«CURRENT EVENTS»

DEMONSTRATING SUSTAINABLE BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION
IN FOUR PROTECTED NATURAL AREAS ON RUSSIA’S KAMCHATKA PENINSULA:
A GEF/UNDP PROJECT
PHASE I

The GEF/UNDP Project Demonstrating Sustainable Biodiversity Conservation in Four Protected Natural Areas on Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula Phase I was launched on June 13, 2002, with a budget of $5,400,000 of which $2,200,000 came from the Global Environmental Facility and $3,200,000 in grants from the Canadian Government.

The project was developed over a period of two and a half years by local experts, staffers at nature parks and Khronotsky State Nature Reserve, NGOs, scientists and one international expert. After the project’s preliminary phase was successfully completed, the project proposal was promptly submitted to the GEF Board, which approved it and the financing requested.

GEF’s funding will strengthen the protected areas’ administrative and management capacity, promote the development of a more rational and supportive PNA legislative base and increase the biodiversity awareness of local residents, as well as their commitment to PNAs. It should also prompt local communities to look for alternative livelihoods; and improve cooperation between federally and regionally administered PNAs and their parent organizations. The Canadian Government grants will go towards creating a Fund of small grants and credits for urgent needs as well as to improve biodiversity conservation on Kamchatka.

This major GEF/UNDP project will be supervised by the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR). V.A. Plescheev, head of the MNR’s department of protected natural areas and sites, has been appointed national director of the project.

After the project is officially launched in early July, an Observation Committee will be created in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky to hire project staff on a competitive basis.

Through the UNDP Program, another GEF Project (to be implemented on Kamchatka and in the Koryaksky Autonomous Okrug) has been drafted — Conservation and Sustainable Use of Salmon Biodiversity on Kamchatka. As well, a project proposal for thermal water use is being considered as another possible UNDP project in this area.

All competitions to participate in the start-up project will be announced on the web page of the UNDP Russian Office: http://www.undp.ru

Check the announcements! We need reliable partners.

Elena Armand,
Coordinator of UNDP Ecological Programs

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