Altai: Residents protest against deforestation

Residents of several regions of the Altai Republic went to the rally: they are outraged by the actions of entrepreneurs who conduct illegal, according to indigenous residents, logging.

On January 29, in the village of Paspaul, the Choysky district of Altai, several dozen people took part in the rally, demanding from the district and republican authorities to stop the cutting of valuable wood species. According to the participants in the protest campaign, in the summer of 2017, about 20 thousand hectares of the Russian Forest Fund were transferred to the agricultural land category and owners - Altaiagro, Agrosnab, and East Holding began cutting down forests.

“Forests sold together with the cemeteries of settlements! Nobody was versed, allocated by whole quarters. Through the cemetery of the village of Kara -Torbus, they dragged the forest with tractors, turned the graves!” Says a local resident Roman Mutasov. According to him, the new owners of land plots act in the interests of entrepreneurs from China. The company "Yuehan" leased a section of the former livestock complex near the village for 49 years and the construction of the woodworking complex began. Brigades from the PRC work on construction, while Chinese workers will continue to serve production. “My grandfather, Tubalar (Tubalars belong to the indigenous peoples, - approx. Siberia. Reals), gave most of his life to the service in the Russian army! For what? So that I, his granddaughter, once woke up on Siberian land in Russia, but on the territory of the Chinese republic?” Anna Vasilenko said.

The rally was also attended by residents of the Turochak and Chemal districts of the republic. According to them, the situation there is similar - valuable wood species, primarily cedar, cut down brigades hired by businessmen from China. People complained to the police and the prosecutor’s office, however, as the protesters say, there was no reaction.

In the rally resolution, local residents demanded that the republican authorities immediately stop the cutting down of the forests that are closely adjacent to villages and villages and check the legality of the construction of production corps on agricultural lands. In addition, local residents demanded the implementation of the UN Declaration on Rights of Indigenous Peoples, "article 32 of which, in particular, says:" The indigenous peoples have the right to determine priorities and develop strategies for the development or use of their lands or territories and other resources. "