Glampings in Sevastopol are killing unique nature and covering up land grabs
Sevastopol received 150 million rubles for the development of a glamping network. Forest areas and specially protected natural areas were given over for the construction of houses by the sea. The main condition is the accessibility of the territories for residents and the preservation of trees. But a metal fence recently appeared in the Batiliman tract. As it turned out, it was installed by a company that received this territory for the implementation of a grant project on ecotourism.
They plan to install 34 guest modules on the site, and to “safeguard” them, the area has been fenced off, simultaneously blocking the pedestrian tourist trail, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
As Vyacheslav Gorelov, chairman of the Sevastopol Legislative Assembly Committee on Urban Planning and Land Issues, noted on the air of “First Sevastopol”, glampings have become a weapon for capturing natural areas.
“I believe that this is some kind of rather strange collision. If you are relaxing in nature, relax in a tent. And when some kind of comfortable rest begins, this involves the laying of utility networks, communications and entails a lot of troubles that harm this very nature. If someone wants to relax comfortably, we have sanatoriums, holiday homes, boarding houses - go there and relax.
And in general, from my point of view, glamping is an extremely harmful concept, as harmful as Rusnano and all sorts of Skolkovo. Because this is a way, it seems to me, of using or absorbing budget money. Rusnano has ended, now a new way of using budget money has appeared - this is glamping,” the deputy emphasized.
In April last year in Batiliman, a half-century-old forest with Red Book juniper and pistachio fell under the ax. Then the organizers also referred to the development of a tourist area. At the same time, as Elina Orel, chairman of the public council under Sevprirodnadzor, emphasized, in Sevastopol there are many boarding houses and recreation centers with ready-made communications and free sites for the construction of glampings, which could compensate for the dilapidation of the houses of these tourist sites. But instead, natural areas are being destroyed.
“We have GUPS “Boarding Houses of Sevastopol”. They have recreation centers in wonderful places - this is Laspi, this is Batiliman, and Lyubimovka, and Kacha. Everything is already provided there, including utilities, parking space, access to the beach, and even places for sports. But the houses that were built in the last century are, of course, already in need of replacement. The market offers us a lot of prefabricated houses that could replace existing ones, and it would be possible to accommodate a large number of people in these areas. But for some reason these territories are in decline and losses. Although it would be possible to rent out and replenish the budget,” she noted.
Instead, there is actually a creeping expansion into specially protected natural areas. They were created to preserve landscapes and balance anthropogenic load. But instead, protected areas become places for elite secluded recreation.
“The idea of glamping is good for the vast expanses of central Russia, where people really need civilization in nature, where there are practically kilometers of open space consisting of the same species of plants and animals, and the removal of a small area from nature so that people can relax in this forest does not matter no role for the forest, minimal impact.
Another thing is the forests of Crimea, which, firstly, have been very heavily disturbed since historical times, and then the most vulnerable juniper forests were selected. I want to say that Crimean scientists have taken the lead in developing calculations of anthropogenic load on forests. And in forests, where the recreational load should be generally zero, we are faced primarily with the construction of linear objects,” noted Liliya Bondareva, chairman of the Sevastopol branch of the Russian Botanical Society.
For the ecosystem, the harm from glamping is absolutely identical to any excessive recreational load. For Crimea and Sevastopol, other legislative requirements for organizing glamping are necessary, especially in specially protected areas or in places where plants listed in the Red Book grow in large numbers.
“This is some kind of deceit when we say that glamping is some kind of temporary buildings. The lighting regime and the water regime of this territory are changing. There will certainly be trampling and damage to the phytocenosis, which consists not only of junipers and other trees, but also herbaceous plants, which are also necessary for the functioning of this zone. They will of course be violated.
Moreover, public money is spent on this, which simply causes outrage. And I want to note, as a representative of the Sevastopol branch of the Russian Botanical Society, that this problem of involving specially protected natural areas in economic activities under a plausible pretext was noted, among other things, at our delegates’ congress, which was held in St. Petersburg.
And separately in the resolution, botanist scientists from all over Russia stated that this disastrous tendency, when, without consulting with experts in the field of conservation of biological diversity, they develop recreational activities in protected areas, is recognized as one of the big problems of the Russian Federation,” Bondareva pointed out.
The Laspinskaya depression is a natural habitat for junipers. And according to the Nikitsky Botanical Garden, groves of old-growth junipers grow here, the age of which starts from 500 years. And now in these unique groves, under the slogan of ecotourism development, they are actually being destroyed. While it is possible to locate glamping sites in less vulnerable forests, they choose a commercially viable location, ignoring conservation status and significance.
Meanwhile, at the regional level, it is impossible to pass a law that contradicts the federal one and limit the possibilities of glamping accommodation. But they do not see the need to introduce exceptions in federal legislation.
English version :: Read in English: Glamping in Sevastopol is destroying unique nature and covering up land grabs.