The Land Code of the Russian Federation and a number of federal laws prohibit the reduction of the area of protected areas and changing the purpose of land within the boundaries of national parks – for example, giving them away for construction. Apparently, this is why the Ministry of Natural Resources, under the leadership of Alexander Kozlov, decided to do this under the guise of “clarification” and “expansion” of the boundaries of protected areas. Some areas are part of the reserves, others are excluded from them. And this happens not without the participation of potential developers.
Wealthy citizens are used to taking care of their health. One of the best ways to show this concern is to acquire a conditional “house in the country”. Sometimes, it happens, at the same time they buy the whole village – to the best of their ability. But a cottage in a specially protected natural area (SPNT) is considered to be a special chic. Untouched nature, clean water, fresh air – a solid ecology for the soul and body. By the way, such “huts in the forest” are protected much more strictly than the entire protected area surrounding them. Prestige is worth a lot.
Today in Russia there are about 200 specially protected natural areas, and their number is growing every year. On such lands there is a special legal regime that excludes any kind of exploitation of natural resources and violation of the ecosystem. Legal protection of protected areas is provided by the Land Code of the Russian Federation, the federal law “On Environmental Protection”, the federal law “On Specially Protected Natural Territories” and other regulations. There is also an amendment to the law on protected areas specifying that these lands must be kept within their boundaries.
But what if someone really wants to live on their own or develop their business in the reserve? Yes, as always: if you can’t, but really want to, then you can. It is precisely this idea that is suggested by the ongoing series of scandals associated with regular attempts to “develop” specially protected natural areas.
Businessmen and officials, faced with active opposition from caring citizens and environmental protection organizations, apparently decided to act through the administrative resource, namely through legislators. At the end of 2013, the State Duma immediately adopted in the second and third readings a law that allows you to revise the boundaries of national parks, and to conduct economic activities in the “revised” areas. The protests of environmentalists did not impress the parliamentarians.
“Light water” and “golden” land
Thus, for many years, the Ministry of Natural Resources, together with the authorities of the Komi Republic, have been trying to change the boundaries of the Yugyd Va (Light Water) National Park in order to remove the Chudnoye gold deposit from its composition. Since 1995, the Yugyd Va National Park has been under the protection of UNESCO under the name “Virgin Forests of the Komi Republic”. However, the republican authorities talk about “UNESCO bondage” and that “Wonderful has nothing to do with Yugydva.” In 2009, a certain CJSC Gold Minerals even received a license to develop Chudnoye, but the case went to the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, which in 2013 canceled the order of the Ministry of Natural Resources to exclude Chudnoye from the boundaries of the national park, and in 2015 finally banned changing the boundaries of Yugyd va .
However, the officials did not calm down. In 2022, subordinates of Minister Alexander Kozlov prepared a document providing for the “expansion of the boundaries” of the national park. Ecologists sounded the alarm again: they fear that, under the guise of this “good deed”, the authorities will nevertheless withdraw Chudnoye from the borders of Yugyd Va and renew the suspended license for gold mining, and the expansion of the park will be formalized, for example, by joining cut forest areas to it.
skerryed
A similar story is happening with the Ladoga Skerries National Park, but here it is even more interesting. This reserve is considered to be created in 2017, but it seems that it exists only on paper. It is not on the list of specially protected natural areas, even on the website of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation itself.
But in this unique corner of Ladoga nature there is land that can be profitably sold for private development. Which, apparently, was decided to do by a certain Institute of Ecology and Land Use LLC (EEZ), which in early February asked the state to provide it with a site for recreational activities in the Ladoga Skerries.
The name of the organization sounds solid, only the form of ownership confuses. And in fact, it turns out that Scientific and Production Organization Institute of Ecology and Land Use LLC is a private company established in 2014 that deals with legal issues of an environmental nature, including the transfer of land plots from one category to another. Alexey Khodyakov and Mikayel Aramyan are the founders of the company, Irina Ghukasyan is listed as the general director.
If you believe the EEZ website, he has an impressive list of clients: Gazprom Sotsinvest, Avtodor, Mostotrest, PIK Group and other representatives of large businesses. What do they have in common? Everyone is periodically required to obtain an environmental review report. Preferably positive. That is, it turns out such a completely lobbying bureau.
Probably, it was thanks to the efforts of this NPO EEZ LLC that the Ministry of Natural Resources, by its order, excluded about three thousand hectares from the Ladoga Skerries National Park, including the protected area on the Rautalahti Peninsula. Now it will be possible to conduct “recreational activities with the possibility of partial development with recreational facilities” here. Simply put, some wealthy citizen will be able to get himself a latifundia in the now former conservation area. In return, the reserve was given forest plots of a similar area near the villages of Ryuttu and Impilahti. But “similar area” does not equal “similar value”.
Why then create a national park, then to withdraw land from it? – you ask. There is a reason for this: probably to add value and create an item for bargaining. Living in an ecologically clean place is prestigious. Wealthy citizens are willing to pay for prestige. And if there is a demand, then there will be a supply.
We have analyzed just two cases from an endless series of environmental scandals of recent decades. If you even briefly trace this topic, it seems that the business of trading in specially protected natural areas has turned out to be very profitable. This can be judged at least by the clearly ongoing attempts to take away protected lands – either for business, or for building housing or infrastructure facilities. It is unlikely that such behavior of officials from the Ministry of Natural Resources and some other involved departments is explained by national interests and concern for our future generations.