Conservationists draw up strategies to arrest the rapid decimation of the great Siberian tiger
A RECENT series of studies on conservation in Russia revealed that the country's vast network of zapovedniki
(wildlife sanctuaries), once the strictest
and most extensive in the world, is now
on the brink of collapse. Funding for the
zapovedniki>/I> is scarce owing to the fact
that despite its vast size, Russia's expenditure on conservation has dwindled to
about a tenth of the expenditure in most
developed countries.
Topping the list of endangered
creatures is the great Siberian tiger.
A report by the British organisation Tiger Trust stated that less than 250 of these animals still exist in the
Russian wild, down from over 500 just
five years ago.
The foremost reason for the rapid
decimation of the Siberian tiger is
the steep demand for the animal's
skin and innards for use in
Chinese medication of which Russia
has become the richest source after the
post-Soviet chaos.
Poachers descended on the Russian
taiga after 1988, when control over the
Chinese-Russian border trade noticeably slackened, and the financial crisis
forced wildlife sanctuaries in the area to
cut down patrolling. Just over the winter of 1988-89, poachers slaughtered
more than 100 tigers. In this context one
may point out that in Korea, lucrative
trade has wiped out the tiger population; one tiger skin could fetch as much
as us $15,000, and bones went for about
us $250 a kg.
However, Igor Chestin, species conservation consultant with the WWF
(Worldwide Fund for Nature) -Moscow,
is optimistic about the tiger's future.
Although Chestin describes Korea's attitude as "not so positive", he says that the
threat of sanctions and international
censure has been extremely effective in
China's case.
Chestin and his colleagues are
presently involved in preparing the
groundwork for a 12.5 billion ruble (US
$2.5-million) Federal Programme for
the Protection of Tigers. Chestin gave
details of the conservation effort in the
Russian taiga: setting up anti-poaching
brigades in the Far East and providing
them with transport, arms and equipment. "Though the brigades will continue to operate, the focus has, of late,
shifted to habitats and habitat protection, monitoring, and development of
sustainable forestry in the area and the
present programme aims to maintain
this course," he said.
Greenpeace is also campaigning
to have its forests included in the
World Heritage list. "We believe this
may be the only effective deterrent to
mass deforestation in the area," says
Elena Surovikina, biodiversity coordinator for Greenpeace Russia. However,
one of the most disappointing features
of Russia's conservation scene is the
almost complete absence of funding or
promotion from Russia's new big
business houses. In Russia, the sole supporter of the conservationist cause is the
banking giant Mezhkombank, which
contributed over us $550 million in
1995 to protect the tiger and the
Siberian crane.
Says Chestin, "Rich people here are
not too interested in wildlife or nature;
they would prefer to sponsor causes that
are more in the public eye and would get
them some political footage."
According to him, "its mostly the same
with political parties too. So far the
scene is pretty much limited to international organisations and a few Russian
NGOS. For the sake of the tigers we're
hoping this will change soon."
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