This was announced by Kirill Komarov, Rosatom’s First Deputy CEO for Corporate Development and International Business, in an interview to TASS news agency at the 22nd UN Climate Change Conference (COP22) held in Morocco. “The project is now at its initial stage, but we are working hard on it in association with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and the Federal Forestry Agency,” said Mr. Komarov. “Next year we will launch a series of pilot projects in the Irkutsk Region severely affected by illegal logging. It may be an interesting project as we will help prevent illegal logging. We are discussing the use of special radio frequency devices to monitor harvested timber.” Komarov also mentioned that Rosatom invested 31 billion rubles in similar initiatives in 2015. According to his estimates, this year’s investments will be comparable. “There are things you should not spare money for, and environmental protection is definitely one of them,” Mr. Komarov stressed.