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Belarus

Ten IPAs were identified with detailed site descriptions, threats and protection level.

Belarus in Eastern Europe is bordered by Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Latvia and Lithuania, sharing several cross-border protected areas with its neighbours, including the famous Belovezhskaya Pushcha.

Covering 207,000 km², Belarus is landlocked, relatively flat, and has two biogeographic zones - continental and boreal. Three major rivers run through the country: the Neman, the Pripyat and the Dnieper. The Neman flows westward towards the Baltic Sea, the Pripyat eastward to the Dnieper; the Dnieper southward towards the Black Sea. The climate features cold winters and cool and moist summers with an average annual rainfall of 550 to 700 mm.

The natural and semi-natural vegetation is made up mainly of forest (taiga, coniferous and mixed) with wetlands (bogs, mires and numerous lakes) and grassland. In the north, conifers, notably pine and spruce, tend to predominate; southward the proportion of deciduous trees, such as oak and hornbeam, increases. Birch is common everywhere, especially as the first growth on burned or disturbed areas.

Ten IPAs have been identified in Belarus. Forest is the major habitat on eight of them and covers 62% of the area of IPAs. There is coniferous forest on all ten IPAs and deciduous forest on three. Bog is the major habitat at one and mire, fens and bog are significant features of nine, covering 15% of the area of IPAs. Grassland habitats occur at all ten IPAs (dry grasslands in two and mesic grasslands in nine), covering 5% of the area of IPAs. Running and standing water is also a key feature on all ten IPAs. Constructed habitats occur on all IPAs but at between 1-5% of the area. There is a low level of agricultural or cultivated land on all IPAs although one IPA has up to 15% agricultural land.

Nature protection is the most common land use on IPAs, occurring on eight sites. Forestry and hunting are also important land uses occurring on nine and eight sites respectively. Recreation (seven IPAs) and agriculture (seven IPAs) are also significant land uses at IPAs in Belarus.

Two IPAs (20%) currently have no legal protection, four have a high level of national protection and four have a lower level of national protection. Several IPAs are recognised in European and International programmes. Eight IPAs are in protected areas but appropriate site management is an important conservation issue. Effective site management plans need to be developed and implemented to benefit plant conservation.

Deforestation threatens the most IPAs in Belarus. The other significant threats are the lack of management planning, intensified forest management, land improvement measures, tourist and recreation pressure, fires and the absence of monitoring.

Fact-sheets on the Belarus IPAs are available on the IPA Online Database.

Reference:

• Maslovsky O. (Ed), 2005, Important Plant Areas in Belarus. Institute of Experimental Botany (Belarus Academy of Sciences), IUCN-CIS Moscow. Minsk Belarus (in Russian).

Coordinating organisations:

• Institute of Experimental Botany (BAS)
• IUCN-CIS Moscow

Contact:

• Oleg Maslovsky