INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP ON PROTECTING THE SAIGA ANTELOPE: RESOLUTION
An International Workshop on Protecting the Saiga Antelope, organized
by the Government of Kalmykia, was held in Elista, Kalmykia's capital,
May 5-10, 2002.
The workshop was made possible by the Ministry of Natural Resources' (MNR) Committee for Natural Resources and Environmental Protection; the ISAR Caspian Program; the Russian Committee for UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Program; and various foreign and domestic sponsors: the Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES); the Secretariat of the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS); the Species Survival Commission of the World Conservation Union (IUCN/SSC); the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF); the Large Herbivore Initiative of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF/LHI); the Dutch Embassy in Moscow; the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; the Conservation Force, USA; the Safari Club, Houston; Kalmneft; Kalmtatneft; and Rosneftegazstroi. The workshop participants thanked the Government of Kalmykia for hosting such an important international workshop and expressed their gratitude to all the sponsors, members of the Organizing Committee and facilitators who made the workshop a success.
More than 90 specialists took part in the workshop, including: representatives of the five range states (Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Mongolia); representatives of international organizations responsible for migratory species protection and international trade in rare and endangered species of wild flora and fauna; governmental and non-governmental nature conservation organizations.
At plenary and thematic sessions the workshop participants discussed the causes of the decrease in numbers of the Saiga antelope throughout its entire range, except Mongolia, where there is a separate subspecies (Saiga tatarica mongolica) and its strict protection has been ensured in collaboration with the local population. Poaching for horns, which are used in traditional Chinese medicine, has caused a steep decline in Saiga numbers. Poachers also hunt Saigas to obtain meat for sale at local markets. To stop poachers, the CITES Secretariat proposed that the Standing Committee recommend to all parties that no imports of Saiga antelopes be accepted from Kazakhstan and Russia. Workshop participants noted the necessity of expanding cooperation at all levels, including with nations that import Saiga horns, so as to prevent illegal trade and restore the Saiga habitat and abundance for future sustainable use. Participants also requested that the range state delegations at the forthcoming 2002 CITES COP consider a temporary moratorium on the trade of any and all Saiga specimens.
Workshop participants also discussed such vital topics as the monitoring of Saiga populations and habitats; the role of strictly protected natural areas; establishing captive breeding centers for gene-pool conservation; collaboration with the local population; interregional and international cooperation. Detailed discussions of these issues were carried out at plenary sessions and in small groups where proposals and recommendations for the conservation and sustainable use of the Saiga were developed. These proposals have been added to drafts of the Memorandum of Understanding and Action Plan for the protection of the Saiga antelope and distributed to all interested bodies by the CMS Secretariat. At the plenary session, workshop participants approved these drafts together with additions made by six working groups and recommended that the relevant authorities in each range state in collaboration with CITES and CMS sign these documents as soon as possible.
Workshop participants gladly accepted the CMS Secretariat's offer to send the final versions of the Memorandum of Understanding and the Action Plan to the range states, and expressed the hope that this would speed up the signing of the above documents. Moreover, it was agreed that CMS and CITES together with the range states would take the steps necessary to strengthen control over international trade in horns and other products derived from the Saiga antelope. As well, workshop participants called upon the governments of the range states to increase their efforts to protect and restore the Saiga and its habitats, including migration corridors. They encouraged all stakeholders to contribute to the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding and the Action Plan, both vital to the fulfillment of the Agreement on conservation and the use of migrating bird and mammal species and their habitats signed by members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in 1994.
Workshop participants said that after the Memorandum of Understanding and the Action Plan went into effect it would be desirable to create an intergovernmental commission responsible for their implementation and for the overall coordination of the efforts of all organizations interested in protecting the Saiga. In addition, workshop participants said it would be necessary to create an international expert council to independently assess any projects, which could lead to changes in Saiga populations. They asked the Russian MAB Committee to agree on how this council should be formed.
Workshop participants also noted that the protection and restoration of the Saiga antelope and its habitats could contribute to the range states' programs for poverty eradication and sustainable development. The protection of this endangered species cannot be separated from other national and regional efforts to conserve biodiversity and combat land degradation as stated in the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Convention on Desertification Control (CCD). Accordingly, it will be necessary to integrate conservation and sustainable use efforts for the Saiga and its habitat into the national strategies and action plans required under these instruments and any future Memoranda of Understanding concluded under the auspices of CMS and CITES.
Workshop participants requested that national and regional governmental bodies consider the possibility of creating new protected natural areas (PNA), particularly trans-boundary ones to protect migrating Saiga herds and strengthen existing local PNA networks to facilitate communication between fragmented sub-populations. In some areas, Saiga breeding centers might be set up to conserve the antelope's gene pool.
The workshop participants asked local and national authorities to publicize the workshop results and to distribute information on programs to protect and restore the Saiga and ensure its sustainable use as part of the living heritage of the Eurasian steppes. Workshop participants asked the Organizing Committee to distribute this Resolution to the range state governments and publish the papers presented at the workshop as a separate volume to be forwarded to CITES and CMS and other agencies and organizations interested in the protection, restoration and sustainable use of the Saiga.
Workshop participants requested experts from range states to analyze long-term observations on changes in the Saiga's ecology and biology that could be published in the journal Arid Ecosystems and used as teaching aids.
Workshop participants asked that the Government of Kalmykia continue to promote cooperation among all parties concerned with Saiga protection. Kalmykia's Wild Animals Conservation Center should be expanded and used as a base for training local and visiting students. Up-to-date technologies for conducting counts and other studies on Saiga ecology should be developed, and a database to exchange information among the Saiga range states and the Secretariats of CMS and CITES should be set up. Workshop participants invited all national and international government institutions - including the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) and its agencies - inside as well as outside the Saiga's range to implement the Action Plan.
