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/* ---------- "Russia's 1st World Heritage Site" ---------- */
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GREENPEACE PRESS RELEASE
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GREENPEACE CELEBRATES RUSSIA'S FIRST UNESCO NATURAL WORLD
HERITAGE SITE
Berlin/Moscow/ Friday, December 8, 1995. Greenpeace today
applauded the decision of the UNESCO World Heritage
Committee to add the Komi Forests, a huge expanse of pristine
forest in European Russia to the World Heritage List.
The decision by UNESCO supports Greenpeace's efforts to protect
the largest untouched forest area in Europe from the impact of
logging companies, oil exploration and mining interests in the
midst of an environmental and economic crisis in Russia. The Komi
Forest Listing, on the western slopes of the Ural Mountains,
covers an area larger than Belgium.
The 3.2 million hectare virgin Komi Forest site, North East of
Moscow, contains a variety of ecosystems and rare species. It is
one of the most valuable stores of taiga forest and wetland
biodiversity values in Europe. It is home to healthy populations
of brown bear, beaver, otter, wood grouse and sable, as well as
many other rare or endangered species such as the arctic sorrel.
"This decision by UNESCO will mean a safe haven for the rich
natural heritage that the people of Komi have depended on for
hundreds of years," said Volodya Chuprov, a member of the Komi
indigenous people, and Greenpeace researcher who helped prepare
the nomination.
The virgin Komi Forests came under direct threat from many sides
in 1994. Foreign timber companies sought contracts to begin
clearcut logging along the Pechora and Ilych Rivers, while one of
the world's largest oil spills destroyed the river and
villages downstream.
While Greenpeace campaigners exposed the oil destruction
downstream of the nomination site, Greenpeace Forests staff
completed a successful campaign to stop French and Austrian
logging companies from using destructive and unsustainable
clearcutting methods on Komi territory. The UNESCO Komi listing
confirms the importance of assuring the protection of this vital
natural area in Europe for present and future generations.
"Greenpeace is ecstatic that this huge virgin forest system will
now be out of bounds for destructive industrial and commercial
development," said Sergei Tsyplenkov, forests campaigner with
Greenpeace Russia.
"We hope that other European governments will take note of
Russia's leadership and be encouraged to make stronger measures
to protect remaining old-growth forests from logging and
industrial development in their own countries," said Patrick
Anderson, forests campaigner with Greenpeace International. In
1996, Greenpeace Russia will prepare a World Heritage
nomination for the Green Belt of Fennoscandia, the enormous area
of old-growth forest that border with Finland left untouched
during the Cold War. These valuable forests are coming under
intense pressure from timber interests in Scandinavia, while
existing and planned logging operations in the region have been
deeply opposed by scientists and environmental groups, including
Greenpeace.
A further five World Heritage nominations were prepared by
Greenpeace Russia in 1995, for potential listing by UNESCO in
1996. In brief, these nominations are:
* Pristine forests in Primorsky Krai in the Russian Far East (4
million hectares and the principal habitat of the endangered Amur
tiger and the Far East leopard).
* The Volcanoes of Kamchatka (4 million hectares of stunning
forests, salmon streams and volcanoes on the Kamchatka
Peninsula).
* Sources of the Great Ob River in the Altai Mountains in Central
Siberia (6.5 million hectares of mountain ecosystem).
* Vodlozero Park in the Northwest of European Russia (1 million
hectares, Europe's largest intact wetland and old-growth boreal
forest ecosystem).
* Ubsunur Hollow in Tuva Republic and Mongolia (7.5 million
hectares, of steppe and forest, a cultural and natural heritage
nomination carried out in conjunction with the Mongolian
government).
For further information contact:
Patrick Anderson c/o Greenpeace Berlin ++49 30 238 57
Sergei Tsyplenkov at Greenpeace Russia ++7 095 978 3950
Desley Mather at Greenpeace Communications ++44 171 833 0600
Item #2:
/* ---------- "Russia's Komi Heritage Site" ---------- */
TL: THE VIRGIN KOMI FORESTS - FACTSHEET
FACTSHEET
THE VIRGIN KOMI FORESTS
Forming Europe's natural eatsern border along the Ural
Mountains, the Virgin Komi Forests are the continent's largest
unfragmented old-growth forests representing a wide variety of
integrated ecosystems ranging from boreal forests in the
southern part of the territory to subarctic taiga in the
north. The forests, mountains, wetlands and river valleys that
make up the system are a haven for dozens of rare species and
contain one of Europe's most valuable stores of biodiversity.
In 1994 these forests came under direct threat from many
sides. A foreign timber company began to carry out clearcut
logging along the Pechora and Ilych Rivers while one of the
world's largest oil spills destroyed the river and villages
downstream. There was no help in sight: park officials can go
months without pay and nature conservation has been forgotten in
the economic crisis.
While Greenpeace campaigners decried the destruction
downstream, Greenpeace researchers got to work upstream to
organise a nomination to UNESCO's World Natural Heritage List,
Russia's first such nomination. Once word of the nomination
got out, the loggers disappeared and efforts have turned
toward developing a sound management plan for the enormous 3.2
million hectare nature preserve.
World Heritage Project
As part of a major nature conservation project centered in
Russia, Greenpeace has announced the first of a set of
territories to be included in the World Natural Heritage List,
UNESCO's "Nobel Prize" of natural objects. The Project's
intent is the full protection of Russia's most valuable and
extensive funds of biodiversity both in the short term as
Russia suffers an environmental-economic crisis and in the
long term as catalysts in the search for environmentally sound
alternative investment projects.
FACTS
region:
Komi Republic,
Russian Federation
indigenous people:
Komi
area:
3,200,000 hectares
ecosystems:
taiga, boreal forest, wetland, subarctic and mountain tundra,
glacier
common tree species:
spruce, larch, birch,
silver fir, cedar
common animal species:
sable, brown bear, elk, deer, white hare, beaver, wood marten,
otter, ermine, squirrel, weasel, hazel-hen, blackgrouse, wood
grouse, goose, widgeon, teal, salmon, umber
rare and valuable species:
Caltha arctic, Ranunculus Sulphureus, Saxifraga tenuis,
Cystopteris gragilis, Woodsia, Cryptogramme, Permian aremone,
Boschniakia rossica, Novotorularia, Erysimum pallasi,
Astragalus gladcovi, Nemachius palia, gyrfalcon, Falco
peregrinus, Haliaeetus alibicilla
economic value:
salmon, tourism, reindeer herding, berry, seed and pine-nut
gathering, European genetic fund
threats:
deforestation, oil exploration, mining, poaching
THE VIRGIN KOMI FORESTS
Background
The designation of World Heritage status for the virgin
forests of Komi is a major victory for Russian and world
environmental protection and an extremely prestigious
nomination for the Komi Republic, the first natural World
Heritage site on the territory of Russia.
The Project also demonstrates an unconventional role for
Greenpeace, working in the name of the Russian Federal
Government to lay the foundation for the international
recognition of Russia's vast and important ecosystems.
Greenpeace campaigners have taken the lead in organizing
elected officials, governmental authorities and regional and
local groups in the push to save these valuable and unique
natural areas that might otherwise be threatened by
uncontrolled industrial development.
The Virgin Komi Forest system is the largest primary forest of
its kind remaining in Europe, a habitat for a veritable
treasure trove of taiga and wetland biodiversity and the
headwaters of the major river-systems west of the Urals that
flow toward the northern Arctic sea system, providing clean
water and important salmon breeding-gounds for entire regions.
The forests are also the homeland of the Komi people, for whom
the entire region is named, linked to their natural
environment and dependent upon its survival. The addition of
the site to the prestigious World Natural Heritage List will
prove to be an economical boost for the region and it's people
through tourism, management investment and securing sustainable
use of the rich biodiversity fund, as has proven true with many
other World Heritage sites around the world.
The Project
Greenpeace has begun research on a series of natural sights
for nomination to the list of World Heritage sites. World
Heritage is a designation by UNESCO, a branch of the United
Nations. Komi is the first of the series of nominations to be
made. While the nominations must pass through and be approved
by the Russian Government under UNESCO regulations, it is
Greenpeace who are directing all aspects of the project.
Former Status
The Komi Virgin Forests comprise the Yugyd Va State National
Park, the Pechora-Ilychsky Biosphere State Reserve, their
buffer zones and several zones of forestry farms surrounding
these natural areas, including the regions of the headwaters
of the Pechora and Ilychsky River basins.
Present Status
An immense integrated virgin forest system, safe from all
industrial and commercial development, the largest in Europe,
of approximately 3.2 million hectares to be preserved as a
World Heritage site, recognized by both the Russian government
and the United Nations.
Dangers
Deforestation through logging, poaching of rare species, oil
and gas exploration and the building of roads connected to
these activities all threaten the forests. The recent spills
in the Komi Republic brought to world attention the precarious
situation of the Russian taiga, an ecologicallly abundant but
at the same time extremely delicate area. Regeneration of the
taiga after an oil spill, logging or construction can take
hundreds of years due to the slow growth of plants and the
shallowness of the unfrozen soil.
Flora and Fauna
The area is a perfect example of northern taiga forest in an
integral, natural state. The area counts 43 species of
mammals, including the brown bear, sable and the highly
migratory elk, 204 species of birds, including the White-
tailed eagle, and 16 species of fish, the most valuable of which
is the salmon that helps sustain the economies downstream. The
forests consist of spruce, cedar and fir, filled with unique and
rare slow-growth floral species.
Indigenous peoples
Early Russian chronicles from the tenth and eleventh centuries
record the existence of native peoples in the area of what is
now the Komi Virgin Forests. Up to the present day many place
names as well record the passing of these peoples: the Pechora
River, for example, is named for a tribe that has since either
disappeared or has been incorporated into larger groups.
The peoples that still live in the area, today known as the
Komi, still depend upon the natural surroundings as they have
stood for thousands of years. The herds of reindeer that need
the vast forests to graze , the salmon and other small-scale
fisheries, the berries, nuts and mushrooms that are collected
seasonally, and the hunting of wild hare and various wild
forest birds all attest to the necessity of keeping the
forests in their present, virgin state.
Aside from protecting the traditional lifestyles and
livelihoods of the peoples that live in the forests from the
destruction that industrial development would entail, their
survival stands as a tesimtony to human life in balance with
the environment and may one day be able to teach the modern
world a great deal about the sustainable development that has
been called for, but which has proved as yet elusive to both
Western and Eastern industrial cultures.
Some History
While there are records of native peoples of the Komi region,
the Chyud, the Merya, the Vyess and the Pechyera, as far back
as the tenth century, the first scientific research in the
region took place as late as 1907. Until that time the nature
of the region remained obscure, but in 1928 a special
commission was formed to study the area and in 1930 the
Pechora Nature Reserve was founded. The original reserve
comprised only 1,135,000 hectares. Other nature reserves were
named and the areas expanded until 1951 when the Soviet
government began a general campaign against nature reserves,
reducing their size and disregarding protective measures.
Finally, in the 1970's and 80's, certain extensions and
protective measures were taken to protect, for example, the
salmon breeding grounds of both the Pechora and Ilych Rivers.
On 28 September 1990, the Ministers of the Komi Republic
signed a decree founding the Komi National Park, which was
seconded soon after by the Russian Federation.
Economic Factors
The area will benefit greatly from World Heritage designation:
tourism, management investment, both from abroad and from
Russian institutions, preserved resources and agricultural
areas in the surrounding territory will help in the economic
development of the Komi Republic, while not threatening the
sustainability of the region, as has been the case further
downstream from the forests.
Eco-tourism, a huge new industry, may have the largest
economic impact. Agriculture, drinking water and animal
husbandry (especially the raising of the elk) in the Komi region
are all dependent upon the protection of the forests.
As the source for the river systems that flow into the Arctic
sea system west of the Urals, the Komi Forests protect the
pure drinking-water and necessary irrigation water for several
of Russia's northern regions. The rivers within the forests
are the breeding grounds of the salmon that the entire region
is dependent upon as a food source and for export.
World Bank studies have shown that the Komi region is nearly
self-sufficient in food resources and entirely dependent upon
what they grow themselves. The people of Komi have very few
sources of outside income, thus increasing exponentially the
value of the clean waters provided by the forests upstream.
Once again, the destruction brought by oil and gas extraction
as well as clearcut logging downstream show what would happen
to the Komi Forests if they are not preserved: full-scale
destruction for the next several decades.
GREENPEACE RUSSIA'S WORLD HERITAGE PROJECT
As part of a major nature conservation project centered in
Russia, Greenpeace has announced the first of a set of
territories to be included in the World Natural Heritage List,
UNESCO's "Nobel Prize" of natural objects. The Project's
intent is the full protection of Russia's most valuable and
extensive funds of biodiversity both in the short term as
Russia suffers an environmental-economic crisis and in the
long term as catalysts in the search for environmentally sound
alternative investment projects.
After six years of unsuccesful attempts by the government to
prepare the nomination for Lake Baikal and at the same time
risking the environmental balance of the lake and, in fact,
the majority of intact ecosystems left in Russia, this
ambitious project aims to protect some of Russia's most
valuable natural spaces. Greenpeace Russia has taken the lead
in organising the nominations of several natural areas to the
List by tapping into the resources and guiding the efforts of
dozens of local and national conservation groups, indigenous
peoples and government agencies.
The list, administered by the United Nations' organisation,
UNESCO, also contains such natural wonders as the Grand Canyon
and the Great Barrier Reef and provides a forum for protection
and recognition of the world's most important natural and
cultural sites. In order to carry out the project, Greenpeace
has had push for the creation of entire new park and
conservation zone systems, lobby local governments to devote
the areas and promise to conserve them and animate researchers
and conservation planners to make the project effective.
Indigenous peoples and local communities have played an
important and leading role in the development of nearly all of
the sites, demonstrating the need for a fuller consideration
of the sustainability of life-styles outside of both Western
and Eastern industrial paradigms and based on closer
relationships to nature.
Greenpeace has already made the first nomination to the list,
the Virgin Komi Forests, 3.2 million hectares of pristine
forest along the Ural Mountains in the Republic of Komi in the
Russian Far North. The forests comprise the largest untouched
area in Europe and contain a variety of ecosystems and rare
species. In making the nomination, Greenpeace completed its
successful campaign to stop French and Austrian logging
companies from using destructive and unsustainable clearcut
methods on Komi territory and demonstrated the need to assure
protection for these vital natural areas.
Current proposed nomination sites for the list:
Primorsky Kray, Far East: a vital habitat of the endangered
Amur tiger and the Far East leopard, 4 million hectares
including the Sikhote-Alin Natural Complex and the Bikin
Valley, the home of the Udege Indigenous people.
The Volcanoes of Kamchatka: active and dormant volcanoes,
geysers, thermal and mineral springs and bubbling mud
cauldrons among perfectly conserved transforming coastal and
forest ecosystems. 4 million hectares.
The Sources of the Great Ob, Altai Mountains, Central Siberia:
6.5 million hectares of virgin mountain taiga, glaciers and
the sacred Telestkoye Lake.
Vodlozero Park, Northwest of European Russia: Europe's largest
intact old-growth boreal forests and pristine wetlands. 1
million hectares.
Ubsunur Hollow, Tuva Republic: a Cultural-Natural project
carried out in conjunction with the Mongolian government, 7.5
million hectares, one of the largest intact watersheds in
Central Asia where 40,000 archeological sites can be found
from histroically famous nomadic tribes such as the Scythians,
the Turks and the Huns.
###RELAYED TEXT ENDS###
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