SHKLOV DISTRICT, 11 October (BelTA) – During his working trip to Shklov District, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko has launched the national campaign “Bringing forests back to life”, BelTA has learned.
The campaign is organized by the Forestry Ministry and will be running from 12 October to 12 November. Its goal is to restore windblown and fallen forested areas. Volunteers can join it by registering with local forestry enterprises. Most of the effort will be put into the reforestation of Gomel Oblast and Mogilev Oblast as these regions were affected the most by the natural disaster.
During his visit to Mozyr District in August, Aleksandr Lukashenko ordered to provide the necessary assistance to households affected by the storm, process damaged and fallen trees, and promptly launch the reforestation effort. Individuals, labor collectives, and university students should also be involved in this effort. “We should restore all of it next year. We should make plans and schedules during the winter. [Deputy Prime Minister Yuri] Shuleiko reported to me yesterday that we have enough saplings. We need to put things to rights. This is the only way we can salvage these empty patches,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
In keeping with tradition, the president decided to encourage fellow Belarusians to take care of their land by his own example. With his participation, oaks and spruces were planted in Shklov District, the homeland of Aleksandr Lukashenko. A total of 2,000 trees were planted on an area of 0.6 hectares.
A reminder, following the order of the head of state, work is underway to eliminate the aftermath of the July storm in Belarus. According to preliminary data, strong winds damaged forests on an area of 25,000 hectares with a timber stock of 2.4 million cubic meters, while 2 million cubic meters were subject to sanitary felling. As a result of subsequent winds and a more detailed survey, the volume of timber that needed sanitary felling increased almost threefold and amounted to 5.7 million cubic meters.
Forestry Minister Aleksandr Kulik told the president that as of 11 October, forest felling was carried out on an area of 19,800 hectares, more than 3.2 million cubic meters of timber were harvested.
The timber will be used by the country’s woodworking enterprises. By the end of this year, contracts for more than 3.7 million cubic meters of timber have been signed by domestic companies.
“Have you put this ‘golden’ harvest into use?” asked Aleksandr Lukashenko.
According to the minister, the maximum possible amount of commercial timber has been harvested.
The head of state reiterated the need to observe the deadlines. “You promised to clear the windfall this year. You said: we will mobilize the whole country, if needed, to remove these windfall areas, put them into use and plant new forest next year (the deadline),” the president recalled.
So far, the work is behind schedule. The ministry explains that when the deadlines were being set, the volume of work was underestimated. But the situation is better in other places. In general, the deadlines are being met throughout the country, only Gomel Oblast lags behind.
“His mistake is that he failed to correctly estimate the amount of work and to report this on time. But the reasons [for missing the deadline] are objective - the volumes were revised upward, there are not enough people and means,” explained Head of the Belarus President Property Management Directorate Yuri Nazarov.
“How is it that they are understaffed? I told them to mobilize people,” Aleksandr Lukashenko emphasized.
During his visit to Mozyr District in August, Aleksandr Lukashenko ordered to provide the necessary assistance to households affected by the storm, process damaged and fallen trees, and promptly launch the reforestation effort. Individuals, labor collectives, and university students should also be involved in this effort. “We should restore all of it next year. We should make plans and schedules during the winter. [Deputy Prime Minister Yuri] Shuleiko reported to me yesterday that we have enough saplings. We need to put things to rights. This is the only way we can salvage these empty patches,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
