Common use of Belarus Clause in Contracts

Belarus. Belarus was distinguished by unique habitats (the largest fens and river floodplains in Europe), critically important for rare and vulnerable species of waterbirds. Bogs and ▇▇▇▇▇ covered about 2.3 million hectares of the country, of which 800,000 ha were open bogs. The country supported about 60% of the global population of Aquatic Warbler, 5,000 pairs of Great Snipe and large numbers of other rare and threatened species. The largest restoration scheme of peat bogs and open ▇▇▇▇▇ in Eastern Europe had recently been implemented in Belarus, with more than 40,000 hectares of wetlands restored. The main threats to waterbirds and their habitats indicated by the national authorities were of a broad range, such as habitat loss, law enforcement, landscape changes and impacts of the climate change (particularly in the Pripyat River floodplain region). The principal decision of Belarus to join the AEWA had been announced by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection in May 2014. It had been decided to initiate all procedures in Belarus necessary for ratification of the Agreement. OMPO had provided special funds for Belarusian authorities and experts, necessary for the identification of all procedures related to AEWA (like appropriate changes of the national legislation, identification and mitigation of possible conflicts (e.g. with hunters and land users etc.), possible impacts to existing international agreements with Russia and Kazakhstan, etc.). A team of experts (including lawyers, invited experts from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Forestry, Association of Hunters, etc.) had been evaluating all procedures related to joining AEWA. Two international meetings enabling the launch/implementation of all procedures targeted to AEWA in Belarus (similar to meetings arranged by ▇▇▇▇ in Russia, but mainly targeted to concrete and practical issues) would be arranged in Belarus in 2015. The first working meeting had been arranged in Lithuania in July 2014, as AEWA was listed as the Priority Action in the existing Collaboration Agreement between the Ministries of Environment of Belarus and Lithuania. As a Contracting Party to AEWA, Lithuania was actively encouraging Belarus to ratify the Agreement (following AEWA Resolution 3.10). Of course the active support of the UNEP/AEWA Secretariat for Belarus (in terms of appropriate consultations/submission of all necessary AEWA documents/participation in appropriate international meetings) is very important during this period. In May 2015, a meeting was being planned in Minsk together with ▇▇▇▇ and ▇▇▇▇▇▇. After this meeting, Belarus hoped to ratify the Agreement before MOP6. This was particularly important due to Belarus being a member of the Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), and could encourage Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation, both also member states, to follow suit.