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Project Rationale
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1. PROJECT RATIONALE
Creation of specially protected areas (SPA) is one of the most important national objectives of the day. It is defined as such in the National Strategy and Action Plan for Preservation and Sustainable Use of Biological Diversity, which was developed and adopted within the frameworks of the Convention on Biological Diversity ratified by the Republic of Belarus in 1992.
The overall objective of the Project was to ensure the preservation of biological and landscape diversity in the Dnipro Basin by creating a specially protected area in the floodplains of the Dnipro, which have undergone little transformation, in the stretch between the towns of Zhlobin and Rechitsa.
The Project was designed to achieve the following objectives:
- Develop scientific substantiation of the need to establish specially protected area on this territory;
- Define the status of the new SPA within the unified Dnipro Basin environmental network, currently under formation, the SPA estimated boundaries and regimes;
- Coordinate creation of the specially protected area with local environmental protection authorities, local government and self-governing bodies.
- Secure support from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection to the inclusion of the new SPA into the Chart of Sustainable Distribution of Specially Protected Areas of the Republic of Belarus.
The Project executing agency was the non-governmental organization “Akhova Ptushek Belarusi” (Protection of Belorussian Birds) renowned for its extensive experience and expertise in the implementation of various projects and programs, including international ones, in the sphere of preserving biological diversity, environmental awareness raising and involving the public in environmental activities.
Two interdisciplinary field studies were conducted within the Project in order to collect primary data on the landscape structure of the area, its flora and fauna. The major threats to natural complexes and objects were identified. The boundaries and status of the future protected area – national landscape preserve “Streshinsky” – were established. Plans of creating the preserve were discussed with the main land users as well as with the environmental authorities in Zhlobin and Buda-Koshelevsky districts, in Zhlobin and in Buda-Koshelevsky district executive committees.
Based on the collected data, the Final Report on the Project and the accompanying Strategic Resume were compiled. A digital map of the future landscape preserve “Streshinsky” (scale 1:200,000) was produced with the use of the MapInfo software. This map served as a foundation for the setting up of an electronic database on unique and rare natural sites and objects (of landscape, flora and fauna), on phenomena threatening their safety and on the current land use system and practices.
