Ministry of Natural Resources: a new republican reserve will appear in Belarus by 2027

The network of specially protected natural territories of Belarus includes 1,361 objects, Andrei Kostyuk, deputy head of the Department of Biological and Landscape Diversity of the Ministry of Natural Resources, told reporters on September 29, the correspondent of the Minsk-Novosti agency reports.

The photo is illustrative in nature

The number of protected areas includes 1 reserve, 4 national parks, 98 sanctuaries of republican significance, 277 sanctuaries of local importance, 317 natural monuments of republican significance and 664 natural monuments of local importance. Leaders in the area in the Republic are Brest, Vitebsk and Gomel regions, in which a total of about 1.2 million hectares of protected land.

- Until the first January 2035, the country annually plans and implements measures to develop the system of specially protected natural territories, said Kostyuk. So, for 2026-2027, it is planned to announce a new reserve of republican significance. It will unite the islands on the territory of the Belynichsky district of the Mogilev region and the Krupsky district of the Minsk region. Its area will be about 5.8 thousand hectares.

In 2025, more than 400 thousand people visited the protected areas, of which almost half were foreigners. The representative of the Ministry of Natural Resources drew attention to the fact that ecological tourism is an important direction of regional development. It contributes to the inflow of investment and the growth of living standards, especially for rural residents. However, tourism activities need to be organized very carefully, preserving natural ecosystems and biodiversity.

- In Belarus, 29 state environmental agencies manage 40 protected areas. At the same time, 5 of them are included in the management system of the President of the Republic of Belarus, the speaker added. The rules of conduct in them are clearly spelled out in the Law “On Specially Protected Natural Areas”: there are prohibited washing of vehicles, breeding fires, continuous logging and parking in unspecified places.