Russia and China create world’s first cross-border reserve for leopard and tiger

The world's first cross-border protected natural area for the conservation of wild Far Eastern leopards was created near the borders of China and the Russian Primorsky Territory.

The agreement between the Russian Federation and the PRC on the creation of the "Land of Big Cats" reserve was signed by the heads of relevant departments of the two countries. The new reserve includes the territories of the Land of the Leopard National Park, the Cedar Pad Reserve of Russia and the Northeastern Tiger and Leopard National Park of China. This composition was approved by an agreement signed by the head of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation Alexander Kozlov and the head of the State Forestry and Steppe Management of the PRC Guan Zhiou.

The signing took place in the presence of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on May 16. The creation of a cross-border reserve involves combining efforts in a number of areas. The agreement involves the development of scientific cooperation with the exchange of data from observations of animals in the wild for joint accounting. Another important element will be to increase the efficiency of protection of territories with the exchange of data on poaching and forest fires. In addition, the work of the “Land of Big Cats” will be aimed at the development of eco-education and ecotourism.

Work on the creation of a cross-border reserve has been going on for more than 10 years, and now we have a new milestone in environmental cooperation between the two countries. Priority tasks after the signing will be the unification of methods of counting animals and the establishment of a single photo monitoring. The question is how many tigers and leopards live in these areas. There are 58 tigers and 129 leopards on the Land of the Leopard and Cedar Pad. China says it has 60 leopards and 40 tigers. But almost all cats are constantly crossing the line, so it's possible that we're counting the same animals. We will build work to establish the total number of the world population of the Far Eastern leopard and the Amur tiger group, commented Alexander Kozlov, Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology of Russia.

It is important to note that the boundaries of the natural territories included in the reserve will remain unchanged. First of all, we are talking about a comprehensive combination of efforts of specialists of the two countries for the joint preservation of Red Book cats.

The experience gained in Russia and China in successfully preserving the Far Eastern leopard has an important effect: each side has strengths. Russian specialists stand out for their skill in fieldwork with photo traps, and inspectors at international competitions have repeatedly shown outstanding level in the fight against poachers. At the same time, the Chinese side is widely known for high-tech solutions in the field of photomonitoring and analysis of scientific data. Combining our experience will bring the effect of synergy and benefit the cause of preserving the leopard, said Victor Bardyuk, Director of the Federal State Budgetary Institution "Land of the Leopard".

In the Russian national park "Land of the Leopard", created in 2012, there is the core of the world's only population of the Far Eastern leopard, one of the rarest animals, as well as the highest number of the Amur tiger on the planet. Thanks to environmental work in Russia, the population has tripled, over time they began to settle in the neighboring provinces of China – Jilin and Heilongjiang. Against the background of these successes, in 2017, the national park was created in China - it borders the Land of the Leopard for 280 km. According to the latest data, from the Russian side, scientists note 129 leopards and 58 tigers, from the Chinese - 60 leopards and 40 tigers. These figures are not summarized, since a significant part of wild animals live simultaneously in the two countries, not perceiving the state border as an obstacle. The creation of the “Land of Big Cats” will allow to establish the total number of the world population of the Far Eastern leopard and the local grouping of the Amur tiger. Source: National Park "Land of the Leopard".