Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia plans to expand list of wetlands of international importance

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation plans to expand the list of wetlands of international importance. This was reported on the official website of the Ministry. The corresponding decision was made following the results of the meeting of the Public Council under the Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia. At present, the Ministry has worked out the question of including new wetlands in the Russian Ramsar List, consisting of 35 wetlands. According to Andrei Kolodkin, director of the department for state policy and regulation in the field of environmental protection of the Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia, to date, 15 provisions on wetlands of international importance have been approved, the provisions on wetlands have not been approved in 8 regions of the Russian Federation.
Earlier, in order to fulfill the obligations of the Ramsar Convention, executive authorities of a number of Russian regions were tasked to develop and approve, together with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Natural Resources of the Russian Federation, provisions on wetland sites located on their territories that are of international importance as waterfowl habitats. Along with this, it is necessary to conduct a large-scale work jointly with the specialized agencies of the Russian regions to collect and compile information for the preparation of updated electronic Ramsar Information Sheets (RIS) for Ramsar wetlands. Updated electronic RILs form part of the information "package" when submitted to the Secretariat of the Ramsar Convention. Experts from the Forestry Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) and the International Wetlands Conservation Organization (Wetlands International) provide the Ministry with the necessary expert support. Upon the completion of the updated RIL, the Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia plans to start developing the necessary regulatory legal acts and their coordination with the federal executive bodies of the Russian Federation and the subjects of the Russian Federation.
As Andrey Kolodkin noted, the executive authorities of some of the country's constituents voted in favor of the inclusion of the Russian Twist (Nenets Autonomous Area), Pasvik (Murmansk Oblast) and Asly-Kul (the Republic of Bashkortostan) in the Russian wetland list of international importance".
The creation of specially protected natural areas of federal, regional or local importance is possible within the boundaries of wetlands. Currently, 31 out of 35 wetlands of international importance fully or partially include federal and regional PAs.
 
Press Service of MENR RT