Information system on protected areas of Russia

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Information systemon protected areas of Russia

• Ekaterina Tsybikova¹, Maxim Dubinin²
• ¹ Transparent World, Russia
• ² University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA
• ESRI International User Conference, San-Diego,
  2007

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Russia 17070949 km2Forest zone 57.1
country areaNatural forest area, 2000 8340520
km2
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International acknowledgement of Russias
protected areas (PA) system

• - 9 UNESCO Natural World Heritage sites
• - 36 biosphere reserves
• - 35 Ramsar sites
• - 4 strict nature reserves have Diplomas of
  European Council
• - 4 transboundary PA
• More than 85 of Russias animals and plants are
  protected by existing system of countrys PA

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(No Transcript)
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Problem

• Lack of adequate accessible spatial and
  descriptive information about protected areas of
  Russia,
• results in poor decision making and low
  public awareness

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Information system
(ISEU, BCC, WRI, Transparent World)
Attributive (descriptive) data
Spatial (geographic) data
GIS
Web
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History Atlas of Russias Intact Forest
Landscapes (http//www.forest.ru/eng/publications
/intact/)
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Data sources

• primary legislation
• (governmental acts, bills and other papers)
• - protected areas official documents
• additional information (spatial and attributive)

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Mapping. Strict Nature Reserves, National Parks
and Federal-Level Wildlife Refuges of Russia
(2005)
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Mapping
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Zapovedniks
Total zapovedniks area 70 of federal-level PA
area
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Biosphere reserves
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Ramsar sites
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Guide to national parks of Russia
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Application

• - create protected area GIS
• - presentation and education materials
• - include in decision support system to help
  deal with conflicts occurring on protected area

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map in action examples of effective land-use
decision-making

• - Megatron-NVK
• - PetroResource
• - The Kovikta Project

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Monitoring of state-issued license permits
Megatron-NVK, North Caspian region, 2005
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Socio-ecological mapping Kovikta gas pipeline
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Web-based Information system

• Contents
• - news
• history of nature protection
• publications
• conferences proceedings
• descriptions of PA
• descriptions of Ramsar sites

http//oopt.info
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• Description of each protected area
• - general information
• history
• geographic features
• flora and fauna
• research activities

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Data now available and planned

• - biosphere reserves zoning (core, buffer,
  transition zone, biosphere polygon)
• - zapovedniks and national parks buffers
• - Ramsar sites
• - Birdlife International sites
• - regional protected areas

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Conclusion

• - Spatial data can be used for decision support
  and conflict solving
• - GIS is an effective tool, but lots of efforts
  should be spent to make data really work
• - in case of inactivity of state authorities,
  environmental NGOs using GIS can facilitate
  proper decision making

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Thank you!
Ekaterina Tsybikova Transparent World, Russia,
e-mail tsybikova_at_biodiversity.ru Maxim
Dubinin University of Wisconsin-Madison,
USA sim_at_biodiversity.ru