Russia borrows $40 million from World Bank to fight forest fires
Russia borrows $40 million from World Bank to fight forest fires
08 July 2013
published by http://rbth.ru
Russia — Russia is borrowing $40 million from the World Bank to go towards a program to reform its forestry management and fight forest fires.
Russian Natural Resources Minister Sergei Donskoi and Michal Rutkowski, World Bank Country Director for Russia, have signed an agreement on the loan.
The overall cost of the Forest Fire Response Project, which lasts from 2013 to 2018, is $121.26 million.
The other $81.26 million have been included in the state external borrowing program.
The objectives of the project are to improve forest fire prevention and suppression in select forest ecosystems, including targeted protected areas, and to enhance forest management in pilot regions.
Russia conducted a similar pilot project in 2001-2010 in Buryatia, the Krasnoyarsk and Khabarovsk territories and Arkhangelsk, Irkutsk, Leningrad and Chita regions, boosting total forestry-related economic gains 3.5-fold.
The pilot project in 2013-2018 will extend to the Moscow and Voronezh regions, Krasnoyarsk and Khabarovsk territories and Republic of Komi.
Selected work will be carried out at the protected areas and national parks Meschera, Oksky and Meshchersky in the Central Federal District; Kerzhensky, Buzulusky, Zhigulevsky and Samarkskaya Luka in the Volga Federal District; Sayano-Shushensky, Stolby, and Shushkensky Bor in Krasnoyarsk territory, Siberian Federal District; and Bureinky, Komsomolsky, and Bastak in the Far East Federal District.
