Part of the Caucasian Reserve was allocated for the construction of a resort

The HEAD of the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources, Alexander Kozlov, signed an order to allocate a territory from the Caucasian Reserve Lagonaksky biosphere test site, which will be used for the development of tourism and sports. The corresponding document is published on the portal of legal information.

The minister's order amends the regulation on the Caucasian State Biosphere Reserve. According to the map-scheme of the territory of the reserve, within the boundaries of the Lagonaki biospheric polygon, a site is specially allocated for the development of educational tourism, physical culture and sports.

Recall that in 2021, NAO Krasnaya Polyana and the authorities of Adygea signed an agreement on the construction of the all-season mountain resort Lagonaki. Investments are estimated at 35 billion rubles. it is planned to build 13 cableways with a length of 36 km and a hotel complex for 3,000 rooms on the territory of the resort. At the same time, it was stated that 85% of the number of rooms and supporting infrastructure would be placed outside the biosphere test site.

The signing of the agreement became possible after the creation of the Lagonas biosphere test site. Then the authorities of Adygea declared that they would not build tourist and recreational facilities on its territory. In January 2022, the territory of the Fisht-Oshtensky mountain range was excluded from the boundaries of the landfill in order to prevent its development. Thus, the area of ​​the Lagonaki biospheric polygon was reduced from 17,264.13 hectares to 13,901.12 hectares.

Ecologists have repeatedly opposed the project of the Lagonaki mountain resort. In particular, in January 2022, the Russian branch of Greenpeace sent a letter to the Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation Alexander Kozlov.

“The construction of a large-scale infrastructure on the Lagonaki plateau will be the basis for the transfer of the Western Caucasus World Heritage Site to the list of World Heritage in Danger,” the text of the appeal said.