Ravil Kuzyurov: “Forest is a priceless gift of nature that requires careful treatment”
Today in Kazan, based on the Kazan State Agrarian University, a solemn event dedicated to the International Day of Forests was held. It was attended by the Minister of Forestry of the Republic of Tatarstan Ravil Kuzyurov, the rector of KSAU Airat Valiev, teachers, students of the Faculty of Forestry and Ecology of KSAU, students of educational institutions of the republic.
The event was opened by pupils of the school forestry “Heirs of Nature” MBOU “Leskhozsky secondary school” of the Arsky district. They told the audience about the most important protective, water protection, economic and social functions of forests, ongoing environmental projects, and actions, as well as plans for 2022.
After that, Minister Ravil Kuzyurov made a report on the theme “Forestry of the Republic of Tatarstan: from the origins to the present”. He dwelled on the history and current state of the forestry of the Republic of Tatarstan, the work carried out by industry experts on the protection, protection, and reproduction of forests.
“The forest is a priceless gift of nature that requires careful treatment. To date, the total forest area of the republic is 1 million 268 thousand hectares. There is also a network of protective forest plantations created on agricultural lands, along highways, around rivers, lakes, and reservoirs. Taking into account such forest belts, at present the forest cover of the region is about 20%,” said Ravil Kuzyurov. “In the context of municipal districts, forest cover is extremely uneven and ranges from 2.9 to 41.3%.”
According to him, one of the most important tasks of the Ministry is the effective implementation of the regional project “Preservation of forests in the Republic of Tatarstan” within the framework of the federal project “Preservation of forests” of the national project “Ecology”. “In 2021, reforestation work was carried out on an area of 4,210 hectares in Tatarstan under the project. The value of the target indicator “The ratio of the area of reforestation and afforestation to the area of felled and dead forest plantations” was 158%,” the minister noted. “I would like to note that the total area of reforestation and afforestation completed last year amounted to 7,253 hectares.”
In recent years, large-scale work has been carried out in the republic to digitalize the forest industry. “A geographic information system of the forest fund and a service for monitoring and controlling the state of the forest fund based on remote sensing data were developed. These systems make it possible to automate the accounting and management of forest resources, to detect changes on time, including illegal logging of forest plantations, areas with forest pathology,” said Ravil Kuzyurov. “A project was also implemented to transfer public services provided by the Ministry into electronic form.”
“In 2021, we celebrated the 100th anniversary of the formation of the state forest management body and the Lubyanka Forestry College. Not resting on our laurels, we set ourselves the task of implementing new large-scale projects, further introducing innovations in forestry and improving working conditions for workers in the industry,” the minister added. “I hope that after some time we will meet again and we will talk as colleagues who are doing a common thing for the benefit of the prosperity of our forests.”
Further, Ilfir Galiullin, the director of the branch of FBU “VNIILM” “Eastern European LOS”, the dean of the faculty of forestry and ecology of the KSAU Renat Gafiyatov, the professor of the department of forestry and forest crops of the faculty of forestry of the KSAU Kharis Musin and others made presentations. Specialists in their speeches raised issues about the special role of forests in nature and human life, the importance of scientific and technical modernization of the forest complex, the training of highly qualified personnel for the industry.
It is worth noting that a job fair was also organized today. Elvira Ziyatdinova, head of the sector for civil service and personnel of the Ministry, told the students in detail about the most demanded professions in the industry, currently available vacancies in subordinate institutions of the Ministry, working conditions, etc.