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"Mr. Matesovich noted that the world's average was 300 kilograms of wastes per capita, or one seventh of what Belarus had. Toxic wastes are the worst problem, Mr. Matesovich continued. In the Soviet times, he said, a lot of wastes were exported to other parts of the USSR; now they pile up outside factories and 'are sent piecemeal to conventional dumpsites if they are not too toxic.' "
"According to Mr. Matesovich, a facility for processing toxic wastes is being constructed in Chechersk, 'but it is hard to say when it is going to be completed.' "
"An agreement on the matter was reached several days ago when a group of TACIS experts visited Brest. Ten foreign consortiums are reportedly ready to take part in the project."
"The Western Bug basin is known to suffer a lot from water pollution. Outdated water purification facilities can no longer work properly, and no serious steps have been taken to monitor water quality in the river, which has about 40 tributaries in Belarus."
"As quite a score of projects are expected to be launched in the Brest area in connection with the European Union's eastward expansion, Brest environmentalists plan to thoroughly analyze consequences that such projects may have for the Western Bug."
"The elk population fell from 26,600 in 1990 to 12,820 in 1997 as a result of licensed hunting. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection cut the hunting quota from 3,560 elks in 1990 to 176, or 1.2 percent of the total number, in 1999. The ministry gives licenses only to those hunting enterprises, which take care about reproduction of animals. The right to shoot elk is given to the winners of national competitions in shooting wolves and preventing poaching. About two thirds of the hunting quota is set aside for foreign tourists."
"The ministry has stepped up efforts to prevent poaching. Committee on Fish Protection officers are inspecting both water reservoirs and forests. Specialists of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection have been detaining from 12,000 to 15,000 poachers every year. More than 1,000 rifles were confiscated in the last three years."
"Mr. Borovikov was speaking at a seminar on Minsk's environmental problems held in the Belarusian capital on February 25."
"Minsk is the fifth most polluted city in Belarus, Mr. Borovikov said. According to him, the main reason for the decline in emission was a drop in industrial production. The contribution of motor vehicles to air pollution rose from 68 percent in 1990 to 78 percent in 1998. Mr. Borovikov acknowledged that there was almost no control over the quality of fuel supplied to filling stations. Imported second-hand cars add much to the city's air pollution, Mr. Borovikov said. He spoke in favor of switching motor vehicles to the use of gas instead of petrol and banning the import of cars that have been in use for more than 5-10 years."
"Mr. Borovikov said that waste disposal is one of the major problems in the capital, which produces 70,000 tons of industrial waste and 500,000 tons of household refuse every year. There are no new landfill sites to dump waste and there are difficulties in handling toxic waste and sewage. Mr. Borovikov believes that it is necessary to separate recyclable and non-recyclable garbage and re-use water containing no toxic waste."
"A new site for dumping toxic waste is to be commissioned in one or two years in the Chechersk district in the Mogilyov region. There will be enough room for all toxic waste stored by enterprises, Mr. Borovikov said."
"According to Aleksandr Rachevsky, chief of the International Cooperation and Science Department of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection, the conference was attended by delegations from over 50 countries and representatives of 60 international organisations including financial ones."
"Mr Rachevsky told BelaPAN that participants at the conference discussed the environmental situation in the New Independent States and in Europe as a whole, financial and economic methods of control over the use of natural resources and private investment in environmental protection."
"The ministers signed a convention on access to ecological information, the population's participation in decision- making and access to justice in environmental protection issues and protocols on stable organic pollutants and on heavy metals to a previously signed convention on cross- border long-distance air pollution."
"However, according to Mr Rachevsky, Belarus signed neither of the documents. "We did not affiliate ourselves with these documents because their final versions were received by the ministry only on May 30 and there was not enough time for them to undergo all procedures which are required in our country," he said. In his opinion, Belarus is sure to complete these procedures and sign the convention and the protocols in the near future. He also said that the Belarusian delegation offered to participants at the conference a lot of information on protection of the ozone layer, the environmental situation in Belarus and the Belarusian government's environmental programme."
"Working in sections, participants at the conference also discussed energy-saving and environmental policies which provide for the use of alternative sources of energy instead of environmentally unsafe sources such as leaded petrol. They also considered a report on a pan-European strategy aimed at preserving biological and landscape variety, and the ministers issued a statement on the matter. Participants at the conference discussed Europe's environmental future, adopted a declaration covering all agenda items and agreed that the next conference should be held in Kazakhstan, Moldova or Russia in 2002."
"The conference participants considered issues concerning the funding of resource saving, environmentally friendly and waste-free technologies. The forum was attended by experts of international financial organizations."
"Alan Popoff, representative of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in Belarus, said that all the seven projects that are being carried out in the country with the support of the EBRD have an environmental component which meets the international standards of environmental protection. "But, in the country, we work together with private enterprises only, as the EBRD's participation in Belarus' state projects was suspended about 3-4 years ago," Mr Popoff said."
"Nikolai Vavokhin, chief of the Credit and Investment Department of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations, pointed out that it is difficult now to count on foreign financial institutions' assistance in carrying out environmental projects because only four countries, namely Austria, Belgium, Germany and Spain, still lend money to Belarus. According to him, direct foreign investments in Belarus are negligible: only $5 per capita."
"The conference participants recommended that in order to raise funds for environmental projects, both the environmental and financial aspects should be taken into consideration, and that donors should give preference to research and development institutions and non-profit organizations."
"The bill was approved in its first reading by the lower chamber during its last plenary session. Since then, it has undergone considerable changes. The new version consists of 8 chapters and 36 articles. It guarantees the availability of drinking water to the population, states the economic principles of Belarus' drinking-water supply system and describes the rights and responsibilities of drinking-water consumers."
"Speaking at the session, Mariya Khudaya, deputy chairwoman of the chamber's standing Committee on the Problems of the Chornobyl Catastrophe, Ecology and the Use of Natural Resources, pointed out that the bill should be adopted as soon as possible because, according to her, 50 percent of Belarus' residents, especially those residing in areas affected by the Chornobyl catastrophe, use water which does not comply to drinking-water quality standards. The lower chamber is to consider the new version of the bill at its next plenary session."
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