18/05/2005– WWF has recognized
major conservation commitments by Russia's
Krasnoyarsk region as a Gift to the Earth,
the global conservation organization's highest
accolade for globally significant conservation
achievements.
Marking WWF's 100th Gift to the Earth, the
Governor of Krasnoyarsk, Alexander Khloponin,
committed to establish more than 3 million
hectares of protected areas in the region
by 2007. Much of the protected areas will
fall under WWF's Altai-Sayan priority ecoregion.
"With its immense wilderness areas and
its unique natural values, Russia is one of
the world's most important countries for nature
conservation," said HRH Prince Henrik
of Denmark, who attended the Gift to the Earth
ceremony in his capacity as President of WWF-Denmark.
The Krasnoyarsk region, located in the centre
of Eurasia, extends over 72.4 million hectares
(approximately 4.3 per cent of Russia's territory).
The region's diverse environment includes
arctic deserts, mountains, and tundra and
taiga forests, and is home to numerous animal
species such as
Arctic fox, brown bears, musk deer, and snow
leopards.
Unfortunately, this unique region faces serious
threats such as poaching, illegal logging,
and climate change.
Responding to the threats, the Russian Ministry
of Natural Resources also announced at the
ceremony its commitment to establish five
new federal protected areas over 840,000ha
– the first protected areas to be established
by the government in five years. Three of
the five proposed areas are part of the Gift
to the Earth Initiative.
"This gives up hope and optimism that
the challenge to protect the wealth of biodiversity
globally, especially here in one of the world's
largest countries, can be achieved,"
Prince Henrik added.
To date, 100 Gifts to the Earth have been
recognized, of which 15 are in Russia. Since
the first Gift to the Earth was awarded to
the Republic of Sakha in 1996, more than 100
million hectares of new and upgrade protected
areas have been achieved in Russia.
NOTES:
• A Gift to the Earth is a public celebration
by WWF of a conservation action by a government,
a company, an organization, or an individual
which is both a demonstration of environmental
leadership and a globally significant contribution
to the protection of the living world. The
Gift is symbolic, and is WWF's highest accolade
for applauding good conservation work. Each
of these Gifts represents an important success
within one or more of the global conservation
priorities recognized by WWF including: protection
of forest, freshwater, and marine ecosystems;
endangered species; prevention of climate
change, and elimination of toxic chemicals.
• Altai-Sayan is one of seven priorities
of WWF’s European Programme and one of three
priorities of WWF-Russia, with fantastic biological,
historical and cultural diversity. The ecosystems
are the richest among boreal forests in terms
of biodiversity and more than 200 rare plant
species are represented in this ecoregion,
12 per cent of which are endemic. The region
also represents the most complete sequence
of altitude vegetation zones in Siberia, from
high mountain taiga to semi-deserts and wetlands.
