RESOLUTION OF THE BIODIVERSITY AND ECOLOGICAL SAFETY SECTION
OF THEALL-RUSSIAN CONFERENCE ON ECOLOGICAL SAFETY (MOSCOW, JUNE 4-5, 2002)
On June 4, 2002, a Biodiversity and Ecological Safety Section meeting took place at the Moscow Institute for Ecology and Evolution Studies named after A.H. Severtsov under the Russian Academy of Sciences. Over 70 representatives of research institutes, government departments and NGOs from different regions of Russia participated. Seven papers and 20 brief reports on biodiversity conservation, restoration and use within the context of ecological safety were presented.
Biodiversity is the basis for a sustainable environment for man's life and health; biodiversity conservation is a sine qua non of ecological safety in Russia.
At present in Russia, biodiversity is in decline as a result of the exhaustive use of natural resources; a disastrous increase in illegal bio-resources development; environmental pollution; lax government controls in the sphere of natural resources and their use; poor implementation of environmental legislation; insufficient funding of conservation; and disregard for those international conventions and treaties that Russia has signed.
Biodiversity conservation should be a top priority for both the government and society. This priority should be reflected in federal, regional and municipal social and economic development programs and plans. The basic principles and tools for conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity are stated in the Russian National Strategy for Biodiversity Conservation (2001).
The system of biodiversity management should rely on situational ecosystem analysis; planning within ecological regions, including basins; the principles of sustainable use of natural resources; and a complex assessment of the value of natural sites for sustainable development and ecological safety.
The Russian Ministry of Natural Resources as well as other ministries and departments should make the following biodiversity conservation goals a top priority:
5.1. In the field of biodiversity conservation, restoration and use:
large areas of little-disturbed ecosystems (including trans-border areas) sufficient to sustain all the natural components should be preserved;
conservation and restoration of natural ecosystems within affected areas (especially in steppe zones, broad-leaf and mixed forests, southern taiga), including lands released from agricultural use;
conservation and restoration of endangered species and their habitats (category 1 of the Russian List of Endangered Species and relevant regional list categories);
bans on all felling that can harm natural ecosystems, in the forests north taiga and forest-and-tundra zones, forest-steppe zones and mountain forests, whose self restoration is difficult or impossible;
general application of sustainable and complex bio-resource use principles; conservation of used bio-resources, their inner structure and ability to self-regulate and self-reproduce;
development of enterprises that breed species whose numbers are dangerously low due to hunting, fishing, etc., in order to reduce the pressure on the species;
improved control over the import and use of introduced and generically modified organisms as well as acclimatization works; prevention of self-resettlement of introduced species and the spread of generically modified organisms in natural ecosystems, the liquidation of the after-effect of these processes.
5.2. In the field of prevention of various illegal activities related to the extraction, use and turnover of bio-resources:
strict state regulation and control over the turnover from any economic activities, such as hunting or fishing that endanger rare species (sturgeon, Saiga antelope, etc.);
immediate development of a system for assessing and reimbursing damages as a result of ecological offence and its legal reinforcement;
conformity of damage fees for illegal bio-resource use with the market value;
review of the system of wages for state inspectors who fight against poaching; their withdrawal from the tariff scale; restoration of the system of bonuses and awards based on collected fines and claims;
efficient anti-poaching measures (special detachments, etc.) among nature protection agencies; extended authority of state inspectors of nature protection services, forestry, hunting and fishing services.
5.3. In the field of protected natural areas (PNA) maintenance and development, providing comprehensive government support:
the status of a PNA must not be reduced, PNAs of federal significance must not be subordinated to regional authorities;
sustainable and relevant budget financing, logistics and personnel enhancement;
state strategy to develop the system of PNAs; improvement of the federal governance system of PNAs;
federal system of marine PNAs, incorporating all Russian seas;
extended system of freshwater (river and lake) PNAs in all regions of Russia;
extended system of PNAs in the steppe zone;
temporary exclusion from economic use areas included in perspective federal and regional plans for establishing PNAs prior to their designation;
Russian ecological network to sustain natural ecosystems and biodiversity starting with the most affected regions.
5.4. In the field of establishing and improving socio-economic tools for conservation and sustainable biodiversity use, including the system of federal governance:
develop and institutionalize economic tools for biodiversity conservation while ensuring that payments for bio-resource use correspond to their market value (including rent payments) and encourage economic units in order to promote sustainable use and include damage and restoration costs in the estimate of any project having an impact on biodiversity;
provide legal aid for biodiversity conservation and sustainable ecosystem functioning in the new land use legislation framework; improve methods of changing the form of property and sale of land, natural resources and economic objects, taking into consideration conservation and biodiversity restoration objectives;
improve ecological inspections for purposes of biodiversity conservation; provide methodology, information and normative support; inspect all projects that affect biodiversity; ensure that inspection findings are respected;
create a national system of biodiversity monitoring (of populations, species, communities and ecosystems, soils, etc.);
involve citizens and public organizations in the decision-making process as regards biodiversity conservation, use and monitoring; restore public inspection for bio-resources use control; give the local community access to ecological information; establish a public biodiversity conservation advisory and expert councils under the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources as well as in federal okrugs;
include topics related to biodiversity conservation and its role in sustainable development and ecological safety in biology and ecology courses in secondary and high schools.
5.5. At the international level:
preserve national biodiversity in the process of integrating Russia in international trade, financial, military and political structures;
meet the requirements for joining international conventions related to biodiversity conservation: Bonn Convention on Wild Animals Migrating Types; Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats (Bern Convention); Anti-Desertification Convention; Cartagena Protocol on Bio-safety; Participation in Making Local Environmental Decisions Aarhus Convention.
6. Regions of Russia where immediate practical measures should be taken to conserve biodiversity:
forest-steppe, steppe and semi-desert zones;
the Caspian, Azov, Black and Baltic seas and shelf areas of the Far-East seas;
Lower Volga, Lake Baikal;
broad-leaf forests of European Russia;
areas with intensive timber felling and logging in the Far East and in European Russia;
areas of intensive mineral extraction as well as areas designated for future exploitation.
