Today, under the chairmanship of the Minister of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Andriy Khudyk, an extended meeting of the board of the environmental protection agency was held to summarize the results of activities in 2023 and set tasks for 2024.
The event was attended by representatives of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus, the Presidential Property Management Department of the Republic of Belarus, the Prosecutor General’s Office, the State Control Committee, the State Inspectorate for the Protection of Flora and Fauna under the President of the Republic of Belarus, the Ministry of Architecture and Construction, the Ministry of Forestry, the Ministry of Economy, local authorities, the Belarusian Trade Union of Forestry and Nature Management Workers, the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, heads of structural divisions, territorial bodies and subordinate organizations of the Ministry of Natural Resources, and representatives of the media.
Opening the board meeting, Andrei Khudyk drew attention to the symbolism of holding today’s event on Defenders of the Fatherland Day: “Continuing the glorious traditions of those who ensured us a peaceful life in a free and independent country, with our daily work each of us makes our contribution to the strengthening and development of Belarus”.
Before announcing the results of the environmental protection agency’s activities in the reporting period, the Minister noted that the Ministry of Natural Resources is usually thought of as a republican government body that does not actually participate directly in the formation of GDP and, accordingly, in ensuring economic growth and the well-being of our people.
“On the one hand, this is true. But at the same time, everyone should understand that our work plays one of the primary roles in creating favorable conditions for a comfortable life and creative work of our citizens, and therefore for the development of the economy of our state,” he said. “A healthy environment is the foundation that determines the quality of human life and their ability to contribute to increasing national wealth and the well-being of everyone.”
At the same time, Andrey Khudyk does not rule out that this list will be supplemented in the future based on the tasks set: “I believe that some narrow areas still need to be identified and discussed, and perhaps we will propose supplementing this list. But all this is in the process of work. Approximately the same situation was with forecasters, when the Head of State set the task of improving the work of Belhydromet.”
Andrei Khudyk noted with satisfaction that, in general, the environmental situation in the Republic of Belarus is characterized as favorable; over the past year, the department has ensured an improvement in the quality of the main components of the environment.
“Accordingly, one of the main tasks of preserving and increasing the natural potential of the Republic of Belarus is being fulfilled,” he emphasized. “And the constant and close attention that the Head of our state Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko and the Government are paying today to the issues of environmental protection, restoring order on the land, and developing the mineral resource base – simply obliges all of us to at least keep up with the results that our economy is demonstrating, and which were mentioned by the Prime Minister at the last meeting of the Presidium of the Council of Ministers. We are obliged to continue to support the set vectors of our work.”
Continuing his report, the head of the Ministry of Natural Resources informed the meeting participants about the main results of the department’s work in the past year, going into detail about each area of activity.
The past year was significant in terms of improving environmental legislation. In 2023, 78 regulatory legal acts were adopted (issued), including: 1 Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus, 5 Laws of the Republic of Belarus, 2 orders of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Belarus, 15 resolutions of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus, 55 resolutions of the Ministry of Natural Resources, of which 19 are mandatory technical regulatory legal acts (TRLA). Large-scale work has been carried out to prepare a fundamentally new document for our country – the draft Concept of the Environmental Code of the Republic of Belarus.
The established values of the four consolidated target indicators of the State Program “Environmental Protection and Sustainable Use of Natural Resources” for 2021-2025 have been achieved: increase in oil resources – 457.0 thousand tons (182.8% of the plan), reduction in greenhouse gas emissions to the 1990 level – 40% (124% of the plan), the accuracy of short-term weather forecasts for regional centers – 95.9% (3.1 percentage points above the plan), the share of the area of \u200b\u200bspecially protected natural areas (SPNA) in the total area of the country – 9.1% (100% of the plan).
In 2023, an increase in reserves of oil, basalts, tuffs, glauconite-containing rocks, loam, boulder-gravel-furnace mixture, various types of sand (used for construction, construction and repair of roads), peat, fresh and mineral groundwater is ensured.
47 explored deposits (parts thereof) of minerals have been prepared and transferred for development, including: sand, sand-gravel mixture, sandy loam, loam – 19, peat – 18, potassium salts – 3, oil and associated petroleum gas – 2, refractory clay – 1, sapropel – 2, mineral waters – 2.
The tasks set out in 2023 by the republican plan for restoring order on the land have been completed in full, with the exception of the event to reclaim decommissioned mini-landfills (plan – 55, reclaimed – 54) as a result of the failure to fully complete the event in the Gomel region (Bragin district).
In 2023, 346,229 thousand trees and 517,084 thousand shrubs were planted in the areas adjacent to houses and other territories of populated areas. In general, the area of green areas in cities and regional centers of the republic increased by 901.11 hectares. The level of greenery reached the required indicator (40%) in 131 cities and regional centers (99.2% of their total number).
During the reporting period, work continued to regulate the spread and number of invasive plants. 743 places of Sosnowsky’s hogweed growth with a total area of 647.4 hectares or almost 14 percent of the total area of its growth (4639.1 hectares) and 1169 places of Canadian goldenrod growth with a total area of 566.1 hectares or 12 percent of the total area of its growth (4713.8 hectares) were completely destroyed.
According to preliminary data, 3.95 million tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) were generated in the country in 2023 (3.93 million tons in 2022), 822 thousand tons of secondary material resources (SMR) were collected (prepared), the level of MSW use was 35.5% (in 2022 – 32%).
In accordance with the requirements of the Head of State, as well as the Government to minimize the interference of regulatory (supervisory) bodies in the activities of business entities, the Ministry of Natural Resources has taken measures to reduce the number of control activities. Thus, in 2023, 533 random inspections of business entities were carried out, which is 30.3% less than in 2022. The number of monitoring and technical (technological, verification) activities carried out compared to 2022 decreased by 86.4%, taking into account the need to ensure optimization of their number.
As a result, 3,004 guilty persons were brought to administrative responsibility for a total amount of more than 3,851.1 thousand rubles (an increase of 39.9% compared to 2022), and 9,327 guilty persons were issued warnings.
During the reporting period, 1,785 cases of damage to the environment were also identified, for which 1,599 claims for compensation for damage caused to the environment were filed, for a total of 10,604.4 thousand rubles.
Last year, 13 types of environmental monitoring were carried out by the National Environmental Monitoring System in the Republic of Belarus. A scientific review “National Environmental Monitoring System of the Republic of Belarus: Observation Results, 2022” was prepared.
The results of monitoring the quality of atmospheric air in the cities of the republic indicate its improvement. This was facilitated by control over the implementation of measures to reduce emissions of pollutants into the atmospheric air. Thus, in 2023, only due to the implementation of measures for the construction, reconstruction, modernization of gas cleaning plants, emissions were reduced by 4.4 thousand tons.
The result of the work to improve the condition of surface water bodies was an increase in their share from 66% (2021) to 68% (2023), which were assigned a good and higher ecological status. The rational use of water resources is facilitated by the involvement of recycling and re-water supply systems in production processes. Water savings as a result of the implementation of such systems in 2023 amounted to 94.5%.
The volume of discharge of insufficiently treated wastewater during the reporting period decreased by 43% compared to 2022. Thus, the target indicator of the State Program “Index of Discharge of Insufficiently Treated Wastewater into Water Bodies” has been achieved.
Last year, the radiation situation in the country remained stable. Information from automatic measurement points also indicated the stability of the radiation situation in the zones of influence of the Chernobyl, Ignalina, Smolensk, Rivne and Belarusian NPPs.
The Republic of Belarus demonstrates significant progress in the conservation and sustainable use of biological and landscape diversity. The transfer of 296 habitats of wild animals and wild plant growth sites belonging to species included in the Red Book of the Republic of Belarus, 16,555.5 hectares of typical and (or) rare natural landscapes, typical or rare biotopes to users has been ensured. As of January 1, 2024, there are 1,354 protected areas operating on an area of 1.9 million hectares (9.1% of the total area of the country).
As a result of systematic work (scientific research), 20 species of wild animals and 8 species of wild plants and mushrooms have already been excluded from the 4th edition of the Red Book, and in the 5th edition it is planned to exclude another 12 species of animals and 26 species of plants. For a number of species, including the European bison, lynx, common badger, brown bear, it is proposed to reduce the conservation status.
In 2023, 24 administrative procedures in the field of environmental protection and rational use of natural resources were transferred to an electronic form of interaction for implementation through a single portal of electronic services.
2,719 state environmental assessment reports have been issued, 10,537 reports on the compliance of completed construction projects with environmental safety requirements, and 10,971 technical requirements for the design of projects.
Last year, the Ministry of Natural Resources implemented five international technical assistance projects (ITPs) on environmental protection, rational use of natural resources and mitigation of climate change with a total budget of over USD 15 million.
Thus, within the framework of the implementation of the ITP project “Sustainable Management of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) and Chemicals in the Republic of Belarus, GEF-6” in 2023, more than 1,440 tons of POPs-containing waste were removed from the country and destroyed. In total, since the beginning of the project, almost 2,110 tons of such waste have been removed and destroyed.
As part of its activities in the international arena, the Ministry of Natural Resources, together with interested parties, continued to work on the protection and preservation of the transboundary UNESCO World Heritage Site “Belovezhskaya Pushcha”. The main result was the adoption of a decision during the 45th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, which recognized the need to send a reactive monitoring mission of UNESCO and the International Union for Conservation of Nature to the territory of Belovezhskaya Pushcha. The purpose of the mission is to conduct an objective assessment of the situation and identify threats to this unique natural complex. The visit of international experts is expected to take place in March of this year.
The Ministry of Natural Resources also operates effectively on bilateral platforms, including developing cooperation with new foreign partners. Thus, in 2023, the department and its subordinate organizations signed a package of bilateral documents in the field of environmental protection and geological exploration with China and Venezuela.
2023 was a year full of various environmental events, actions and campaigns. In order to popularize the environmental movement, the Environmental Week was successfully held: the II International Specialized Exhibition “ECOLOGY EXPO-2023” and the XVII Republican Environmental Forum were held. In total, 2,315 environmental events were organized during the reporting period with the participation of about 160 thousand people, including more than 30 thousand young citizens. Over 550 representatives of the public were involved in the discussion and resolution of more than 95 environmental issues.
As of January 1, 2024, 413 institutions have the status of “Green School” (135.9% of the 2022 level), 23 secondary education institutions are participating in the “Green Classes of the Belarusian Capital” project (9.6% of their total number).
Also during the meeting, a number of heads of structural divisions, territorial bodies and subordinate organizations of the Ministry of Natural Resources were heard with reports on problematic issues in the work and proposals for their solution.
During the direct dialogue, the members of the board discussed the agenda items. It was noted that the main tasks that the environmental agency aimed to solve in 2023 were generally completed.
Concluding the work of the board, the Minister sincerely thanked all employees of the Ministry of Natural Resources system for their conscientious work in 2023 and expressed confidence that, following the results of the substantive conversation that took place today, everyone understands their tasks for the current period.
“We need serious work, both in the central office and locally,” the head of the department emphasized. – Only high-quality comprehensive development of all areas of environmental protection activities will allow us to achieve the maximum effect from their implementation and ensure high quality of the environment and favorable living conditions for people. This is especially important in the “Year of Quality” announced this year by our President Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko.”
Andrei Khudyk also noted that 2024 is full of very important socio-political events for the country – early voting is taking place these days for the elections of deputies of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus and deputies of local Councils of Deputies, which will end on a single voting day – February 25.
“Those who have not yet had time to take part in the voting – be sure to do so. By taking part in the elections, each of us votes for peace, order, development and our own prosperous life,” he urged.
The final board meeting of the Ministry of Natural Resources ended with an award ceremony for the teams of organizations and employees of the environmental protection agency system who made the most significant contribution to the implementation of the tasks facing the system.
