Posted on 19 November
2010
The Russian government
has taken a huge step to save key Amur tiger
habitats by banning Korean Pine logging,
WWF says.
Just before the International
Tiger Conservation Forum, which will take
place Nov. 21-24 in St. Petersburg, the
Russian government has adopted a new version
of the list of tree and shrub species prohibited
for timber logging, and included Korean
Pine in the list.
“A ban on Korean Pine
logging is the best gift for the Amur tiger
in the Year of the Tiger”, says Igor Chestin,
CEO of WWF-Russia. “Korean Pine has a crucial
importance for tiger conservation: its cones
are fodder for wild boars, and wild boars
are tiger’s prey”.
Korean Pine is important
for tiger conservation
WWF-Russia included
this ban in the list of top eight measures
that must be taken in Russia for tiger conservation,
which were presented to the Ministry of
natural resources and environment of Russia
in summer 2010.
The new version of the
“List of species of trees and shrubs prohibited
for timber logging”, which includes the
Korean Pine, was approved on Aug. 2, 2010.
However, it came into force only on Nov.
12 2010, when the Government cancelled the
previous list, adopted on March 15, 2007.
Korean Pine harvest
is important for at least 50 species, including
the wild boar, one of the main prey species
of the Amur tiger. Korean Pine forests played
a key role in Amur tiger conservation during
the drastic decline in its population (down
to just 30 animals) on the Sihote-Alin in
the first half of the 20th century.
In 2007, Korean Pine
forests received an almost mortal blow –
the new Forest Code of Russia cancelled
the ban on industrial Korean Pine logging.
Taking into account that commercially valuable
timber stocks are depleting, forest companies
rushed to use the remaining available forests
– the protection forests.
As a result, the largest
amount of Korean Pine timber in history
was exported from the Russian Far East in
2009, and according to WWF estimates, its
harvesting exceeded the allowable limits
by 2.5-3.7 times.
“Today, Korean Pine
forests are in the worst condition in the
recent history”, says Denis Smirnov, head
of the Forest Program of WWF-Russia Amur
branch.
“And half-measures could
not save them from complete degradation.
Widely announced plans of the regional forest
departments and forestries to voluntarily
reduce pine logging turned out to be empty
promises made to divert the public and government
attention from the problem. In this situation,
the only adequate decision was to introduce
a full ban on Korean Pine logging, and we
have been insisting on it for three and
a half years”.
The endangered Amur
tiger, numbering fewer than 500 in the wild,
is found primarily in southeastern Russia
and northern China.
