Atlas of high conservation value areas, and analysis of gaps and representativeness of the protected area network in northwest Russia Arkhangelsk, Vologda, Leningrad, and Murmansk Regions, Republic of Karelia, and City of St. Petersburg Konstantin Kobyakov and Jevgeni Jakovlev (eds.) Atlas of high conservation value areas, and analysis of gaps and representativeness of the protected area network in northwest Russia Arkhangelsk, Vologda, Leningrad, and Murmansk Regions, Republic of Karelia, and City of St. Petersburg Konstantin Kobyakov and Jevgeni Jakovlev (eds.) The English Revised Edition Helsinki 2013 Finnish Environment Institute Atlas of high conservation value areas, and analysis of gaps and representativeness of the protected area network in northwest Russia: Arkhangelsk, Vologda, Leningrad, and Murmansk Regions, Republic of Karelia, and City of St. Petersburg Konstantin Kobyakov & Jevgeni Jakovlev (eds.) Revised English Edition based on the publication: Sokhranenie tsennykh prirodnykh territoriy Severo-Zapada Rossii. Analiz reprez- entativnosti seti OOPT Arkhangelskoi, Vologodskoi, Leningradskoi i Murmanskoi oblastei, Respubliki Karelii, Sankt-Peterburga/ Kollektiv avtorov. Pod red. Kobyak- ova, K.N. Sankt-Peterburg. 2011. 506 s. W WMV F TTUXF H Q R V P W UP UP! PSW U The English Revised Edition. Helsinki 2013 Editorial board: Tapio Lindholm, Raimo Heikkilä, Anna Kuhmonen & Jyri Mikkola Translated into English and revised by Jevgeni Jakovlev with assistance from Don Welsh. Layout and design of the English Edition by Pirjo Appelgren, Finnish Environment Institute. Editing maps for the English Edition by Jani Huotari & Jevgeni Jakovlev, Finnish En- vironment Institute. Figures: 105; tables: 22; photographs: 88; maps (scale 1: 300 000): 259; 257pp; bibliography: 246. English Edition: © Finnish Environment Institute This publication is also available on the Internet at www.syke.fi/nature/nwrussia. Cover layout: Gennady Aleksandrov Edita Prima Oy, Helsinki 2013 ISBN 978-952-11-4183-6 (pbc.) ISBN 978-952-11-4184-3 (PDF) ISBN 978-952-11-4185-0 (CD) Reference of the publication: Kobyakov, K. & Jakovlev, J. (eds.) 2013: Atlas of high conservation value areas, and analysis of gaps and representativeness of the protected area network in northwest Russia: Arkhangelsk, Vologda, Leningrad, and Murmansk Regions, Republic of Karelia, and City of St. Petersburg. Finnish Environment Institute. Helsinki. 517 p. The parties to the Convention on Biological Diver- The result of ecological sity agreed on essential targets to reduce signif- gap analysis for icantly loss of biodiversity by 2010. As one such target, each country was to implement a gap anal- nature conservation in ysis to study the ecological gaps and representa- tiveness of their protected area network to opti- northwest Russia to be mize its further development. The Gap analysis of the Russian Federation was implemented for utilized in international the federal protected area network and its results were published in 2009 (Krever et al. 2009). This co-operation publication on Gap analysis of northwest Rus- Tapio Lindholm, Raimo Heikkilä, Anna Kuhmo- sia covers also protected areas of regional level, nen & Jevgeni Jakovlev which contributes to their development. The Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE) is a The importance of protected areas in preserving research institute which provides information, biodiversity on the landscape, community and skills and services crucial to achieving sustaina- species levels, as well as the selection of areas for ble development, both in Finland and globally. It conservation, have been under intensive discus- has a long tradition of co-operative studies with sion and research during recent decades. Nature Russian scientists aimed at the conservation of conservation in Russia has rapidly gained inter- biological diversity, with results published in the national importance, with strong emphasis on the international forum. In 2007, as a result of joint last remaining intact forests and mires of north- meetings between Finnish and Russian special- west Russia. This area is directly adjacent to the ists in nature conservation, SYKE got the task northern parts of the European Union, and is in- of coordinating a project aimed at the analysis cluded within the Nordic co-operation framework and assessment of the protected area network in as well as in the Barents Euro-Arctic Council and northwest Russia. The project was important for Arctic Council frameworks. The last remaining creating a Geographical Information System (GIS) intact forests and mires of these high northern based approach to define areas with high conser- latitudes are among the largest intact ecosystems vation value and to analyze their coverage within of international importance in the whole world. the network of the existing and planned protected At present they are under increasing pressure areas in Murmansk, Arkhangelsk, Vologda, and from various forms of land use, exploitation and Leningrad Regions; the Republic of Karelia; and climate change. This sets a demand for the urgent the City of St. Petersburg. development of a representative and efficient pro- tected area network to preserve them. The results of the gap analysis were published in printed and electronic format in Russian in 2011, Protected areas in northwest Russia differ in legal including an atlas of intact nature areas ranging status, protection regimes, and functions. The pool from entire landscapes to key habitats of particu- of protected areas includes strict nature reserves lar species. The analysis was made on the basis (zapovedniks), national parks, nature parks, za- of information obtained from satellite images, kazniks (nature reserves or wildlife refuges) and topographic and thematic maps, and field inven- nature monuments, as well as botanical gardens, tory data. Among the major topics considered arboretums, and nature spa resorts (healing land- by the authors are protection efficiency and the scapes). National parks, strict nature reserves, and representativeness of the existing protected ar- a few zakazniks and botanical gardens have feder- ea network; ecological gaps in the protected area al status and are managed by federal authorities. network; protection proposals to improve repre- The rest (i.e. the majority) are managed by region- sentativeness of the protected area network in the al authorities, often directorates of protected areas identified high conservation value (HCV) areas, of regional importance. Reflecting Russia’s great and other possible ways to protect biodiversity in size, protected areas there are typically large, but northwest Russia. also small nature reserves are present, usually established locally by a municipality, to protect Early on, a strong need for an English Edition of geological, zoological, botanical, or landscape fea- the project publication was highlighted. The se- tures of limited area. lection of areas of high conservation value across 3 such a large area as northwest Russia was obvious- version of the atlas was finalized, new protected ly a challenging task even for a large research team. areas have been established, and new planned pro- In the study the best available data from various tected areas have been added to the conservation sources have been used, including primarily satel- programs of the regions. In 2011, Lapland Forest za- lite image data for remote sensing interpretation, kaznik (171,672 ha) was established in Murmansk and all available data from previous field surveys Region, between Russia’s Lapland Strict Nature covering many parts of the study area. In addi- Reserve and Finland’s Urho Kekkonen National tion, existing literature, maps, state forest-inven- Park. In 2013, Onega Pomorye (Onezhskoye Pomo- tory data and records of plant and animal species rye) National Park (201,668 ha) was established on have been used from all available areas. Expert the coast of the White Sea in Arkhangelsk Region. visual interpretation of satellite images allows ex- In addition, smaller protected areas have also been act detection of extended high conservation value established since 2011. areas, like intact forest landscapes, intact forest tracts and mire massifs. Smaller high conservation The results of the Gap analysis in northwest Russia, value areas, like spring fens, sloping fens etc. are including a GIS database, are currently being uti- difficult to find using satellite images only, so their lized in many fields of nature conservation work. boundaries were delineated by combining the re- For example, the Barents Protected Area Network sults of cartographic analysis, thematic maps and (BPAN) project aims to promote and support the coordinates obtained with GPS-navigators dur- creation of a representative protected area network ing field surveys. In parts of the study area which for the conservation of biodiversity and boreal-arc- were not covered with such detailed surveys, small tic nature in the Barents Euro-Arctic Region, in- high conservation value areas were not mapped. cluding 13 regions of northwest Russia, northern In the Republic of Karelia, many known records Finland, Sweden and Norway. In this project, the of red-listed plants, fungi and animals were not entire protected area network is being evaluated included in the maps, as their exact coordinates and analyzed utilizing the results of the Gap analy- were not available. The English edition outlines the sis in northwest Russia together with similar infor- current situation