Valentine's day: a new forest project launched

Moscow, 14 February, 2001 (IUCN) - IUCN - The World Conservation Union and CIDA - the Canadian International Development Agency today launched a new joint Russian-Canadian project "Building Partnership for Forest Conservation and Management in Russia". The launch and press conference, hosted by the Canadian Embassy in Moscow, gathered around 50 participants, including conservationists, governmental representatives, parliamentarians, and mass media.

Russian forests are widely recognised for their vastness, for their global importance, unique flora and fauna, as well as for the abundance of forest products and non-timber forest values. However, the political heritage of centralized planning, comparatively recent shift towards a market economy and current political and economic instability is clearly diminishing the efficiency of forest management. The situation is aggravated by limited access to any kind of information and working mechanisms by which the society can take part in the process of decision-making in the field of forest management and conservation.

The project, to be implemented over 36 months Russia-wide (Moscow, St-Petersburg, Caucasus, Altai, lake Baikal, Kamchatka and Sakhalin), has three components.

The Public Involvement component is the overarching framework of this project. A toolkit, guidelines and a legislative framework to guide public involvement procedures will be developed to improve forest conservation and management in Russia. "During the transition to a market-based economy it is necessary to create a real partnership between governmental agencies and non-governmental organizations to involve public into the decision making process", says Mr. Kukuev, First Deputy Minister of the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources.

"Russian authorities at all levels have voiced their support for this project", says Canadian Ambassador Rodney Irwin, who spoke today at the launch. "It indicates an appreciation that, if there is to be improved conservation and management of forests in Russia, there must be increased transparency, accountability and responsiveness by governmental authorities".

The toolkit will be tested regionally in the Russian protected areas and locally in the Far East. "Within Protected Areas component we will evaluate management effectiveness in the existing protected areas together with experts from zapovedniks (strict nature reserves) and national parks. We will focus, amongst other, on Russian World Natural Heritage sites: areas of global value protected by UNESCO and approved by IUCN" - explains Alexey Blagovidov from IUCN-Moscow.

The grass-roots component of the project involves harvesting of non-timber forest products (NTFP), such as mushrooms and berries. "There is a long history of NTFP use in Russia - including commercial harvesting in the former Soviet Union. With the collapse of the state marketing system, an important source of income was lost for local communities in remote areas", says Nikolay Shmatkov from IUCN-Moscow, who will be responsible for this component. "Our task is to take the real opportunities provided by these products and assist local people to develop ecologically, economically and socially sustainable businesses", says Tim Brigham, an NTFP expert from Canada.

In her welcome to the launch participants, Danielle Cantin, Project Director said today: "Many of my forest ecologist colleagues and myself in Canada truly believe that we should not only be concerned with the conservation of forests in our own country, but that we have a joint responsibility for the well-being of forests world-wide. And perhaps it is not a coincidence that the launch is on the 14 February, Valentine's Day. And that is because Canadians care about the well being of everyone in Russia".

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