WWF-RUSSIA ANNUAL REPORT 2020 © Richard Barrett / WWF-UK CONTENTS BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION 7 SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT 43 SUSTAINABLE FISHERIES 57 CLIMATE AND ENERGY 63 GREEN ECONOMY 69 ENVIRONMENTAL GOVERNANCE 77 WWF STAFF AND BOARD 83 ENGAGEMENT WITH THE PUBLIC, BUSINESS, AND SUPPORTERS 87 ОТДЕЛЕНИЯ WWF: ЗЕЛЕНЫЕ РЕШЕНИЯ 91 WWF-RUSSIA FUNDING 95 © Alexey Perelygin / WWF-Russia WWF-RUSSIA 2020 3 DEAR FRIENDS! The environmental community was expecting 2020 to be a "super-year," a period to summarize the results of conservation work worldwide and make plans for the future. But WE LEARNED A LOT IN 2020: our planet summarized it for us by sending a MAYDAY and indicating the system was seriously flawed. Although early into the pandemic, we often heard that nature got WORKING ONLINE AND WITH VERY cleaner, we can see now that it has been yet another blow to the environment. © Marina Khrapova / WWF-Russia Russia will remember the year 2020 for LIMITED RESOURCES, PREPARING FOR environmental disasters near Norilsk, in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Kamchatka, and Khabarovsky Province, which have already prompted changes to the environmental control measures. In 2020, forest and tundra fires reignited with EXTRA RISKS, FINDING UNEXPECTED a vengeance: it was the hottest Arctic summer in history and yet another red flag. We at WWF-Russia worked remotely for the most part of 2020. Despite the pandemic, we managed to complete our main tasks and did not pull a plug on any SOLUTIONS. BUT THE MOST of our environmental programmes. During the summer, we released eight bison into the wild in the Republic of North Ossetia–Alania; they joined the herd that had settled there two years prior. New Persian leopards were also released into the wild, and at the end of the year, despite IMPORTANT LESSON LAST YEAR HAS the impaired air travel, we brought two more animals from Sweden, which we are hoping will produce offspring. In 2020, WWF-Russia helped create three new Protected Areas (PAs) in the country. It was the dedicated work of our employees and partners that made all of this possible. They knew their mission and continued TAUGHT US IS THAT, UNITED BY A to manage their projects remotely. We would like to say a special thank you to our corporate partners and private supporters who have continuously supported the environmental causes despite the economic challenges. COMMON GOAL, PEOPLE CAN DELIVER We learned a lot in 2020: working online and with very limited resources, preparing for extra risks, finding unexpected solutions. But the most important lesson last year has taught us is that, united by a common goal, people can deliver THE IMPOSSIBLE. the impossible. MANY THANKS TO ALL OF YOU FOR TRUSTING US AND SUPPORTING OUR WORK! DMITRIY GORSHKOV, DIRECTOR OF WWF-RUSSIA © Sergey Trepet / WWF-Russia WWF-RUSSIA 2020 5 BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION WWF Goal To ensure the preservation of biodiversity in priority ecoregions (Russian Arctic, Caucasus, Altai-Sayan, Kamchatka, Amur, and Central Asia). © Sergey Trepet / WWF-Russia WWF-RUSSIA 2020 7 Amur tiger range in Russia AMUR TIGER Khabarovsky Province Primorsky Province © Vladimir Filonov / WWF-Russia 2020 RESULTS WWF OBJECTIVE FOR 2022 In the survey of tiger Work on the Amur tiger habitats in Evreiskaya Three tiger litters confirmed to live in Evreiskaya Province conservation in the Amur THE AMUR TIGER POPULATION IS STABLE AT THE LEVEL OF Province, WWF-Russia Three tiger litters have been confirmed to live in Evreiskaya Province (Dichun and ecoregion is carried out by the HABITAT CAPACITY was joined by employees Zhuravliny WRs and adjacent hunting leases). This means the tiger group living in government in partnership with of the TIGR Center, the this region is viable, stable, and has the potential to grow and expand, NGOs, including WWF-Russia Start working Amur Tiger Center, even to China. on WWF's Sixth and the provincial Conservation Strategy Directorate on Wildlife This information was obtained during the expedition supported by WWF in early for the fiscal years and PAs. 2020: the experts had to count the local tigers, evaluate their distribution, age and 2018–2022 sex structure, and the quality of their habitats. COMPLETED 540 580 580- 600 600 2018 2019 2020 Objective for 2022 Population of the Amur tiger in Russia. Based on expert estimations. WWF-RUSSIA 2020 9 The monitoring of the tiger Eleven tigers live in the new monitoring plot in Primorsky Province Mini-reserves for tigers created in Primorsky Province's group in the Spasskaya plot 3 MODEL HUNTING was organized by experts of the Eleven tigers were confirmed to live in the Spasskaya plot located in the Eastern hunting leases Primorsky Forest and Wildlife Blue Ridge of the Sikhote-Alin, in the winter of 2019/2020. It is an impressive CLUBS NOW PROTECT Hunting has been partially limited or fully restricted in three model hunting units Ministry, in cooperation with figure for such an isolated territory. Tigers live here on a regular basis. This includes of different sizes and configurations, located in the central part of the Sikhote-Alin. hunting clubs and WWF females with cubs, proving that the group of predators is sustainable. The Spasskaya TIGER HABITATS The efforts of hunting clubs and the Wildlife Management Department as well as plot has recently been added to the network. the support of WWF have led to an increase both in the ungulates population and In between the full range Amur tiger surveys which take place every ten years, tiger in the tigers number in the area: currently, it is home to 12 tigers, compared to monitoring is conducted annually in the model plots of the southwestern Primorye. occasional visits of single animals 10 years ago. Eight years ago, there were almost no tigers here, except for occasional visits of Model hunting clubs offer favorable conditions for the life and reproduction of 11 TIGERS LIVE IN THE single animals coming from the central part of the Sikhote-Alin.That is when game species and, therefore, for the endangered Amur tiger as well. WWF believes WWF started working toward reintroducing tigers to the Eastern Blue Ridge. In such areas may be just as effective as existing protected areas. EASTERN BLUE RIDGE OF collaboration with governmental agencies, NGOs, and hunting clubs, WWF-Russia developed plans to protect and increase the ungulates population in the area, and THE SIKHOTE-ALIN those plans have been implemented successfully. Center for Preventing Environmental Crimes opens in the Russian Far East The Far Eastern Law Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia has launched a training Center for Preventing Environmental Crimes with the support of WWF-Russia. Creating the Center for Preventing Environmental Crimes is another step in cooperation between the Institute and WWF-Russia in their efforts to preserve the region's biodiversity. The new Center with state-of-the-art equipment will become a legal hub for environmental protection issues and will host lectures, seminars, and other events, contributing to nature conservation and training professional lawyers. © WWF-Russia © Valeriy Maleev / WWF-Russia WWF-RUSSIA 2020 11 It has been over two years since WWF initiated the observation of several pairs of birds in the region using web cameras. Experts installed six cameras in March 2020. ORIENTAL STORK 26 SUPPORTS Nest supports installed in Amurskaya and Primorsky Provinces WWF-Russia helped erect 18 tripods to support stork nests in Amurskaya FOR STORK NESTS Province. Eight tripods were installed in Primorsky Province, specifically in WERE INSTALLED IN Khasansky Nature Park and Khanka Nature Reserve. These stable structures help solve the "housing issue" that storks of the Russian Far AMURSKAYA AND East are facing due to the lack of nesting trees. PRIMORSKY PROVINCES © Yuri Gafarov / WWF-Russia WWF OBJECTIVE FOR 2022 Work on the Oriental stork conservation is conducted by THE NUMBER OF BREEDING PAIRS OF ORIENTAL STORK IN RUSSIA WWF-Russia in partnership IS INCREASED BY 80 with the Amur Socio-Ecological Union and the Directorate of Start working Wildlife and Protected Areas of on WWF's Sixth Amurskaya Province Conservation Strategy for the fiscal years 2018–2022 © WWF-Russia The installation of nest supports is one of the main activities included in the 720 750 780 800 Memorandum of Understanding for International Cooperation and the Oriental Stork Protection, signed by WWF-Russia, Khanka Nature Reserve, and the South Korea Research Center for Endangered Species of the National Institute of Ecology. The work of the TIGR Oriental storks released into the wild after rehabilitation Rehabilitation Center for 2018 2019 2020 Objective for 2022 tigers and other rare animals Two Oriental storks were released into the wild in Evreiskaya Province after their Population of the Oriental stork in Russia is supported by WWF-Russia, rehabilitation at the TIGR Rehabilitation Center. Young storks had been admitted the Amur Tiger Center, and the into the center in critical condition, but the professionalism of the Center's Presidential Grants Foundation. employees helped them recover and made them fit for living in the wild. The birds WWF-Russia took care of storks successfully assimilated into the wild after being released in the wetlands in the 2020 RESULTS maintenance at the Rehabilitation south of Evreiskaya Province. WWF had participated in choosing the location for Center, helped equip summer the release and creating a plan for the storks' further assimilation before their Record number of eggs in Oriental stork nests aviaries and warm spaces for migration to the wintering locations. The birds were tagged with rings and GPS SIX ONLINE CAMERAS keeping birds during winter transmitters to track their flyways. After the release, both storks initially remained of Amurskaya Province in Russia, and headed south, to China, The floodplain of Yangtze River is INSTALLED FOR STORK where most Oriental storks spend their winters, which means their total migratory Online cameras captured a record number of eggs in Oriental stork nests in pathway can be as long as 5,000 kilometers.