MINSK, 24 March (BelTA) – More than 550,000 trees were planted in Belarus in 2019 as part of the greening campaign, Nikolai Svidinsky, the head of the biological and landscape diversity office at the Belarusian Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Ministry, told journalists on 24 March, BelTA has learned.
Last year, 551,900 trees were planted in Belarus, three times as many as in 2018. The number of planted shrubs doubled, amounting to 516,900. “These measures enabled us to expand the territory of green areas in cities by 2,592.3 hectares, with green spaces accounting for 40% of the total area in 88 cities. On average, their share stands at 72% in the country,” Nikolai Svidinsky noted. According to him, last year, the territory of green spaces in residential areas went up by 1,488.6 hectares, accounting for 30% of the total area in 103 cities.
“At the same time we should take into account that there are spaces that are unsuitable for planting trees and shrubs, for example, near utility and communication networks, buildings and constructions,” Nikolai Svidinsky noted. Plans are in place to plant 210,000 trees and shrubs in 2020, but specialists project that this target will be exceeded.
Last year around 1,200km of shoreline was tidied up during the Clean Water Body campaign, said Tatiana Kononchuk, the head of the central office for environmental policy, international cooperation, and science at the Belarusian Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Ministry. The work to clean up the territory around 625 springs will continue in 2020.
Special focus is placed on war graves. More than 7,600 war monuments and memorials were tidied up in 2019. “Of course, we will proceed with this work in 2020. Not a single war grave will be left unkempt,” Tatiana Kononchuk added.
