Almost 50 new dams have been built under the UNDP/GEF project to protect the Yalnya bog in the Miory district

About 50 dams have been built in the Yelnya raised bog in the Miory district under the UNDP/GEF "Peatlands-2" project, as reported by Ivan Borok, director of the Yelnya state environmental institution.

From October 1 to November 30, the Yelnya republican landscape reserve implemented a project aimed at restoring the bog's water regime and its natural vegetation cover, and preventing fires. "Yelnya is one of the largest raised bogs in Europe. Its distinctive feature is that water comes only from precipitation and drains through numerous watercourses - rivers and canals. To prevent the bog from drying out, for several years, with the support of the Association for the Conservation of Birds of Belarus and funding from Coca-Cola Beverages Belarus LLC, we held volunteer camps during which we built, inspected, and repaired dams on the canals - over 30 in total. And in the two months of the "Peatlands-2" project implementation, another 48 dams have been built," noted Ivan Borok.

The tender for the construction of dams on the draining watercourses of the Yelnya bog was won by Verkhnedvinskaya PMS. All dams are different, but mostly they are embankment dams. There are two plastic ones with a long service life. "We will see the main result after the spring flood, but it is already noticeable that the water level has risen slightly. By the way, before the project began, we calculated how much fresh water is contained in the entire wetland complex. It turned out to be 475 million cubic meters. Only Naroch has more. Considering the recent UN statements that one of the main problems by 2030 will be the shortage of fresh water, the work being done is extremely important. In some countries, this resource is already valued very highly, and we possess immense wealth and are not even aware of it!" emphasized Ivan Borok.

Initially, this year, only the construction of dams under the project was planned. However, thanks to the participation of Coca-Cola Beverages Belarus LLC, it became possible to implement another item from the reserve's management plan - the construction of causeways for special equipment. This began just this week, and a total of about 2 km of causeways are planned to be built.

The Republican Landscape Reserve "Yelnya" is the largest lake-bog complex in Belarus and one of the largest in Europe, as well as a monument of the distant Ice Age. Unique species of plants and animals have been preserved here, and large peat deposits have formed. A healthy peatland, as is known, neutralizes huge volumes of carbon dioxide. "Yelnya" is a Ramsar site (since 2002), a key ornithological (since 2000) and botanical (since 2005) territory of international importance. In the "Scheme of the Ecological Network of the Republic of Belarus" developed by the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, the reserve is considered a promising core of national significance. And in accordance with the EU Habitats Directive, 75.2% of the ecosystems of the forest-bog complex are classified as protected in Europe, which demonstrates the important role of the "Yelnya" reserve in preserving landscape and biological diversity for Europe as a whole.

Katsiaryna Knyazeva, BELTA.