MOSCOW, April 28 (RIA Novosti) - Five space centers now incorporated in the central air base for forest fire protection have been set up in Moscow, Petrozavodsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Krasnoyarsk and Khabarovsk, the ministry for natural resource reports. These centers' functions and financing are determined by the Federal Forestry Agency (Rosleskhoz).
The remote-control centers have been designed to define priority areas for monitoring, to organize space and air surveillance and to promptly collect and handle initial information in association with the Rosleskhoz territorial bodies.
The air and a space observation system helps detect illegitimate wood procurement. Deciphered photos are official evidence for initiating legal proceedings.
Budgets at all levels are losing today over five billion rubles ($1 equals 27.79 rubles) because of illicit wood-cutting.
In the opinion of the Rosleskhoz head Valery Roshchupkin, one of the main advantages of air and space observation is its being free of the human factor. Spaceborne photos cannot be disproved in court.
