Liquidation of specially protected natural areas is the path to the destruction of parks and gardens in Moscow
Statement by the Moscow branch of Yabloko, 21.01.2025
Photo: Moscow residents at a meeting with Moscow City Duma deputies from Yabloko in the Sokolniki park, Moscow, April 2024. Then the deputies managed to stop illegal construction works in the park / Photo from social media
On 27 December, 2024, the Decree of the Moscow government, liquidated all 146 specially protected natural areas of regional significance in Moscow. They were transformed into so-called specially protected green areas, that is, deprived of special nature conservation status.
This was done due to the provisions of the law adopted without any public discussion by the new composition of the Moscow City Duma in November 2024.
Having lost the status of a specially protected natural area, areas of the green complex of Moscow became available for capital construction, parking, and tree felling. From nowon hotels and multi-story new buildings can be built there under the guise of “recreational, physical culture, health and sports facilities”. The special environmental status of the protected areas stood in the way of the commercial interests of developers and the construction lobby. There are no obstacles for them anymore.
We state that the Moscow government is waging a real war against the environmental well-being of Muscovites. Only recently several key decisions have been made within the framework of the fight against environmental protection: depriving the Department of Nature Management and Environmental Protection of its powers, liquidating the Commission on Environment in the Moscow City Duma, and adopting a law that allows for easy changes to the status of a natural area. As a result, there are no more specially protected natural areas in Moscow.
In addition to the obvious commercial and vested interests, this decision, as well as the law on the basis of which the decision was made, contradicts federal legislation, which does not provide for the abolition, reduction of area, or change in the boundaries of protected areas. The concept [from the new Moscow law] of “specially protected green areas” is also absent from federal legislation.
We are sending a statement to the Office of the Public Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation with a demand to take measures of prosecutorial response aimed at bringing Moscow’s legal acts into compliance with current federal legislation.
We draw the attention of Muscovites: now green areas in Moscow are defenseless against a large-scale construction lobby. Let’s fight together for the protection of environment in our city!
Posted: January 21st, 2025 under Environmental Policies, Governance, Human Rights, Protection of Environment, Yabloko's Regional Branches.