The draft Law of the Republic of Belarus “On the Protection and Use of Peat Bogs” was considered in the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus

The draft Law of the Republic of Belarus “On the Protection and Use of Peat Bogs” was considered in first reading on October 2, 2019 at the seventh session of the House of Representatives of the Sixth National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus.

The adoption of the Law will contribute to the realization of citizens’ rights to a favorable environment, fulfillment of obligations under international treaties of the Republic of Belarus, as well as to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals in the field of conservation and restoration of natural ecosystems and rational use of natural resources, in particular, Sustainable Development Goal 15 – protection of terrestrial ecosystems .

The Law is aimed at comprehensive regulation at the legislative level of diverse public relations in the field of protection and use of peatlands that are in natural or near-natural state (marshes), as well as those that had been drained for various purposes.

The Law defines:

• competence of state bodies in the field of protection and use of peatlands;

• the procedure for developing a distribution scheme for peatlands in areas of use;

• the procedure for establishing the borders of peat bogs, issues of maintaining their records;

• regime for the protection and use of natural bogs, the procedure for managing them;

• requirements for the rational use of drained peat bogs in carrying out economic activities (agriculture, forestry, peat extraction, etc.);

• requirements for the protection and use of peatlands in plantation cultivation of plants, as well as in felling and mowing of bog vegetation in order to preserve natural bogs or obtain plant biomass;

• the procedure for ecological rehabilitation of peat bogs;

• issues of scientific support in the field of protection and use of peat bogs, their inventory, monitoring and other issues.

When preparing the draft Law, the provisions of the Strategy for the conservation and rational (sustainable) use of peat bogs, approved by the Decree of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus dated December 30, 2015 No. 1111, as well as the practice of applying existing legal norms in this area were taken into account.