Plans to change status of Teberda Reserve triggers Karachais' protests

The Teberda Nature Reserve in the Karachai-Cherkessian Republic (KChR) is being transformed into a national park. It is unknown how the reserve's lands will be used after the status change, social activists and ecologists assert.

Rashid Temrezov, the head of the KChR, wrote in his Instagram page that the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of the Russian Federation have initiated the status change of the reserve.

However, eco-activists and public figures fear that the transformation of the reserve into a national park will entail negative consequences.

"The amendment to the law contains no clear formulation on what land plots and what so-called 'other owners and users' are meant. Unprecedented opportunities are opening up for a corruption-related component and the gradual capture of specially protected land plots. Uncontrolled use of the protected areas in case of transformation thereof will cause irreparable damage to the natural reserve and its richest flora and fauna," the statement of the Congress of the Karachai Nation declares.

The authors of the statement also note that the decision of the above Russian ministry was taken without any public discussion and without any account of the local population's opinion.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on February 17, 2021 at 02:47 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.