Facebook page by Nikolai Rybakov, 10.01.2020

Winter holidays in Moscow, St. Petersburg and in many cities of the country passed almost without snow.

At the same time, news lines were filled with reports of large-scale fires in Australia, the area of ​​which is four times larger today than the area of ​​the forest that burnt in Siberia last summer.

Against this background, even skeptics started talking about climate change. Forest fires are a natural process for nature, but in the recent decades they begin earlier, last longer and cause more damage. This is influenced by both thoughtless human activities (deliberate arson of forests in the Amazon up to clearing up areas for agriculture or burning of grass or agricultural residues in spring in the fields in Russia), as well as frequent extreme weather events (the highest temperature for all history of observations was recorded in Australia this year).

According to the forecasts of climate scientists, in the coming years we will see extreme weather events spreading around the world, causing flooding in some regions, and droughts and fires in others. This means that we need to be prepared for situations such as in Siberia last summer.

To solve or at least minimize the problem of fires, the government needs to listen to environmentalists:

– revise forest control zones within the borders of which regional authorities may not extinguish fires, if they do not directly threaten settlements or objects of economic activity. There are currently no clear criteria for defining such zones. Greenpeace experts propose that the zones of mandatory extinguishing of fires should include the territory of the entire North-West Federal District (since fires threaten densely populated areas of the European part of Russia with fumigation), forests within 10 km of settlements, infrastructure and protected areas, production forests where timber harvesting is planned;

– carry out regular monitoring of the forest fund in order to identify sources of fires and potential fire hazardous areas. It is also necessary to carry out controlled burning. In the dry summer months military units should be engaged in this activity;

– improve fire extinguishing systems in the regions especially affected by forest fires;

– legitimise forests that spontaneously grew on abandoned agricultural lands (this is about 10 per cent of all forests in Russia), which no one is taking care of and which often turn into sources of fires.

– educate and inform residents with the aim of eliminating spring forest fires and accidental fires after picnics;

– increase the area of ​​reforestation.

All these measures will require additional funding – about 30 billion roubles annually. But in the long run, an increase in financing, on the contrary, will lead to reduction in the expenditures on extinguishing fires (their scope and quantity should decrease after the introduction of these measures) and elimination of the consequences. One of the consequences of fires are respiratory diseases of people affected by the heavy smoke in their settlements.

Therefore, the current disaster in Australia should be another reason for the Russian authorities to think about ways to prevent possible threats to forests in our country.

NIKOLAI RYBAKOV

is Chairman of the Yabloko party, head of Yabloko’s election headquarters.