We are preparing an appeal to the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation, requesting an audit of the country’s protected areas system.

We have worked out a strategy for protecting Russia’s protected areas. Let me remind you that the country’s protected areas system is in serious danger, and there are forces literally trying to carve it up among lobbying groups in pursuit of enormous profits. Over the weekend, we worked through the logic of our next steps, because it is far from clear what can actually be done under conditions of mounting pressure and systemic chaos. Many people will probably say: “What’s the point of protecting nature when everything around us is going to Hel?”

So, in the near future, we will publish the first instructions on the “Green Page.” We will attempt to collectively initiate a comprehensive audit of Russia’s specially protected natural areas by the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation. It is an excellent institution that has engaged in dialogue with the public and conducted its own audits, including in the field of environmental protection. We also have people there — allies who have repeatedly taken a direct part in resolving major problems.

The Accounts Chamber has previously:

— Audited federal protected areas — including the use of federal property intended for nature reserves and other protected areas, as well as the performance of regulatory and supervisory functions. Such audits were conducted at least in 2008–2010.

— Analyzed the condition of the federal protected areas system — identifying the lack of reliable, up-to-date, and complete information on federally protected natural areas.

— Conducted an audit of forest restoration measures for 2019–2021 — finding that annual forest losses continued to exceed the area being restored, while also identifying problems with data accuracy and funding.

— Audited the state forest inventory for 2020–2023 and part of 2024 — concluding that the system was insufficiently effective; up-to-date information was available for only about 17% of the country’s forest fund lands.

— Conducted comprehensive audits of the forestry sector and illegal logging — identifying unreliable data on timber harvesting, circulation, and exports, outdated forest management records, deficiencies in regional oversight, and billions of rubles in damage caused by illegal logging.

— Audited the federal “Volga Rehabilitation” project and publicly stated that the project was failing to achieve its primary objective. This is exactly what I wrote about in a separate report of my own.

— Audited the federal program for the protection of Lake Baikal, including expenditures totaling 8.4 billion rubles.

— Audited the waste management reform — pointing out that only about 7% of waste was being recycled and continuing to monitor the reform’s major problems.

— Audited the implementation of the federal budget in the fields of environmental protection and natural resource management — including expenditures, the use of natural resources, and state environmental monitoring.

But most importantly, these audits did not end with inspections alone. The Accounts Chamber subsequently demanded that violations be corrected, submitted concrete proposals for improving the state accounting system, and also referred materials to the Prosecutor General’s Office.

In our case, the approach will now be unconventional: we will try to come in through the “back door” from within the system, whereas previously we tried to break through directly. I will prepare the materials and pass them through our allies, while at the same time members of the public will send requests to the Accounts Chamber asking it to undertake the audit and help address the problem in order to prevent the possible dismantling of Russia’s protected areas system.