Desertification causes crop failure in southern Russia
The effects of climate change are leading to a drastic decline in cereal production this year, a crucial sector for the Russian economy. In the Rostov region, 17.5% of the territory has now become desertified. But in the crackdown on any voice of dissent, even environmentalists fighting to protect wooded areas are being targeted.
Moscow (AsiaNews) - Russia is grappling with a collapse in grain harvests, which fell to 105 million tonnes at the beginning of September compared to 130 million last year, according to the Moscow Ministry of Agriculture.
This is a crucial sector of the economy, especially for southern regions such as Rostov-on-Don, where the damage is estimated at around 4 billion roubles (40 million euro, ed.) mainly due to drought.
Climate change has transformed the ecosystem of the area, and the land does not receive enough moisture, causing crops to die. The authorities have acknowledged that 28 Russian federal subjects are affected by desertification covering approximately 80 million hectares, but attempts to save green spaces in Russia are considered a crime rather than a merit by citizens.
Twenty-six-year-old Evgeny Papirov from the village of Novobessergenevki in the Rostov region organised protests with others against reckless and environmentally dangerous deforestation, and control measures were imposed on him whereby he is not allowed to leave his home after 10 p.m. and is not allowed to leave his village by court order.
Papirov has been charged with assaulting a neighbour, causing him to break his arm, but local residents claim that the victim is on the list of the psycho-neurological clinic and that it was probably him who attacked first.
Evgenij himself believes that the charges against him are “a provocation”, organised precisely because he dared to raise his voice and send protests to all the authorities. According to his supporters, he fought to preserve a forest strip that was being illegally cut down on a site purchased in violation of the law by a former official, who threatened the young man with arrest.
In times of war against Ukraine and the West, any public display of discontent is considered a criminal act, and the preservation of green areas seemed to be the only issue on which it was possible to express any dissent, even if it is often blocked by authoritarian actions.
Yet protests are multiplying in many places, such as in Stavropol by gardeners from various companies, or by the inhabitants of Orenburg, and in Volgograd to preserve the forests of the Volga-Akhtube floodplain, all issues that have been under debate for years. In the Rostov region, 17.5% of the territory has now been desertified, yet the destruction of the forests of what was once called the “Plain of Love” continues.
Ecologist Vladimir Slivyak, co-chair of EkoZašita! and winner of the Right Livelihood Award in 2021, says that 'there is only one way to combat desertification: to come up with various tricks to cultivate greenery. If you live in a hot area for most of the year, your first priority should be to care for greenery, maintain it as much as possible to prevent it from drying out, and plant new greenery, because without shade, the soil will simply die. Shade is as important as water."
In addition to the deterioration of soil quality, another threat is dust storms, which begin in the eastern regions of Asia and Europe, such as Kalmykia, and sweep across the regions of Stavropol, Dagestan, Rostov, Astrakhan and Volgograd, turning the air into a whirlwind that obscures visibility and damages power lines.
Other activists have also been blocked by repressive measures, such as Sergei Belogvardeets from the city of Novocherkassk, who was forced into exile after arrests, kidnappings and violence for trying to defend the groves in the area known as “Red Spring” in recent years.
He had discovered a plan for illegal deforestation to make way for construction projects by hacking into the computer of a member of the administration, and raised major protests that did not stop the destruction of the forests. Like Sergei, several others have been silenced, unable to prevent southern Russia from gradually turning into a desert.
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