ALTAI-SAYAN WWF NEWS

1Altai-Sayan WWF Newsletter: No 1, September 2005

Finally it happens! All WWF family can learn about Altai-Sayanevents and about WWF activities in the Ecoregion via thisNewsletter! We are happy to initiate this, and to bring to-gether on these pages all staff and participants of WWFprojects in four countries of the Altai-Sayan Ecoregion.For the time being it will be myself taking care of this Altai-Sayan Ecoregional Newsletter, and may I assure all of youthat I will do my best to be both inspiring and insitive to make this Newslet-ter interesting, up-to-date and complete. We have great staff and field projectparticipants in the Altai-Sayan, we develop good cooperation for the benefitof our common wildlife, and we are working hard to achieve the best possi-ble results.It is part of my task to make our work well known and shared with all of youin our great WWF family! And I am looking forward to get your feedback,

Lena Lebedeva,Altai-Sayan Ecoregion Leader

CONTACTS:Contacts for entire Ecoregion andtransboundary issues:Dr. Lena Lebedeva,Altai-Sayan Ecoregion LeaderNikoloyamskaya Str., 19 building 3Russia, 109240, MoscowPhone: +7 (095) 727 09 39 ext. 255Fax: +7 (095) 727 09 38Mobile: +7 916 694 [email protected]

WWF Mongolia Programme Officec/o Hydro-metereology AgencyBuilding,Room-309, 312Khudaldaany-5Ulaanbaatar 46 MongoliaTel: 976-11-311659 Fax: [email protected]

Russian part of Altai-Sayan:Sergey Shafarenko,coordinator of the Russian partof Altay-Sayan WWF ProgrammeRussia 660049 Krasnoyarsk,Lenina Prosp., 31 office 38 WWFPhone: +7 (3912) 27 94 91Fax: +7 (3912) 27 86 [email protected]

WWF China: www.wwfchina.orgWWF activities in Kazakhstan Altayare managed through EcoregionLeader

WELCOME BACK CHIMED!One of the most devoted and long-work-ing WWF staff, Chimed-Ochir from Mon-golia, since 1st January 2005 is back toWWF-MPO as Policy Officer! Chimed wasleading WWF-MPO for 10 years, and thenin 2002-2004 led also the whole Altai-Sayan Ecoregion. Leaving to GEF projectin spring 2004 Chimed luckily maintainedgood contacts with WWF and we are mosthappy to see him now back in the team!

AND THE MOST RECENT NEWS:CHIMED IS AGAIN APPOINTED AS

CEO in MONGOLIA ! GREAT!

ALTAI-SAYANWWF NEWSALTAI-SAYANWWF NEWS

INTERNATIONAL NEWSLETTER No 1, September 2005

COMING SOON:November 2005: Varenna, Italy

Altai-Sayan and the 4-countries core natural sitewill be part of 5-S training jointly organised byWWF Italy, WWF International and the TNC!Also the CBD MAVA-funded project plans inAltai-Sayan for implementation of PoW onProtected Aresa will be discussed.

WW

F IN

TH

E A

LTA

I-SAY

AN

JULY

200

4 - J

UN

E 20

05

2 Altai-Sayan WWF Newsletter: No 1, September 2005

SPECIES NEWS: ARGALI WITH TRANSMITTERSIn April-May 2004 WWF Mongoliawith support and experts participa-tion from the US (Denver Zoo)started conservation-oriented re-search of Argali. These Altai Moun-tain Sheep are regularly migratingbetween Mongolia and Russia, andwhen the boundary line is beingdefined the knowledge on migrationcorridors becomes utmost impor-tant. Although the project is just atthe start in Mongolia, the participants already seek cooperation from the Mongun-taiga cluster of Ubsunur Biosphere Reserve. This transboundary activity willcertainly be further supported by WWF in Altai-Sayan.

Onon, who is the WWF-MPO Species Conservation Officer, reports: “We cap-tured in total lambs in lambing area not near border. But one lamb attacked bywolf, another one died naturally. Thus there are two lambs with transmittersmonitored now. At present ewes with lambs are not moving to other site of theborder. We are planning to capture an ewe near border site in Tsagaan golparallel of Mongun Taiga PA in August-September”.

Besides radio-collars that are transmitting signals each lamb is also markedwith ear-tags to make them recognisable in case the collar gets lost.

More recent news can be obtained: [email protected]

MONGOLIA

MORE TAKHI HORSES IN THE WILD WITH WWF HELPA re-introduction project of Przewalskiihorse in Khomiin tal (buffer zone of KharUs Nuur National Par, Durvuljin soum,Zavkhan aimag) has been initiated byAssociation: TAKH, WWF France andMongolia and is now running its 3rd phase.In August 2005 ten more horses arrivedin release site. It is the second group ofthe Takhi horses, and the first 12 animalsarrived to Khomiin tal in September 2004.

The horses were specifically trained in Le Villaret, France, for more than 10years in a semi natural condition and were studied for their social behaviour.The release site covers 25,000 ha in Khomiin Tal. There are two groups consist-ing of 4 male and 6 female horses, aged 2-6 years old. The first twelve horses,which arrived in 2004, are now very well adapted to natural condition in Mongo-lia, and reached the best body condition. From biodiversity point of view, KhomiinTal suits well to conserve not only the Takhi horses, but also for other rare andendangered species in buffer zone of Khar Us Nuur National Park (KUNNP).

It is the third subpopulation of Przewalskii horses that is reintroduced in theirhistorical range of Mongolia within the Altai-Sayan ecoregion. The project alsoaims to sustainably conserve the rich biodiversity in Altai-Sayan, especially inKhar Us Nuur NP, which includes conservation of endangered species, pasturemanagement, social and economical development of the buffer zone.

Between the invitees of the release event were Dr. Luc Hoffmann, one of thefounders of WWF, Mr. Jean Paul Taris from MAVA foundation, Ms. Claudia Feh,the project coordinator and the French Mongolian scientists.

Learn more about the project from WWF-MPO: www.wwf.mnh t t p : / / y m y t . c o m / c g i - b i n / r u /view.cgi?id=150&cat_id=1&print=1

http://www.selenatravel.com/trips/photos/argali4.jpg


RUSSIAWWF RECOGNIZES RUSSIA'S KRASNOYARSK REGIONAS A GIFT TO THEEARTH18 May 2005

Krasnoyarsk, Russia – WWF hasrecognized major conservation com-mitments by Russia's Krasnoyarskregion as a Gift to the Earth, the glo-bal conservation organization's high-est accolade for globally significantconservation achievements.

Marking WWF's 100th Gift to theEarth, the Governor of Krasnoyarsk, Alexander Khloponin, committed to estab-lish more than 3 million hectares of protected areas in the region by 2007. Muchof the protected areas will fall under WWF's Altai-Sayan priority ecoregion.

"With its immense wilderness areasand its unique natural values, Rus-sia is one of the world's most im-portant countries for nature conser-vation," said HRH Prince Henrik ofDenmark, who attended the Gift tothe Earth ceremony in his capacityas President of WWF-Denmark.

The Krasnoyarsk region, located inthe centre of Eurasia, extends over72.4 million hectares (approxi-mately 4.3 per cent of Russia's ter-

ritory). The region's diverse environment includes arctic deserts, mountains,and tundra and taiga forests. Unfortunately, this unique region faces seriousthreats such as poaching, illegal logging, and climate change.

Responding to the threats, the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources also an-nounced at the ceremony its commitment to establish five new federal pro-tected areas over 840,000ha – the first protected areas to be established by thegovernment in five years. Three of the five proposed areas are part of the Gift tothe Earth Initiative.

"This gives up hope and optimism that the challenge to protect the wealth ofbiodiversity globally, especially here in one of the world's largest countries, canbe achieved," Prince Henrik added.

To date, 100 Gifts to the Earth have been recognized, of which 15 are in Rus-sia. Since the first Gift to the Earth was awarded to the Republic of Sakha in1996, more than 100 million hectares of new and upgrade protected areashave been achieved in Russia.

HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS PRINCE HENRIK VISITED THENEWLY ESTABLISHED ËRGAKI”NATURAL PARK IN THESOUTH OF KRASNOYARSK REGHON

AS PART OF THE GTTE PROGRAMME THE DONORS OFALTAI-SAYAN WWF ECOREGION MADE A SHORT BUTEXTENSIVE TRAVEL TO THE AREA (KRASNOYARSK,TUVA, KHAKASSIA)


MONGOLIA

WILDLIFE TRADE SEMINARA national seminar “Wildlife Trade in Mongolia” has been organized by WCS inMongolia and the WWF Mongolia Programme Office in Ulaanbaatar, 17-20 Au-gust, 2005. WCS and WWF Mongolia together have done an evaluation onpresent wildlife trade status in all aimags with a support from the World Bank.The main targets of the seminar were to introduce the results of the evaluationresearch, to give chance of discussion about conservation management, properuse and conservation of animal resource to the specialists.

About 100 people from the Ministry of Nature and Environment, State Special-ized Inspection Agency, General State Customs Office, General Agency for Fron-tier Defence, hunting companies, non-governmental organizations and projectdelegates participated in the seminar.

Transition from planned economy into market economy of Mongolia has causeduncontrolled wildlife trade and its raising number. The external policy of twoleading countries, Russia and China, at the world market influences strongly thetrade of wildlife and its product. Also the other largest factors which influence itbadly are poor border and customs control, inadequater evealing of illegal hunt-ing cases and poor nature conservation knowledge of the local people.

For example, the demand for export of saiga and deer horns, bear parts, SnowLeopard skins, and falcons has brought those animals to danger. Experts havedetermined that there is an issue of increasing wildlife trade and its product alsobecause this kind of trade stands second after drugs by its income.

On the outputs from this seminar you will be able to read soon on WWF-MPOwebsite: www.wwf.mn

RURAL DEVELOPMENTAND ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATIONIN MONGOLIANew three-year WWF project started in Mongoliain autumn 2004 funded by SIDA, Sweden.

The overall objective of this project is to safeguardthe Mongolian grassland biodiversity by improvinglivelihoods among nomadic herders and support-ing a more sustainable use of their natural re-sources. This will be achieved by addressing thebasic needs of the nomadic herders and by provid-ing them with the means, skills and support to cre-ate sustainable livelihoods for themselves.

The first project component aims at assisting no-madic herders in north-western Mongolia (Mongolian Altai) to use their naturalresources (pastures) more sustainably by increasing opportunities for alterna-tive forms of income-generation and sustainable pasture management.

Environmental education throughout the country will be improved to create asolid foundation for long-term capacity to deal with future environmental anddevelopment issues. It is planned to improve the capacity of formal and non-formal teachers in all school subjects and at all levels, across the country; toincrease the capacity of teaching environmental education and empower futuregenerations with the knowledge and skills to actively participate in sustainabledevelopment.

Read more about this project on the new WWF – MPO website (www.wwf.mn)under “What we do” and “Rural Development”.


ALTAI-SAYAN

RUSSIA

NETHERLANDERS SHARE THEIRIMPRESSIONS: BAIKAL - BELUKHA EXPEDITION!On September 1st WWF held a conference with two brave Netherlanders whocompleted their four-month journey from Baikal to Belukha across southernparts of Buryatia, Tuva and Altai. Twan van Bakel and Monique van den Broekshared their impressions and explained the goals of the expedition.

VISIT: WWW.BAIKALBELUKKHA.COM

SERGEY SHAFARENKO JOINED INMARCH 2005 RUSSIAN ALTAI-SAYANPROGRAMME OF WFF AS COORDINA-TOR OF ALL FIELD ACTIVITIES IN THERUSSIAN PART OF ALTAI-SAYANSergey is originally from the Ukraine, but long ago movedto the Altai attracted by its’sacred beauty. After many

years spent in Ust-Kamenogorsk, NW Kazakhstan, where Sergey led“Belovod’ye”(White Waters) local NGO, Sergey became active in “Öur Com-mon Home Altai”Association and later moved to Barnaul. Since March 2005Sergey is working in regional WWF office in Krasnoyarsk leading our pro-gramme activities in ca.60% of Ecoregion. Wish you good start, Sergey!

TUVINIAN-STYLE VISIT-CENTER FOR UBSUNUR RESERVESince June 2005 WWF Russia supports new project in Tuva thanks to the Rus-sian anonymous donor who decided to support construction of Tuva yurta (ger)in Unbsunur. This mobile traditional facility will be equipped with informativeposters & leaflets, with TV-video set, with a set of traditional clothes, and evenwith a small generator - all needed to make this yurta the first mobile educationand visitors center for local people in the extreme south of Tuva and in futurehopefully also in transboundary Uvs Nuur area in Mongolia. Hope that the pho-tos of new Ubsunur eco-yurta will be included already in the next Newsletter!

REGIONAL LEADERS WORK WITH WWF SUPPORT TOSET UP TRANSBOUNDARY PROTECTED AREAS!In July 2005 managers, leaders, scientists and education workers of Katunskynature reserve (Russia) and Katon-Karagai National park (Kazakhstan) met inRepublic of Altai to discuss how to make cooperation stronger and more easyand legal. Among the participants were also senior officials of the Russian Min-istry of Natural Resources, from regional tourism and nature conservation au-thorities (from Russian side) and from the Ministry of Forestry (Kazakhstan).The positive involvement of Boundary Service was also a very positive sign.After three days discussions the participants agreed on Resolution that is morelike a road-map towards development of fully legal and operational transboundaryprotected area on the Kazakhstan-Russia border. Also the need to re-establishbuffer zone south of Katunsky reserve to the border was stressed as well as theneed to promote more actively designation of the new Yungur cluster of Katunskyreserve (core Snow Leopard area; all papers were submitted few years ago butoverall PA development process was static on the federal level).Participation of collegaues from very active transboundary cooperation areas -from Ubsunur-Uvs Nuur Reserve (Tuva, Russia - Mongolia) and from thetransboundary Russian-Finnish Reserve “Friendship”helped to bring more re-alistic and practical approaches!Recent committments from our Presidents of Kazakhstan and Russia to part-nership development bring new good hopes that transboundary “Katunsky-Katon_Karagay TbPA”will be set up legally in the nearest future. And WWF willhelp this happen!


ALTAI-SAYAN ECOREGION UNIQUE IN DIVERSITY OFWILD CARNIVORES AND WILD UNGULATES!Whoever thinks of the wilderness in Serengeti or in a similar biodiversity Para-dise remembers outstanding numbers of ungulates and carnivores! Actually Altai-Sayan Ecoregion is also unique in these features: there are 19 species of Car-nivores and 14 species of wild ungulates if not counting those introduced in theregion! Below listing is based on one of the recent WWF publications:Carnivores

1. Wolf Canis lupus2. Fox Vulpes vulpes3. Corsac Fox Vulpes corsac4. Dhole Cuon alpinus5. Brown Bear Ursus arctos6. Sable Martes zibellina7. Beech Marten Martes foina8. Wolverine Gulo gulo9. Ermine Mustela erminea10. Least Weasel Mustela nivalis11. Siberian Weasel Mustela sibirica12. Mountain Weasel Mustela altaica13. Siberain Polecat Mustela eversmanni14. Marbled Polecat Vormela peregusna15. Badger Meles meles16. Otter Lutra lutra17. Snow Leopard Uncia uncia18. Lynx Felis lynx19. Pallas’s Cat Felis manulPLUS: Racoon Dog Nyctereutes procyonoides and American Weasel Mustelavison (introduced)

Ungulates1. Asian Wild Ass Equus hemionus2. Takhi Horse Equus przewalskii3. Bactrian Camel Camelus ferus4. Wild Boar Sus scrofa5. Musk Deer Moschus moschiferus6. Elk (Maral Deer) Cervus elaphus7. Siberian Roe Deer Capreolus pygargus8. Moose Alces alces9. Wild Forest Reindeer Rangifer tarandus valentinae10. Goitered Gazelle Gazella subgutturosa11. Mongolian Gazelle (Dzeren) Procarpa gutturosa12. Saiga Saiga tatarica13. Ibex Capra sibirica14. Argali Ovis ammonPLUS: Sika Deer Cervus nippon and Bison Bison bonasus (introduced)

Although currently WWF Ecoregional programme concentrates only on two “flag-ship species” for the species programme (Argali and Snow Leopard), the devel-opment of PA network and other habitat conservation initiatives in project areasare definitely beneficial for all the above listed species.

With increased capacity however we will be able to save more species work inthe Altai-Sayan!

ALTAI-SAYAN

http://fotoohota.spb.ru/members/mikhailov/15.html

http://www.sevin.ru/vertebrates/index.html?Mammals/277.html

h t t p : / / n a t u r e . b a i k a l . r u / p h s /ph.shtml?id=3102

http://www.terra-mongolia.ru/viewimage.php?gcurdir=5&gname=_P1000600.jpg


ALTAI-SAYANMUSK DEER TRADE - ALARMING UPDATE!Musk deer populations in parts of Russia and Mongolia are in rapid decline asa result of poaching for musk pods, according to a new report released today byTRAFFIC, the world’s leading wildlife trade monitoring network, and World Wild-life Fund (WWF). Highly valued for its use in traditional medicine, musk derivesfrom male musk deer and is one of the most expensive natural products with aretail value three to five times higher than that of gold.The new report by TRAFFIC Europe, No License To Kill: The Population andHarvest of Musk Deer and Trade in Musk in the Russian Federation and Mon-golia finds that in Russia, an estimated 80 percent of all musk deer killed ap-pear to have been poached and the illegal trade in musk is thought to havebeen five times that of the legal trade in the early 2000s. In neighboring Mongo-lia, despite the fact that hunting of musk deer has been illegal since 1953, aminimum average of 2000 male musk deer have been poached annually be-tween 1996 and 2001.The bulk of the musk obtained illegally is destined for China and other parts ofEast Asia, most of it for use in traditional medicine. The majority of the medici-nal products containing musk and sold in the U.S. are produced in China.TRAFFIC and WWF are urging Russia and Mongolia to strengthen their en-forcement efforts significantly, calling on China to co-operate closely with Rus-sia and Mongolia in addressing any illegal cross-border trade.Musk secreted from the scent pods of male musk deer has been used for thou-sands of years in traditional medicines in Asia. Musk has been used in Chinesemedicines for centuries to treat pain, swelling, convulsions and delirium.TRAFFIC and WWF protect endangered species in the wild with anti-poachingpatrols, support to law enforcement and monitoring of international trade.NOTE: The report, “No License To Kill: The Population and Harvest of MuskDeer and Trade in the Russian Federation and Mongolia,” can be downloadedat traffic.org/publications/index.html#publicationseries.

DATA ON SAKER FALCON TRADE IN ALTAI-SAYANAccording to the information booklet of Ministry of Environment, Mongolia, thefollowing numbers of alive Saker falcons are exported from Mongolia to someArabian countries under the official permission:

80 falcons to Saudi Arabia in 1994, 80 to Saudi Arabia-1995, 25 to Kuwait-1996, 121 to Saudi Arabia- 1997, 25 to Kuwait- 1998, 40 to Kuwait-1999, 21 toEmirate- 1999, 50 to Kuwait-2000, total of 184 to Emirate, Sierra, Saudi Arabiaand Kuwait- 2001. Totally 651 saker falcons were officially exported during 1994-2001. There is a data that about 300 saker falcons were exported in 2002 andtotally more than 950 saker falcons have exported since 1994.

Information from WWF-MPO web-site: www.wwf.mn

At the August 2005 The General Secretary of CITES officially informed Rus-sian Management Authority about the decision was taken to put a ban on thetrade in Sakers from the Russian Federation. Details of this ban, links to appro-priate documents and review of consequences will be included in the nextNewsletter. Hopefully the next step will be for regulations on Saker transportfrom Mongolia!!!

IN AUGUST 2005 AFTER THE FIRST CITES TRAINING INSOUTH SIBERIA 11 KG (67) OF SAIGA HORNS AND 19SAKER FALCONS WERE CONFISCATED IN RUSSIANPART OF ALTAI-SAYAN - WHEN SMUGGLED ACROSSTHE BORDER. WWF TRAINING FOR CUSTOMS OFFIC-ERS HAS ALREADY PROVED TO BE PRODUCTIVE !


ALTAI-SAYAN NATURE CLEAN-UP:CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONSFrom the accumulation of June-September 2005 news it comes up a big worrythat tourism development in the Altai-Sayan brings a new challenge of gar-bage pollution. Thus the two UNESCO sites – Tere-Khol’ lake in Tuva Repub-lic and the Belukha mountain in Republic of Altai are reported as the mostpolluted with garbage on the entire 4-months travel along 2000 km route ofthe Dutch trekking expedition (www.baikalbelukha.com). Same problem israising more and more concerns at the Teletskoye Lake (http://www.ecoindustry.ru/news.html&id=1888) that is the sacred lake of local peo-ple and one of the freshwater treasures of the whole Altai. In August 2005over 1,5 tons of garbage collected by youth volunteers were evacuated fromthe caves of Torgashinsky district, Krasnoyarsky krai (in Russian:www.regnum.ru/news/505401.html). Two big lorries with garbage that wascollected by ca. 100 kids led by Ubsunur reserve staff and local administra-tion, was taken out of Tere-Khol’ lake in June 2006 (remember in July whenthe trekkers passed this area it was again with a lot of garbage!). Over 10cubic meters of garbage was collected in the “Stolby” nature reserve during ayouth action “Clean the nature reserve”. Such actions are getting more andmore popular among both the youth leaders and among those who take careof land management. WWF formerly supported many of such actions also inthe Altai-Sayan but at the moment I personally believe that this is only a short-term solution. What is even worse is that the young people, often just kids,are picking up the trash that is left by grown up strangers! Is this the bestlearning? Especially if the place accumulates more garbage soon after? Thereare long discussions online – for example on the Krasnoyarsk “Stolby” (theRocks) forum – on who and how and with what motivation and at whoseexpense shall collect garbage inside the tourist area. And it is quite a surprisethat the rule “polluter pays” is widely applied for all industrial enterprises andbigger companies but somehow cannot be applied in a tourist site. Howeverat least it is great that there is more and more concern and also many moreactions and public involvement.That is just a direct translation of Belukha area description made by one ofthe visitors to this area (…http://www.graphoman.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3771&start=&rpploff=1):…In summer there were eight camps under Belukha, each for about 120 to 150people, and it is completely unclear to me why most of these people completelyneglect the ideas of nature protection… Seems people are not here for the firsttime, and are willing to come again in future, and anyway all around in theshrubs there are cans, bottles, plastic of all kinds, paper and cartons, and moreprivitive human wastes, wild old fireplaces, tree-trunks of what was logged forcamping and all other negative signs of civilization… But if you are a real fan ofnature and if you plan to go closer to Mongolian mountains, well there it is stilluntouched, but what I worry about is whether it will last long, that’s what is reallyhurting…For summer 2006 a partnership develops right now with active involvement ofWWF to initiate larger “Keep our Planet clean” programme for Altai-Sayan tour-ists, that will hopefully start with the first bigger action at the Belukha mountain.There is already confirmed interest from Russian, Dutch and American volun-teers, there are good local partnership developments, and hopefully this will bea good kick-off for the whole programme. But it will be just a starting point thatwe hope will lead to and coincide with the start of longer-term solutions. Amongthe latter – close work with the tourist clubs and tourist facilities for better touristculture, channelling the mass tourists in the most vulnerable areas to properlydesigned nature trails, setting up garbage collecting schemes in partnershipwith local authorities and private businesses, introduction of various creativesolutions.The Belukha, this highest Altai summit and our sacred Khan Altai mountain,shall not become the second Everest! We want to help people make and keepit clean! Are you with us? Making good model at the Belukha and later at thetransboundary Tere-Khol lake we can set examples for the other areas!

BEST WAYS?


CULTURAL PEOPLE ALSO RECOGNISEOUR COMMON ALTAI-SAYAN ECOREGION!The 9th Conference of the European Society for Central Asian Studies will be held12-14 September 2005 in Krakow, Poland. Scientists want to create a space whereresearchers working on contemporary processes in the Altai-Sayan region canmeet and discuss the potential contributions of Altai-Sayan regional studies tolarger theoretical debates. The Altai-Sayan region is situated at the point whereRussia, China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan come together. It is an ecological transi-tion zone between the boreal forests of Siberia and the Inner Asian steppes; alinguistic and cultural transition zone between Turkic and Mongolic peoples; and ameeting point between Islam, Buddhism, Christianity and local religious traditions...Rarely (if ever) have scholars of the Altai-Sayan region had the opportunity tomeet at one conference and discuss the complex blend of social, political, eco-nomic, and ecological phenomena present in this diverse area.

For more information contact Brian Donahoe donahoe at eth dot mpg dot de orAgnieszka Halemba halemba at eth dot mpg dot de at the Max Planck Institute forSocial Anthropology, Advokatenweg 36, 06114 Halle/Saale, Germany.

SHANGRI-LA MONASTERY (TIBET)HELPS RAISE ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESSA fundamental part of Buddhist teachings is the protection of nature, and thathumans have the capacity for creation as well as destruction of the fragile bal-ance of the earth’s environment. Thus Buddhist teachings show that the solu-tions to environmental problems depend on the actions and awareness humanbeings.To raise awareness about these issues, 17 monks from Dongzhulin monasteryin Shangri-la, Diqing, Yunnan Province, took part in a WWF training course onAugust 12 entitled ‘Environmental Thought from Tibetan Buddhism: Purifyingour Minds to Solve Environmental Problems.’ During the training, monks de-bated on how Tibetan Buddhism can contribute towards protecting the environ-ment. Other aspects of the course touched upon the interdependence of all life,issues of poaching and killing animals, compassion for all living beings, andprotecting ecosystems.Dongzhulin (pronounced Dondroblin in Tibetan) monastery is a partner of WWF’sShangri-La Sustainable Community Initiative, which supports a wide range ofconservation, development, and education activities in the region aimed at im-proving the management of the reserve, reducing conflicts between the re-serve and local communities, and improving the livelihoods of local people byenhancing their capacity for self-development and resource management.‘What is unique about this project is that the community takes ownership,’ saysLiu Yunhua, WWF China’s Education and Capacity Building Programme Direc-tor. ‘The first step is to work with the community to help solve the problems theycare about most. We aren’t just supplying ‘hardware’, We aim to provide the‘software’ necessary for engaging people in sustainable development. It is aneducation process through which the local communities are empowered to makedecisions and take action for a sustainable future.’The Diqing Tibet Autonomous Prefecture of China has two of WWF’s Global200 eco-regions — a science-based global ranking of the world’s most biologi-cally outstanding habitats and the regions on which WWF concentrates its ef-forts. These are: Yangtze Rivers and Lakes and Hengduan Coniferous Forest.The region has high endemism of plant, animal, fish, amphibian, and otherspecies, many of which are endangered. It also plays a crucial role in regulatingthe flow of water and nutrients in the mighty Salween, Mekong, Yangtze Rivers,which provide freshwater and other resources to millions of people in China,Laos, Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, and Cambodia. These three rivers are alsoGlobal 200 eco-regions. The region is threatened by deforestation, pollution,increased agriculture, and soil erosion.http://www.wwfchina.org/english/loca.php?loca=337

ALTAI-SAYAN:CULTURES

NEIGHBOURSOF ALTAI-SAYAN

http://savetibet.ru/news.php?start_from=90&archive=

&subaction=&id=&

http://indorussia.ru/content/?news/Ladakh/PHPSESSID=03e4e82e3c7fa41d1a909c4913b81d04

http://sibir.rian.ru/news.html?nws_id=239285


NEWS IN BRIEF

Krasnoyarsky krai is a Siberian leader in collecting revenues from wildlife use: inthe first half of 2005 payments from game-hunting and fisheries reached 1 mil-lion Roubles (30 thousand US) and comprise ca.50% from overall such incomein Siberia [official total - LL]. Tuva goes second collecting ca. USD 10 thousandrevenues (translated from www.regnum.ru/news/506287.html).

Good news from Altaisky krai! The first two deputy governors appointed in Au-gust in this region by the new Governor are WWF-friendly persons: Jakov Ishutin,the forest leader who initiated with WWF “Plant your own forest” campaign, andBoris Larin, one of the most active deputies in “Our Common Home Altai”transboundary parliamentary association. We already sent our greetings fromWWF Russia and hope that with such people in power there will be new goodjoint developments in the Altai.

In January to August 2005 in total 264 criminal cases were launched in unitedKrasnoyarsk region against illegal logging, and over half of them were broughtto court. Upon request from the Governor the Minister of Interior signed an orderthat since 01 October 2005 a specialized battalion of interior with about 200 staffin total will be set up in Krasnoyarsk region to fight against illegal logging.

The city of Krasnoyarsk is developing cooperation with the trade agencies ofAustria to develop economic projects, particularly those related to implementa-tion of Kyoto protocol and joint projects on tourism development.

Over 1 million Euro (38 million Roubles) is allocated in 2005 regional budget forforest restoration programmes of Krasnoyarsky krai.

In 2004 domestic livestock population increased 10% compared to 2003. Totalnumber in Tuva are 114 thousand heads of larger cattle and 900 thousand headsof sheep and goats (translated from http://www.regnum.ru/news/355191.html).

In August-September 2005 in total 145 cases of law violations were registeredduring “Poacher” state campaign that took place in Eastern Kazakhstan (includ-ing Katon-Karagai park); most cases were still related to illegal logging. 60 cubicmeters of illegal timber and two diesel saws were confiscated, 16 cases of illegalhunting and 10 cases of illegal fishing reported. 800 meters of nets were ar-rested from poachers.

A new project for the increase of milk production is being realized in SelengeAimag with the financial assistance of the Government of Japan and the UNFood and Agricultural Organization (UNFAO). Is is supposed that thanks to theproject a volume of annual milk consumption in the Aimag will reach 18 millionliters, thus the milk production will be increased by 60 percent as well.From: http://www.montsame.mn/eng/newscategory.php?cid=6

Within the framework of a month campaign for nature protection, the World Vi-sion International Humanitarian Organization s branch in Orkhon Aimag will renderassistance to the Aimag in planting 1,000 trees. A total of 12 million togrogs willbe spent on this work. The World Vision together with the Aimag Governor sOffice, Environmental Service, and the Erdenet City Enhancement Service willcarry out the tree planting.From: http://www.montsame.mn/eng/newscategory.php?cid=6

In the first seven months of 2005, a total of 180,416 foreign tourists visited Mon-golia, reported the Tourism Policy Coordination Department of the Ministry ofRoad, Transportation, and Tourism. 93,165 or more than 50 percent out of thetourists were from China. Last year, 68,599 Chinese came Mongolia. After China,29,333 of all the visitors were from Russia and 15,234 tourists were from SouthKorea. http://www.montsame.mn/eng/newscategory.php?cid=6

ALTAI-SAYAN

ALTAI-SAYAN WWF NEWS

Documents

Transcript of ALTAI-SAYAN WWF NEWS