What is the new bill about?
The current law "On Environmental Protection" prohibits not only
And it may soon be changed.
Article 60 of the Federal Law "On the Protectionenvironment ”, which protects the plants in the Red Data Book, may add a clause allowing the use of flora objects in exceptional cases.
Why is the bill needed?
As noted by Greenpeace, the authors of the bill emphasize that the extraction of oil, precious metals, as well as the laying of roads and gas pipelines interferes withThe presence of various Red Book species often interferes.
During preparations for the 2014 Olympics in Sochiofficials have already faced a similar problem. Then the environmental law limited their activities, though not for long. Then the authorities adopted a special law that allowed merchants and deputies to destroy endangered plant species for the construction of Olympic facilities. The problem is that the law concerned only the Olympic construction site, and it is not applicable to other facilities and projects.
Let us recall that in 2012 Russia faceda large-scale environmental disaster: relict boxwood forests perished in the Krasnodar Territory and Adygea. The species, which survived the Ice Age, was almost completely destroyed by the moth, a pest introduced in plants that were purchased in Italy in 2012 for the Sochi Olympics. Environmentalists say that the moth could have been stopped several years ago, but departments shifted responsibility to each other on a friend,” Kommersant reports.
In 2020, officials have already succeededintroduce amendments to the Law “On Animal World”, allowing also “in exceptional cases” to shoot Red Book animals. “Exceptional cases” sounds too vague and ecologists have already expressed their concerns. According to Greenpeace Russia, the amendments legalized VIP hunting of animals listed in the federal and regional Red Books. Current regulations allow rare animals to be captured “in exceptional cases,” for example, for scientific purposes. It follows from the document adopted by the deputies that now they can not only be caught, but also shot.
Why is the new law dangerous?
If construction begins, animals may leavetheir habitat and find a new one (even if this threatens them with extinction). With plants the situation is even more complicated. If Red Book plants are found in a place where they want to cut down forest or locate industrial or commercial facilities, it is now legally necessary to preserve not only the rare plants themselves, but also their habitat.
According to the Convention on Biological Diversity(Article 8) each contracting party must protect endangered species and populations, and not pass laws that could permanently destroy them.
However, if the environmental law is adoptednew amendments, then rare plants will be under an even greater threat of extinction. The initiative not only violates the country's obligations under the convention, but also contradicts the Constitution of the Russian Federation.
The plenary session of the Supreme Court also recognized the importance ofpreservation of plants in the Red Data Book. He ruled that plans for the construction of any facilities in places where rare and endangered plants grow are the basis for prohibiting such activities, even if all permits and examinations have been obtained for it.
Anti-ecological bill
Ministry of Natural Resources justifies its initiativethe absence of laws regulating the preservation and restoration of Red Book plants during the implementation of "significant government projects", which allows developers to destroy their habitat.
Builders, loggers, developersminerals do often destroy the habitats of the Red Data Book plants during work. However, the words about the lack of a regulatory framework are an obvious inaccuracy. As mentioned above, the current version of the law unequivocally says that this is illegal. And Article 8.35 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation establishes strict responsibility for the destruction of rare and endangered species of animals or plants listed in the Red Book of the Russian Federation or protected by international treaties.
However, the Ministry of Natural Resources and the subordinateRosprirodnadzor often ignores these violations or deliberately refuses to hold accountable for them. That is why the public has to defend the Red Book plants in courts on its own.
How to vote against a bill?
Please note that you can leave your vote only until July 6, 2021.
If you are not registered on the regulation.gov.ru website:
- Go to the site, go to the "Your offers" tab and click "Register".
- Enter your e-mail data (make sure that there is no space after the address), password (it must consist of both numbers and letters!), Name, surname and code number.
- Follow the link that will come to your email to confirm your registration.
- Confirm your details.
- Go to the bill page and press the red button with your finger down.
- If you want to leave a text sentence,find the tab "Your suggestions", select the section "Leave your opinion and / or attach a file with suggestions", click "Add" and in the window that opens, write your own or insert the text given below.
- Share a link to this news on social networks Facebook or Vkontakte.
If you are already registered on the regulation.gov.ru website:
- Go to the bill page, column"Placement of the text of the project" find the tab "Your proposals", select the section "Leave your opinion and / or attach a file with proposals" and click "Add". The system will ask you to log in (enter your email address and password, there should be no space after the email in the column).
- Enter your registration information.
- To leave a text suggestion, in the tab"Your suggestions" select the section "Leave your opinion and / or attach a file with suggestions", click "Add" and in the window that opens, write your own or paste the text given by us (you can copy above). Then close the tab and on the main page click on the red checkbox with a finger down.
- Share a link to this news on social networks Facebook or Vkontakte.
How to vote using your Gosuslug account:
- Go to the site, in the top menu, click on "Personal account", and then "Login".
- Click on the "Log in with the Unified Information System" button.
- Go to the bill page and click on the red button with your finger down.
- If you want to leave a text sentence,find the tab "Your suggestions", select the section "Leave your opinion and / or attach a file with suggestions", click "Add" and in the window that opens, write your own or insert the text given below.
- Share a link to this news on social networks Facebook or Vkontakte.
Message text:
In this version, the Bill may causesignificant damage to the most valuable objects of the plant world and the ecosystems in which they grow contains corruption factors and cannot be accepted for the following reasons.
The bill proposes to supplement Article 60 of the Federal Law “On Environmental Protection” with a new paragraph with the following content:
The bill proposes to legislate the possibility of using flora objects listed in the Red Book of the Russian Federation.
As follows from the explanatory note,The bill was developed to permit the destruction, damage or removal from habitats of flora objects listed in the Red Book of the Russian Federation as a result of the placement of mining facilities in their habitats or the construction of linear facilities.
At the same time, according to the current version of clause.1 of Article 60 of the Federal Law “On Environmental Protection”, in order to protect and record rare and endangered plants, animals and other organisms, the Red Book of the Russian Federation and the Red Books of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation are established.
Plants, animals and other organisms,belonging to species listed in the Red Data Books are everywhere subject to withdrawal from economic use. …Activities leading to a reduction in the numbers of these plants, animals and other organisms and deteriorating their habitat are prohibited.
Thus, the very fact that objects are included in the Red Book means that their populations or entire species are under real threat of extinction or are rare.
Under these conditions, allowing their use, implying their damage or destruction, or removal from their habitats will lead to an even greater deterioration in the condition of these species.
In addition, when placing mining objectsminerals or the laying of linear objects, the habitat of flora objects listed in the Red Book is always destroyed, which is not allowed by the above norm of the law, which does not change.
Thus, the adoption of the Bill will lead tosignificant deterioration in the condition of the rarest and most vulnerable flora, which may lead to the destruction of these species or their populations.
In addition, the Bill creates internalcontradictions in the application of the law, which are corruption-causing factors, and also contradict Russia’s obligations arising from the Convention on Biological Diversity, which is contrary to the Constitution of the Russian Federation.
The special importance of preserving the Red Bookplants was also recognized by the plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, which decided (resolution No. 49 of November 30, 2017) that plans for the construction of any objects in places where rare and endangered plants grow are grounds for a ban on such activities, even if all permits and examinations have not been obtained.
Sometimes it is the presence of Red Book plantsis the only mechanism to prevent the most barbaric destruction of nature, including ensuring the environmental rights of local residents.
Considering the above, I ask you to refusefurther development of the draft Federal Law "On Amendments and Additions to Article 60 of the Federal Law" On Environmental Protection "in the wording submitted for public discussion.
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