Primorye Lawmakers Call for Korean Pine Preservation

VLADIVOSTOK. February 9. VOSTOK-MEDIA – Primorsky Krai lawmakers have held a meeting to review the current state of the local timber industry and the issue relating to Korean Pine preservation in particular, a spokesman for Primorsky Krai Parliament told Vostok-Media.

The decision to hold the meeting was made following the working trip of Viktor Belozyorov, a member of the Committee on Food Policy and Use of Natural Resources, to Chuguevsky District, where the clear cutting of Korean Pine is underway. On his return from the working trip, Viktor Belozyorov presented a footage showing current state of timber industry in Chuguevsky and Dalnerechensky districts of Primorsky Krai.

The meeting on Korean Pine preservation was attended by members of Primorsky Krai Legislative Assembly, Head of the Primorsky Krai Department of the Interior Andrei Nikolaev, Primorsky Krai Interregional Environmental Prosecutor Vladimir Kolesnikov, Deputy Head of Forest Management Department for Primorsky Krai Sergei Pastyga, forest program coordinators, WWF Russia Amur branch, Denis Smirnov and Anatoly Kabanets.

The data presented at the meeting shows that illegal cutting of timber, which is one of the most environmentally threatening problems in Primorsky Krai, was caused by staggering unemployment rate.

“Each year more than 4 million cubic meters of timber is cut in Primorsky Krai,” Andrei Nikolaev, Head of the Primorsky Krai Department of the Interior, said, “in 2009 there were 307 cases of forestry violation. Only 214 of these cases were solved. Prohibitive measures alone cannot solve this problem.”