In the mass media information appeared that the government of
Adygea decided to form a nature park in the territory of the
republic. The park will be located in the territories of
Fisht-Oshten massif, the plateau Lago-Naki and the mountain range
Gigursan. As authors of the report think, "the creation of a nature
park will provide more efficient and ecologically safe development
of the mountain area situated in the close vicinity to the
Caucasian biosphere reserve". The development of the system of the
republican protected nature areas would be worth welcoming, but for
one, to put it mildly, inaccuracy. The matter is that mentioned
territories belong to the Caucasian state nature biosphere reserve
and are not in the close vicinity to it.
We have a paradoxical situation: in the territory of the state
nature reserve - specially protected nature area (SPNA) of high
significance that is a property of the RF and is under its
jurisdiction - a nature park, SPNA of regional significance under
the jurisdiction of the RF member, is being created.
Actually this decision means a withdrawal of the territories
from the federal ownership and their transfer to Adygea's
possession.
In case the decision will come into force it'll be a gross
violation of the RF Constitution, several federal laws (including
the Land Code of the Russian Federation, federal law "On Specially
Protected Nature Territories"). Besides that the Caucasian reserve
is under the jurisdiction of international organizations, it is
included in the list of UNESCO biosphere reserves and is a site of
the UNESCO World Heritage (that means it is under the protection of
the Convention for the protection of world natural and cultural
heritage). Naturally, the withdrawal of these territories from the
reserve and their involving in the intensive economic activity will
lead to the breach of obligations Russia assumed according to the
Convention.
What is the reason for Adygea to break the law so evidently? It
becomes clear if we read the second part of the report. In the
withdrawn territories the construction of the mountain-sky complex
is planned, which is against the law about reserves. Nevertheless
the infrastructure (roads and power transmission lines) is being
planned and the money is being spent. It seems that Adygean
authorities hope that they'll get support from the Russian
President, who is famous for his love for mountain skiing. Or the
President of Adygea Hazret Sovmen, who is a member of "United
Russia", thinks that in present Duma he'll easily pass the changes
of the mentioned laws, which will let him do whatever he wants.
By the way, Mr Sovmen have addressed to the Russian President
with a request to exclude the mentioned territories from the
reserve. The President forwarded an appeal to the government, which
in its turn charged the Russian MNR, the Ministry of Economic
Development of Russia and the Ministry of Agriculture to review the
letter and prepare proposals to the President. According to the
information we have, the MNR has already prepared a project of a
negative conclusion on the issue. However, remembering the latest
developments concerning the land withdrawal from Sochi national
park, when minister V.G.Artukhov personally agreed an illegal
project of the resolution of the government with all the interested
parties (in spite of the negative conclusion made by the State
Agency of Environmental Protection), it's possible to wait for a
quite positive reaction from the minister to the initiatives of
Adygean authorities.
It's worth mentioning that any attempt to break the integrity of
the reserve's territory will be stopped judicially.