Commentary to Decree No. 41 of 21 January 2013

    President of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko signed Decree No. 41 “Concerning the Polesye State Radiation and Ecology Reserve” on 21 January.

    The document aims to reorganize the reserve, shift borders, the regime of protection and use of its territories.

    The decree includes the provision concerning the reserve, its borders, total area and soil structure, the protected, experimental and service zones on the territory of the reserve.

    The document also provides for the protected area beyond the perimeter of the reserve with the width of one kilometer. Certain types of economic activity are banned on this territory. These include hunting and commercial fishing, discharge of waste water into water basins, deforestation and other types of economic activity which can damage natural complexes of the reserve.

    The decree shall enter into force on the date of its signature.