In the Vitebsk region this year, more than 2 million rubles will be allocated from the regional budget to combat Sosnowsky's hogweed.
This figure was announced at an expanded meeting of the board of the regional committee for natural resources and environmental protection, where the results of the past year were summarized and tasks for the current year were set.
In a conversation with journalists, the First Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of Belarus, Maksim Lysenko, noted that all the tasks set by the State Program "Environmental Protection and Sustainable Use of Natural Resources" have been fully completed. There is a specific regional issue – invasive plants. The fight against Sosnowsky hogweed has been ongoing for ten years, and it continues to grow. Therefore, more stringent tasks and accountability must be established.
In May 2025, the head of state, at a meeting on waste management and the use of secondary material resources (SMR), set specific tasks for the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection. According to Maksim Lysenko, in this regard, 2026 will be largely dedicated to this topic. The SMR recovery rate in the northern region is at a good level – almost 52%, which is higher than the national average. However, there is room for improvement. The fact that over 1.3 thousand unauthorized landfills were identified last year indicates, among other things, that the collection of solid municipal waste is not organized at the proper level. In this regard, special attention should be paid to rural settlements.
