attention of broad public circles to the problem of the forest’s annihilation and Belarusian authorities’ infringement on the international environmental conventions, signed by Belarus. On January 13 at the meeting with Valery Dranchuk in Minsk Nil Bune stated his readiness to engage in the dialogue between the public and the authorities on the afore-mentioned problems, in particular, the upcoming press-trip.
However, Valery Dranchuk said that a one-day format of the action, defined by the authorities without the initiators’ consent, doesn’t suit the latter. He deems that by so doing the authorities want to formally fulfill the demand of the public but at the same time conceal numerous cases of environmental law violations, which are so commonplace in the “Belovezhskaya Puscha”.