Photo: Nikolai Cherkas
Forest management in the Republic of Belarus is based on the principles of sustainability and relatively balanced forest use. However, the social aspects of sustainable forest management have not been taken into careful consideration by policy-makers and other forest-sector stakeholders.
In order to fill this gap, IUCN and partners conducted a series of surveys in several regions to quantify the true value of fully-functioning forests to rural communities. The data collected are a wealth of knowledge available to public authorities to improve forest management by taking into account the interests of local communities (see links at right of page). Recommendations by IUCN experts resulting from this work have been put to use at the national level to better inventory non-timber forest resources and to review regulations on the use of these resources; and at the local level to tailor the management of forest resources to the needs of specific communities.
This led to a collaboration with the IUCN-FLEG team in Russia in order to develop ecotourism opportunities in the local communities of Lepel municipality, in the Vitebsk Region. Training seminars were organised to initiate direct citizen-to-citizen information exchanges to help establish working partnerships between villages across the Russian-Belorussian border. This transboundary cooperation was possible thanks to the crucial role which the FLEG II team played in facilitating the development of horizontal links between forest-dependent communities from the two countries.
Successes
“We are not used to sitting and waiting for the guidelines from the authorities. Here in Lepel municipality in Belarus, we rather develop and implement our initiatives ourselves. Working together on the transboundary partnership of forest dependent communities will make our network of lodges and forest-related tourist attractions even more effective.” Olga Makhanenko, Lepel community member on an IUCN suported project to partner villages in Russia and Belarus to support tourism
