RCN #33 21/8/03 13:57 Page 1
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
RCN #33 21/8/03 13:57 Page 1 No. 33 Summer 2003 Special issue: The Transformation of Protected Areas in Russia A Ten-Year Review PROMOTING BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION IN RUSSIA AND THROUGHOUT NORTHERN EURASIA RCN #33 21/8/03 13:57 Page 2 CONTENTS CONTENTS Voice from the Wild (Letter from the Editors)......................................1 Ten Years of Teaching and Learning in Bolshaya Kokshaga Zapovednik ...............................................................24 BY WAY OF AN INTRODUCTION The Formation of Regional Associations A Brief History of Modern Russian Nature Reserves..........................2 of Protected Areas........................................................................................................27 A Glossary of Russian Protected Areas...........................................................3 The Growth of Regional Nature Protection: A Case Study from the Orlovskaya Oblast ..............................................29 THE PAST TEN YEARS: Making Friends beyond Boundaries.............................................................30 TRENDS AND CASE STUDIES A Spotlight on Kerzhensky Zapovednik...................................................32 Geographic Development ........................................................................................5 Ecotourism in Protected Areas: Problems and Possibilities......34 Legal Developments in Nature Protection.................................................7 A LOOK TO THE FUTURE Financing Zapovedniks ...........................................................................................10 The Future We Choose.............................................................................................36 Ranger Services...............................................................................................................11 New Methods for a New Era CONSERVATION CONTACTS of Conservation in Lazovsky Zapovednik ...............................................13 Helpful Resources.........................................................................................................39 Science in Zapovedniks and National Parks.........................................16 Table of Russian Zapovedniks and National Parks..........................40 A View on Science from Voronezhsky Zapovednik........................19 Contact information for RCN authors Environmental Education......................................................................................22 and contributors ......................................................................................Back cover The mission of the Center for Russian Nature Russian Conservation News is produced with support from Conservation (CRNC) is to promote the conservation of many wonderful conservation-minded people! Special thanks nature in Russia and throughout the former Soviet to: the Weeden Foundation, World Wildlife Fund, Bill Union, and to assist conservation groups in that region Eichbaum, Harriet Crosby, Winslow Duke, Geoffrey Harper, through information exchange, coordination of profes- Joan Hoblitzell, Eliza Klose, Juliana Williams, Andrea Williams sional and education exchanges, and provision of tech- & Chas Dewey, Bernie McHugh, John Hemenway, W. Horton nical assis- Beebe-Center, Lisa Woodson, Rodney Cole, David Ostergen, tance to pro- Phillip Pryde, and Jack Padalino. tected areas. CRNC is a We’d like to thank all of our subscribers and special contributors, project of the especially the following: Matthew Auer, Cynthia Barakatt, Gerard Tides Center. Boere, Joan Bridgwood, Bill Chandler, Dave Cline & Olga Romanenko, Evelyn Cochran, Wallace Cole, Mary Cooper, Jane Costlow, Susan Helms Daley and Sean Daley, Nicholas Day, Andrew Durkin, William Fuller, Kevin Gilligan, Ken Harte, Nancy © Copyright 2003 CRNC/Tides Center. Hopps, Freeborn Jewett, Jr., George Johnson, Nadezhda Kavrus- Hoffmann, Mary Anne Mekosh, Rick McGuire, Kazuo Morimoto, Lois Morrison, Douglas Murray, Edward Mulrenin, John Prentice, Guido Rahr of the Wild Salmon Center, Thomas Rainey, Nicholas RCN has many partners and friends in Russia, including Robinson, David Sears, Brooke Stevens, Fred Strebeigh, Gregory the Partnership for Zapovedniks, whose mission is to offer Streveler & Judy Brakel, Michael Thoma, Peter Ward, and William organizational, technical, Wasch, Jr., Gary Waxmonsky. and financial help to zapovedniks and nation- al parks in Russia. ISSN 1026-6380 RCN #33 21/8/03 13:57 Page 1 Voice from the Wild (A letter from the Editors) his September, thousands of delegates from throughout the world will T descend upon Durban, South Africa to attend the Fifth World Parks Congress (organized by the World Conservation Union, IUCN). Experts from parks and protected areas, representatives of biodiversity conserva- tion organizations and many others will meet to discuss the current needs, EDITORIAL BOARD problems, and challenges of protected areas. They will pay particular atten- tion to role parks and reserves play outside of the territories they protect. Executive Editor: Margaret Williams The theme of the Congress is “Benefits beyond Boundaries.” Editor: Lisa Woodson Russian delegates at the conference will have an important opportunity to showcase Russia’s system of protected areas and the intellectual power that Managing Editor: Nikolai Maleshin fueled the system’s creation. No other country in the world has devoted Graphics Artist: Maksim Dubinin more land to strict nature protection. Few countries have developed an ecological monitoring program that has operated as long, or has been as Design and Layout: Design Group A4 extensive and detailed as the “Chronicles of Nature” program in Russia’s strictly protected nature reserves, called zapovedniks. Today this valuable Environmental Education Advisor: system is imperiled by lack of funding and needs international support. Natalia Danilina These are the well-kept secrets that should be shared in Durban. Translation: Lisa Woodson, Nadia Maleshina Because the zapovednik system was established with the purposes of bio- diversity conservation and scientific monitoring (and to a limited degree Copy Editing: Laura Trice education), for much of the Soviet period, many regarded these nature reserves as scientific laboratories which offered little to the broader public. Subscriptions Manager: Elizabeth Upon first learning of the restrictive conservation regime of zapovedniks, Hermsen people may judge the nature reserves to be outdated in their apparent lack of inclusion of human communities. Contributing Authors: E. Amirkhanova, R. Cole, M. Fedotov, M. Kreindlin, A. Laptev, E. Ledovskikh, Y. Likhatsky, N. Moraleva, But interpreting zapovedniks only in this light would be to undersell and S.Popova, V. Stepanitsky, M. Stishov, undervalue the contributions zapovedniks have made to Russian society N.Troitskaya, A. Troitsky, L. Woodson and to the world as well. Throughout their history zapovedniks have helped to restore depleted wildlife and game species valued by indigenous Contributing Artists and and local people. They have protected headwaters of rivers which provide Photographers: A. Ananin, drinking water and irrigation sources to towns and cities. They have served A. Kuznetsov, E. Ledovskikh, Y. Likhatsky, as archives of rare ecosystems and species whose ranges around the world N. Maleshin, V. Nikolaenko, A. Pribytkov, G. Rusanov, K. Tkachenko, S. Shestakov, have been severely diminished. And they have been an educational labora- L. Woodson tory for some of Russia’s best and brightest scientists. In short, Russia’s zapovedniks, while being closed to human visitation, have provided ON THE COVER numerous benefits to humans beyond their boundaries. Moreover, especially in the past decade these closed nature reserves have begun looking directly outward to the communities and regions that sur- round them. The political and economic upheaval that accompanied the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 created many new challenges and opportunities for zapovedniks and other reserves, and conservationists are still adjusting to and learning from these changes. One of the major trends in this time period has been the formation of new partnerships that cross the borders of protected areas. At Russian Conservation News, we take pride in sharing this little-known and surprising story about Russia’s protected areas. In the following pages, we pres- ent the story of Russia’s zapovedniks and the more recently created national parks. Our summary articles and case studies from the field focus in particular on the past decade, a time of great transformation for both Russia and the country’s unique system of nature reserves. We hope the delegates of the Durban Congress and others reading this issue will be intrigued and inspired by the lessons and stories from Russia’s protected areas system. Most impor- Amur wildcat (Felis cuptilura). Cover tantly, we hope the Congress delegates will pledge support for this global treas- drawing by K. Tkachenko ure, recognizing a shared responsibility to preserve it for future generations. Summer2003, No. 33 1 RCN #33 21/8/03 13:57 Page 2 By Way of an Introduction By Way of an Introduction In the 1930s and 1940s, the zapoved- A Brief History of Modern niks took a turn from bad to worse. Russian Nature Reserves Joseph Stalin ruled the country, bring- ing a reign of terror and all-encom- hough protected areas have either their nature preservation or passing plans to build socialism in the T been a part of Russia’s history scientific functions. Nonetheless,