The development prospects of Belarusian Poozerie will be discussed by specialists from 6 countries at a conference in Vitebsk

December 14, Vitebsk / Sergey Kochetov - BELTA /. The state and prospects for the development of specially protected natural areas of Belarusian Poozerye will be discussed by specialists from 6 countries at an international scientific conference on December 16-17 at Vitebsk State University named after P. Masherov. This was reported to a BELTA correspondent by the dean's office of the university's Faculty of Biology. More than 150 scientists, experts, and employees of environmental protection agencies from Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, Latvia, Kazakhstan, and Poland will take part in the scientific forum. The agenda includes a wide range of issues related to the assessment of the current state and prospects for the further development of specially protected natural areas and sites of Belarusian Poozerye and adjacent territories, the evaluation of their role in preserving biological and landscape diversity, and their significance in the formation of the national ecological network and in the system of transboundary ecological corridors. The conference will feature reports on the problems of using and protecting wetlands and ecosystems of Belarusian Poozerye, on the species diversity of flora and fauna, including rare and specially protected species of wetland areas. The focus of the forum participants will also be on geo-ecological problems of peatland development and issues of the hydrological regime of disturbed wetland ecosystems. It is planned to discuss proposals for optimizing the regime of existing and creating new specially protected natural areas, and their role in environmental education and upbringing. The organizers of the international conference are the regional committee for natural resources and environmental protection and Vitebsk State University named after P. Masherov. -0-