You’ll remember that the Russian Housing Development Foundation wants to build a luxury housing project on the site of the Vavilov Institute of Plant Industry’s (VIR) unique fruit and berry germplasm collection at the Pavlovsk Experimental Station near St Petersburg. And that the conservation community has been trying to assist VIR’s staff via a petition in their attempts to stop this wanton destruction. Well…
…mounting pressure from scientists has now resulted in at least partial success. The RHDF has announced to ask an independent international expert commission to evaluate the situation at Pavlovsk before proceeding with its plans. Moreover, the Russian Accounts Chamber, a body controlling federal budgets, has announced to inspect the station on 15 September.
Great news indeed. But we’re not out of the woods yet. ((As it were.)) It’s undoubtedly a victory, but we need to keep that pressure up.