Press releases

BREST, 3 May (BelTA) – Certain areas of Kamenets District and Pruzhany District of Brest Oblast, Svisloch District of Grodno Oblast have been designated as the Belovezhskaya Pushcha biosphere reserve in line with a decision by the Brest Oblast Executive Committee and the Grodno Oblast Executive Committee, BelTA learned from Vasily Arnolbik, deputy director general for science and environmental education at Belovezhskaya Pushcha National Park.

The biosphere reserve was established under Article 11 and Article 63.3 of the Law on Protection of the Environment to boost sustainable development of the territories through an optimal combination of activities to protect the landscape, biodiversity, historical and cultural heritage and to promote their sustainable use. “Previously, the national environmental legislation did not cover such objects as biosphere reserves, even though the national park has been part of the global network for almost a quarter of a century. Several years ago, the legislation was amended to comply with international standards. Essentially, our resolution on the national park fitted well into the category of a biosphere reserve,” Vasily Arnolbik explained.

The reserve covers an area of 216,400 hectares. It includes not only the territory of the national park, but also that of the adjacent farms and forests. The biosphere reserve consists of three functional parts, and each of them has a specific status and protection guidelines. For instance, the main zone (the core of the reserve) is as large as 56,900 hectares, and all human activities are prohibited in this area. The buffer zone (60,200 hectares) is designed for preventing or mitigating any impacts on the main zone and creating conditions for the development of tourism and recreation. The transit zone (99,400 hectares) will be an area of moderate farming and conservation of natural resources.

“The Belarusian part of Belovezhskaya Pushcha borders on the Polish biosphere reserve Bialowieza that was set up in 1979. Today it occupies an area of some 92,000 hectares. The office of the UNESCO’s International Coordinating Council of the Man and the Biosphere Program in Belarus is considering the prospects for establishing a cross-border biosphere reserve Belovezhskaya Pushcha, Belarus-Poland,” Vasily Arnolbik added.

The decision of the Brest Oblast Executive Committee and the Grodno Oblast Executive Committee to establish the Belovezhskaya Pushcha biosphere reserve was published on the national legal portal and came into effect.