Almost 30 ecological routes have been created since the beginning of the year in the Vitebsk region

July 2, Vitebsk / Sergey Kochetov - BELTA /. Almost 30 ecological routes, including natural and historical-cultural features of the regions, have been created since the beginning of the year in the Vitebsk region, Tatiana Yasiulina, chief specialist of the regional committee for natural resources and environmental protection, told a BELTA correspondent. A total of 47 such routes have been developed in the region. For more active promotion on the tourism market, it is planned to create "green routes" based on them, which will help combine recreation in rural estates with familiarization with the natural, historical and cultural potential of the regions, Tatiana Yasiulina noted. 214 agro-ecotourism estates are registered in the region, of which almost 140 have actively made themselves known on the tourism market. In this direction, work is most effectively established in the Rossony district, where, in cooperation with the district executive committee, the district inspectorate of natural resources, the state environmental institution "Eco-Rosy" and the public association "Agroecotourism", issues of expanding the functions of agro-ecotourism estates in popularizing rural and ecological tourism are being resolved. Currently, the project "Belarus - a Living Village" is being implemented in the district together with Dutch partners. In 2009, another project "Ecological Tourism and Environmental Education: Creating Sustainable Natural Potential", supported by the small grants program of the World Bank, was completed. In addition, this year an application was submitted for the participation of the Rossony district in the joint project of the European Union and the UNDP "Sustainable Development at the Local Level". Specialists of the Braslav district inspectorate of natural resources, together with the international public association "Understanding", are implementing the "Milashki-City" project on the territory of the Dalekovsky rural council, aimed at developing agro-ecotourism and attracting youth from socially vulnerable groups to work in rural areas. The leaders in the number of agro-ecotourism estates in the region are the Braslav (62 estates registered), Rossony (26), Miory (18), Postavy (17), Polotsk (15) and Lepel (14) districts. At the same time, almost all regions have facilities that can be successfully used for ecological tourism, Tatiana Yasiulina noted. -0-