The state has taken responsibility for the protection of phoxinus percnurus and the corn bunting

By Dmitry Umpirovich

The state has taken responsibility for the protection of phoxinus percnurus — a fish that, because of land reclamation remains in only one reservoir of the Brest Region, the corn bunting — a bird suffering from the intensification of agriculture and the extinction of fields, ermine and also several dozen other species of flora and fauna

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection, under the recommendations of National Academy of Sciences, has reconsidered the list of rare animals, and also animals and plants that are under the threat of extinction.

“Now the Red Book of Belarus includes 202 species of wild animals and 303 species of wild-growing plants. The new edition has increased by one species of fish, one bird, three mammals and thirty insects. 17 species of plants are also under protection, including two exclusively rare species — campylopus flexuosus and pseudocalliergon trifarium, which were found in the Slutsk District in 2011 and in the Ostrovets District in 2010 accordingly,” the Head of the Biological and Landscape Diversity Department at the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection, Natalia Minchenko notes.

At the same time, the Red Book has said goodbye, to coregonus albula and Great Egret. Nowadays, there is no threat to their existence with the number of egrets estimated at 2-3 thousand pairs. They have settled across the whole country by adapting to new habitats, and still, the most well-known nesting places are, until now, in the Brest and Gomel regions.

According to Natalia Minchenko, our country recently signed the Berne Convention, so it means that it should also protect a number of the animals indicated there.