IMCG RESOLUTION FOR BELARUS

Norway, July 1994

The International Mire Conservation Group (IMCG) is a world-wide organisation of mire (peatland) specialists who have a particular interest in the conservation of peatland habitats. The IMCG willingly places its advice and expertise at the disposal of any government seeking to establish or maintain mire conservation programmes.

The IMCG held its 6th Biennial Field Symposium in Norway in July 1994, looking at the particular issues of Norwegian mire conservation. During the symposium, considerable discussion and debate was devoted to the issues of mire conservation in other countries represented at the meeting. A number of resolutions were drawn up for the countries represented, as a means of indicating various ways in which each national government could make a positive contribution to the internationally important issue of mire protection.

The IMCG is aware of the work achieved during the last two decades in relation to the protection of mires in Belarus. The Group has also learned that over 60% of Belarussian mires are still in a virgin state, and about 16% are now protected. Other sites, currently under negotiation, comprise another 13%. Thus, it is expected that in Belarus about 29% of mires will be under legal protection and in their natural state.

Nevertheless, despite this excellent record, there is an urgent need for further action to ensure that examples of the full range of mires in Belarus are represented within the mire conservation programme.

The following resolutions have thus been endorsed by the members of the IMCG:

1. It is vital that sites which are currently protected should retain their protected status after the privatization programme in Belarus has been completed.
2. Although the inventory of Belarus peat resources is largely complete and comprehensive, there is an urgent need for an equivalent inventory of the ecological and hydrological condition of this resource.
3. Mires and other wetlands possess significant biospherical properties, including atmosphere and soil ground-water purification from pollution, and biodiversity conservation. Consequently, reduced incentives for the destruction of mires and, in certain areas, greater incentives for the restoration of mire systems are required.
4. Since in several European countries the natural peat resources have been completely destroyed, the peat industry is increasingly looking to the possibilities of expansion within countries that still possess significant peat resources, including Belarus. Bearing in mind the western European experience of the peat industry, the IMCG considers that Belarus urgently needs to establish a long-term conservation strategy for peatlands in which conservation means wise and sustainable use as well as protection and rehabilitation, thus ensuring a purposeful activity allowing mire resource utilisation that is compatible with its importance in the biosphere.

The IMCG will assist in any way it can to help develop such a strategy.

The IMCG hopes that the Government of Belarus will consider these observations to be helpful, and that it will be possible to report positive progress at the next Biennial IMCG Symposium.