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Russia to focus on environmental problems at UN Assembly

There are plans to reduce air pollution through quota arrangement for industrial emissions

MOSCOW, October 23. /TASS/. Russian Natural Resources Minister Sergey Donskoy plans to focus on the necessity to step up air and water pollution control at the UN Environment Assembly, the minister wrote on his official Facebook page on Monday.

"Overall, the global community is now paying special attention to the climate. We see that it is necessary to step up work in the area of pollution control. We will focus on these issues during the UN Environment Assembly (Nairobi, December 4-6). I will personally participate in its work," the statement says.

Earlier the Lancet medical magazine released the results of an investigation conducted by American experts, which says that the number of people who died from environmental pollution is half as much as the number of deaths from smoking and 15 times larger than war-and violence-related deaths. The list of countries with the highest death rates includes India, China, Bangladesh, Pakistan, North Korea, South Sudan and Haiti.

The Russian natural resources minister noted that Russia "is not on this list and cannot be there because 65% of its territories are not affected by any business activities at all."

Still, air pollution is a thorny issue for many Russian cities, the minister said. There are plans to reduce air pollution through quota arrangement for industrial emissions. Interagency cooperation of the corresponding draft law is being wrapped up now.