There are over 1,300 designated conservation areas in Belarus. The figure was mentioned by Andrei Kuzmich, Deputy Head of the Biological and Landscape Diversity Office of the Central Office for Waste Management Regulation, Biological and Landscape Diversity of the Belarusian Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Ministry, at a press conference on 16 August, BelTA has learned.

The official said: “Our country has a considerable potential for the development of ecological tourism. As of 1 January 2021 there were 1,307 designated conservation areas in Belarus. All of them can be interesting to some degree from the point of view of ecological tourism.”

In his words, 29 state nature protection institutions operate in Belarus. They manage the Berezinsky biosphere reserve, four national parks, and wildlife sanctuaries.

There are 48 ecological trails, 176 tourist routes, and 116 tourist camps in the designated conservation areas. Ecological trails are created not only in nature reserves, but in cities as well. For instance, there are 11 ecological trails in Minsk already, the specialist said.

The Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Ministry representative also described how various branches of ecological tourism develop. He mentioned tours in swamp shoes and on swamp buggies (the Yelnya nature reserve), diving training (the Rizhi nature reserve in Braslav District), rafting trips (the Dnepro-Sozhsky nature reserve in Loyev District). Ecological festivals are rather popular.

Apart from that, efforts are put into the ecological awareness of the population. Sixteen visit centers and four environmental education classrooms have been set up so far.

Source: БелТА

"Unity, citizenship, patriotism - a key resource for the development of education in the Minsk region" - is the theme of the conference of teachers of the capital region, which will be held on August 27 in Nesvizh.

The traditional August event will be attended by the heads of Minsk Regional Executive Committee, the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Belarus, leaders of the trade union movement, and representatives of the media.

From 17 to 30 August, dialogue platforms will be organized for executives and education specialists, where they will discuss topical issues of improving the regional education system, the quality of the educational process, management of professional development of teachers in the context of digitalization of education, the formation of functional literacy of students, and determine strategic guidelines for improving the quality professional training of students, get acquainted with the normative legal and scientific and methodological support of the educational process in academic subjects, current areas of social, educational and ideological work in the 2021/2022 academic year.

On August 27, a presentation of the achievements of the education system of the Minsk region will take place in Nesvizh and the solemn part of the conference will be held. In the foyer of the local regional cultural center, participants will be able to familiarize themselves with IT projects of students in the region, electronic educational resources on academic subjects, virtual museums, and the experience of agricultural classes.

On the street platforms, the exhibition "Minsk region-mini" will unfold, presenting mini-models of attractions of all districts of the region and Zhodino, the exposition "Revived Pages", where costumed theatrical performances based on the works of writers - natives of the Minsk region will be presented, a presentation of the regional travel project " Family Stagecoach ", master classes and workshops of professional education institutions, interactive games, contests for children and parents and much more will be organized

At the plenary session, the best teachers, veterans of pedagogical work, young specialists who have arrived to work in the central region will be honored. Here the results of the previous academic year will be summed up, the strategic directions of education of the Minsk region will be determined. The forum of Minsk Oblast teachers will end with a festive concert.

Conference program

10:00 - 11:00 - thematic exhibitions

11:00 - 12:45 - plenary session

12:45 - 13.25 - concert program

Address: Nesvizh, st. Sovetskaya, 34 (Nesvizh District Cultural Center)

Contact phone: 8 (017) 365 42 85

Source: Minsk-region.gov.by

Belarus’ own coronavirus vaccine will be available for the general public in H1 2023, Belarusian Healthcare Minister Dmitry Pinevich told reporters on 12 August, BelTA has learned.

“We believe that the vaccine will be available for use in the first half of 2023. When we discuss our strategies, we try to understand whether our research outputs will still be relevant at the end of 2022. Although time is not on our side,the fast pace we are moving at will no way affect quality or safety,” Dmitry Pinevich said.

A reminder, on 12 August Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko inspected the BelVitunipharm company where he was briefed on the progress to create Belarus’ own coronavirus vaccine.

Dmitry Pinevich recalled that this project consists of three stages: laboratory testing, pilot production and mass production. It was decided to locate the pilot production at BelVitunipharm (a separate building will be built here for this purpose) and Belmedpreparaty. “This decision was approved after a serious scrutiny. The mechanism for launching a joint venture will have a direct impact on economic performance. We do not need to set up a separate enterprise now, we will utilize the tried-and-tested premises that meet the highest standards,” the minister added.

Source: БелТА

The Constitutional Commission will submit its proposals regarding the status of the Belarusian People's Congress to Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko for consideration, Chairman of the Constitutional Commission, Chairman of the Constitutional Court of Belarus Piotr Miklashevich told reporters on 11 August, BelTA has learned.

“We have outlined three matters that require consideration of the head of state. One of them is the constitutional status of the Belarusian People's Congress, since it is a new institution in the system of government. It should have certain constitutional powers and at the same time fit into the current system of government in our country and communication mechanisms [between government agencies]. Therefore, we will go through this issue once again today and will discuss it with the participation of the head of state,” Piotr Miklashevich said.

The second question is about the death penalty. “There are three options here. The first is to keep it intact and not amend Article 24,” he said. After all, this matter was decided in the 1996 referendum where the majority of people voted to retain capital punishment. If some new circumstances arise, this matter should be considered in a special referendum. After all, today the president also has the right to impose a moratorium on the execution or use of the death penalty. “This matter can be addressed stage by stage, like in other states. There were proposals to amend this provision, Article 24, and establish the death penalty only for terrorism resulting in the loss of human life. The third option is to consider the abolition of the death penalty altogether. These three options require the consideration by the head of state,” the chairman of the Constitutional Court said.

The third matter is the nomination of candidates to councils of deputies by labor collectives. “We have this provision in the Constitution, but time is changing. Today's labor collectives are a far cry from those of the Soviet times. There are many private businesses. This is one thing. Another thing is that nomination implies participation in a certain political campaign. Therefore, the question is: should we retain a possibility for labor collectives to nominate candidates or should we leave it to political parties and citizens? We also intend to discuss this issue with the head of state,” Piotr Miklashevich said.

Source: БелТА

More than 4.8 million tonnes of grain have been harvested in Belarus so far, BelTA learned from the Telegram channel of the Agriculture and Food Ministry.

As of 11 August, 1.519 million hectares planted to grain and leguminous crops (excluding corn, buckwheat, millet) were harvested, or almost 70.8% of the target. In the lead is Brest Oblast with 282,100 hectares, or 83.6% of the areas cropped. Gomel Oblast cropped 76,2% of its areas (265,400 hectares), Mogilev Oblast – 72.9% (237,800 hectares), Minsk Oblast – 69% (328,800 hectares), Vitebsk Oblast – 64.8% (223,200 hectares) and Grodno Oblast – 58.4% (182,100 hectares).

All in all, 4,862,000 tonnes of grain were threshed, with the average yield at 32 centners per hectare.

The second hay cutting was completed on 762,600 hectares (93.9% of the plan). A total of 830,200 tonnes of hay (74.3% of the target) has been harvested so far, as well as 11,794,000 tonnes of haylage (87.3%) and 339,300 tonnes of silage (1.75%).

Source: БелТА