Flora, fauna and ecosystem restoration

On the occasion of the World Wildlife Day celebrated on 3 March, the FAO Liaison Office with the Russian Federation, the Representative Office of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in Russia and the Federal Agency for Forestry (Rosleskhoz) held a webinar aimed at highlighting the central role of conserving and restoring the biodiversity of flora and fauna in ecosystem restoration.  

“The nature around us is a complex of ecosystems with which people interact. Due to the world population growth, the technological revolution and the human intrusion into the environment, this interaction is becoming more intensive and the ecosystems more fragile,” said the forum moderator Oleg Kobiakov, Director of the FAO Liaison Office with the Russian Federation, in his opening remarks. 

The moderator highlighted the necessity to switch to a development paradigm that will meet the need of humanity without inflicting an irreversible damage to nature and the entire environment – the atmosphere, water and soil.  

Nature conservation and its restoration are key elements of efforts within the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, whose coordinators are FAO and UNEP, which is going to celebrate its fiftiethanniversary this year, while its partners are ESCAP and UNECE, the Director of the FAO Moscow Office noted. They are brought together by a super task – biodiversity conservation and ecosystem restoration.  

Aleksander Panfilov, Deputy Director of the Federal Agency for Forestry (Rosleskhoz), reminded that almost a quarter of the entire territory of Russia, or 280 million hectares, are covered by “forests of different levels of protection.” There are national parks, natural reserves, as well as “forest reserves” with an area of 266 million hectares where commercial logging is prohibited. Therefore, in Russia almost half of the forest landscapes are protected “from commercial exploitation, which is a guarantee for biodiversity conservation.” 

“Without the forestry workers’ contribution, it is impossible to achieve biodiversity conservation goals,” Oleg Kobiakov noted following the speech of the Deputy Head of the Agency for Forestry and told that the UN Secretary-General António Guterres during his last visit to Moscow highlighted that the capacity of Russian forest in terms of absorbing carbon is “higher than the one of Brazilian selva.”

Ivonne Higuero, Secretary-General of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITIES), in her welcoming remarks particularly noted that “nature is in crisis. It is being destroyed all around the world at an unprecedented pace, which is also speeding up.” 

According to the global assessment of the International Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), conducted in 2019, one million of biological species can go extinct along with ecosystems they inhabit, the General-Secretary said. “The importance of forest cannot be overestimated in terms of its role in climate, ecological system and human society. Every year 4.7 million hectares are lost, which accounts for almost half of the territory of the Republic of Korea where my office is located.” 

Ganbold Baasanjav, Director of the ESCAP Subregional Office for East and North-East Asia, shared his vision of the tasks of wildlife conservation in the subregion. "Nature in the world is in a serious crisis, which continues to deepen – for example, the number of endangered species has reached 1 million. It is difficult to overestimate the role of forests in the perspective of climate, ecosystems and for humans, but every year the planet loses 4.7 million hectares of forest cover, which is equal to half of the territory of a country like the Republic of Korea."  

According to the expert, deforestation, habitat destruction and fragmentation, as well as changes in land use have contributed to the spread of zoonotic diseases, including COVID-19, which, as we have all witnessed, had a large-scale impact on the health sector and the global economy.  

Dr. Baasanjav spoke about the main areas of work of the Sub-regional Program for Cooperation in the Field of Environmental Protection in Northeast Asia (NEASPEC), which is a unique intergovernmental mechanism that unites the environmental efforts of 6 countries of the subregion: the DPRK, China, Mongolia, the Republic of Korea, Russia and Japan.  

Since 1993, NEASPEC has been promoting the development of cross-border cooperation between the participating countries for the protection of flagship animal species, including the Amur tiger and leopard, crowning the rich biodiversity of the Russian Far East. 

“Our strategy consists in creating boundaries of protected areas in order to better conserve species over large areas of concern. Thus, we can also look at the benefits beyond biodiversity conservation. Continuing the multilateral cooperation programme with our poultry partners and working on climate conservation is indispensable,” the expert explained. 

"So, the protected "tiger" territories in Russia alone absorb 130,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year, which is equivalent to the annual emission of 25,000 cars. This is a clear example of solutions borrowed from nature to mitigate the effects of climate change," our colleague from ESCAP stressed. 

Referring to the conclusions of the latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which noted that further increase in temperature on the planet exacerbates the threat of extinction of endemic species, and called for urgent joint measures to protect them, Ganbold Baasanjav confirmed the determination of ESCAP to continue multilateral cooperation programs with its partners aimed at preserving ecosystems and protecting the climate of the planet. 

Vladimir Moshkalo, Head of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) in Russia, pointed out the possibility to activate efforts to restore degraded and damaged ecosystems on a large scale. “Ecosystem restoration has a fundamental importance in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals first and foremost for what concerns climate change, poverty eradication, ensuring food security and water resources conservation,” he noted. “Ecosystems are degrading at an unprecedented pace. Our global food systems and livelihoods of many millions of people depend on how harmoniously we will work together for the benefit of healthy and resilient ecosystems today and in the future.”  

“Land degradation and climate change can lead to a reduction in crop yields by 10 percent around the world and up to 50 percent in certain regions by 2050. If we indeed restore 350 million hectares of degraded lands, according to scientists, the world will receive an additional USD 9 trillion dollars in terms of ecosystem services and will be able to remove from the atmosphere from 13 to 16 megatonnes additionally of greenhouse gases. Within the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, the UN Environment Programme alongside with FAO announced, earlier this year, an initiative to nominate country flagship projects,” accentuated Vladimir Moshkalo. 

Sangmin Nam, Coordinator at the North-East Asian Subregional Programme for Environment Cooperation (NEASPEC), highlighted the importance of protecting endangered species, comprehensive interaction and consultations in an expert community. “The Organization undertakes the following measures, which will contribute to improving the situation: conduction of a joint habitat survey, a joint research and technological cooperation, activity coordination to stop poaching, creation of a transboundary protected area/reserve,” the expert told. 

NEASPEC has developed a project “Saving flagship species in North-East Asia” that defines six critically endangered flagship species, unique for the subregion of North-East Asia, namely, the Amur tiger, the Amur leopard, the snow leopard, the black-faced spoonbill, the white-napped crane and the hooded crane. 

The general goals of NEASPEC Strategy for nature protection are biodiversity promotion in North-East Asia by ensuring the survival of target/harvested species, as well as transboundary and intergovernmental cooperation; strengthening coordinated mechanisms of target/harvested species and their habitats conservation. Over the last decade, protected regions in China and in the Russian Federation have been significantly expanded, which has led to an increase within the Amur tiger and the Amur leopard population in this area. 

Victoria Elias, PhD in Biology, WWF Russia Conservation Programme Director, placed particular focus on endangered big cats. “I would like to draw attention to the Amur tiger, the Amur leopard, the snow leopard, the Persian leopard in the Caucasus, as well as to the prospects for tiger population restoration in Kazakhstan. Regarding the conservation of the Amur tiger, it is important to note that Russia has made very substantive progress towards achieving this goal. To date, according to expert estimates, the Amur tiger population in the Russian Federation numbers about 600 animals,” she emphasized. 

Kristina Rodina, FAO Forestry Officer, Coordinator of the Global Programme for Wildlife and Protected Area Management, dedicated her presentation to human-wildlife conflict. “It is generally believed that the issue of conflicts exists and is acute in developing countries, in Africa and Asia, but this is not the case. Conflict is also a problem in developed countries, and it is a big problem in Europe and in Eurasia, as well as in North America.” The speaker shared FAO's experience in resolving such conflicts, highlighting specifically that many countries lack basic strategies for conflict resolution. “At FAO, we look at conflicts in different parts of the world, and the main approach to conflict resolution is a cross-cutting set of different approaches and especially the involvement of local communities.” 

Boris Erg, Director of the IUCN Regional Office for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, noted the wide geography of countries with which cooperation on conservation has been pursued. Various initiatives that meet the stated objectives are being undertaken. He highlighted two priorities for action: conservation of nature and prevention of its degradation, as well as conservation of biological species. 

Alexey Kostyria, Lead Coordinator of the Department of Rare Species, WWF Russia, spoke about the main methods of felidae recording. “In Russia, we implement two main methods of counting big cats. The first one is traditional for Russia, and it is based on the unique ability to count animals’ footprints in the snow. In the Russian Federation, since 2002, we started applying a method that involves using camera traps to count tigers and leopards, which can also be used to register other animal species,” explained the expert. 

Ivan Rakov, spokesperson for the Land of the Leopard National Park, gave a presentation on the Amur leopard and the national park’s activities. “The Amur leopard, the world's rarest big cat, lives in the South of the Far East, with 70 percent of its habitat located in the national park,” he said. 

“This year, the head of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of the Russian Federation has signed an order approving a new Leopard Conservation Strategy. This document defines a number of key measures, which can help us achieve our new goal, namely, to ensure the population size of 150 animals and to restore their habitat. The Strategy sets out such measures as expanding the protected area of the national park and creating ecological corridors between leopard habitats, a transboundary reserve for the Amur tiger and the Amur leopard.” 

Alexander Karnaukhov, Biodiversity Conservation Project Coordinator, Altai-Sayan Branch of WWF Russia, spoke about the work aimed at protecting tiger and leopard populations, about the project entitled “Working on monitoring the status of the snow leopard population in the transboundary zone of Russia and Mongolia”. The NEASPEC project was designed to monitor two transboundary groups – Chikhachev Ridge (the Altai Republic) and Eastern Sayan (the Buryat Republic).”  

The webinar was also attended by representatives of state authorities, international organizations and programmes, scientists and NGO activists. 

The webinar recording is available here. 

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

On 20 December 2013, at its 68th Session, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 3 March, the date of signature the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), in 1973, as the World Wildlife Day. 

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, more than 8 400 species of wild fauna and flora are at risk of extinction, and another estimated 30 000 are considered endangered or vulnerable. Based on these assessments, more than 1 million species are supposed to be at risk of extinction. 

This year the World Wildlife Day is celebrated under the theme “Recovering key species for ecosystem restoration”. This event allows drawing attention to the conservation status of some species of wild fauna and flora, which are at risk of extinction, and also fosters search for and implementation of solutions to conserve these species. These efforts will advance the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular, SDG 1 (No poverty), SDG 2 (Zero hunger), SDG 12 (Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns), SDG 13 (Climate action), SDG 14 (Life below water) and SDG 15 (Life on land).  

The ongoing loss of species, habitats and ecosystems also threatens all life on Earth. People everywhere rely on wildlife and biodiversity-based resources to meet their needs, from food to fuel, medicines, housing and clothes. Millions of people also rely on nature as the source of their livelihoods and economic opportunities.  

Learn more about FAO activities in wildlife and protected area management on the website.

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