Russian law hinders forest fire fight

RTÉ (Ireland): Efforts to fight Russia's devastating forest fires have been crippled by a law passed four years ago by Vladimir Putin, environmentalists and politicians have said. More than 40 people have died and up to 2,000 families have lost their homes to forest fires caused by Russia's worst heatwave in decades. Russia's leaders have declared a state of emergency in seven provinces.

But critics blame the lower house of parliament (Duma) for rushing through a new Forest Code in 2006 on Mr Putin's orders. This disbanded a centralised system of forest protection and turned the country's vast forests into a virtual no-man's land.

Russia's forests cover 809m hectares, twice the size of the European Union's landmass and the oxygen they produce is vital to helping the planet contain climate change. The controversial law took effect in 2007 and gave responsibility for forest protection to regional authorities.

Environmentalists have blamed bureaucracy and business lobbies for the faults in the forestry legislation, which they say was aimed at milking the Russian forests for quick profits…

Wildfire in the south of Ivanovo Oblast, not far from the city Yuzha, during 6-14 May 2010. Russia. Shot by Elena Sharova, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative CommonsAttribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license