Moscow cannot blame fires just on weather - WWF
Date: 09-Sep-02
Country: SWITZERLAND
The group said that peat was burning in former swamp and marshland that had been drained in the 1920s. Areas around Moscow where the swamps had been restored in the 1990s were unaffected by the fires.
"High temperatures and lack of rainfall (are) not the only reason to explain the worst fires that the Moscow region has ever experienced," WWF said in a statement.
"(The) massive peat fires...suffocating the Russian capital and affecting neighbouring countries, are the consequence of bad management of swamps in the area," it said, urging the authorities to accelerate restoration of the swamps.
The haze from the fires has reduced visibility to less than 100 metres (yards) in the Russian capital and the concentration of carbon monoxide in the air is three times the normal level.
WWF said that the haze had been noted as far away as Sweden.
