Protected areas are one of the best means of protecting critical ecosystems and biodiversity.  IUCN prides itself as the world authority in this field, and its World Commission on Protected Areas has set the global standards for protected area management. One of our interests is to help governments with the establishment of a national system of conservation.  That is not so difficult for an average country, but to do so for the Russian Federation means that you are looking at one -ninth of the world land surface!

WWF-Russia worked together with more than 300 local specialists to carry out a gap-analysis of existing federal protected areas of the Russian Federation.  This analysis is the first of its kind for Russia.  On 8 September at 13:00, during the IUCN World Conservation Congress, this study will be presented through a poster sessions that showcases the contribution of Russia’s protected areas to the conservation of many important species. http://iucn.org/about/union/secretariat/offices/europe/europe_at_the_congress/?10404/POSTER-Conserving-biodiversity-across-19th-of-the-Earth

Twelve per cent of Russia’s total land area is already protected, which is an impressive statistic.  The WWF analysis has identified more than 600 potential future terrestrial and marine protected areas, and the Government of the Russian Federation has agreed to granting protected area status to the sites with the highest priority by 2020.

This is another key event from Europe at the IUCN Congress.  If you want more information, contact me.  I can put you in touch with the relevant people. All the best Hans