- assistance to the development of federal and regional strategy for biodiversity;
- development and application of mechanisms and approaches which would transform biodiversity and environmental protection into major factors of decision-making;
- evaluation of institutional efficiency of protected areas and its subsequent strengthening;
- assistance to involving of all interested parties, including indigenous and local population into biodiversity conservation;
- development of inter-regional cooperation in various directions of biodiversity conservation and environmentally sustainable management of natural resources.

           1. Under the Sub-component "National and Regional Strategy of Biodiversity Conservation":
             - Prior to the development of National Strategy it was proposed to evaluate the national biodiversity, operating legislation on biodiversity conservation and attitude of various levels of population to wildlife conservation problems.

            According to the task:

· First National Report "Conservation of biological diversity in the Russian Federation" (1997) was drawn up, which has characterized in detail the modern status of wildlife of the country and traced ways of its conservation;
· tender was held and a firm was selected, which has revealed tendencies in attitude of the population to biodiversity conservation problems using the data of sociological polling of the All-Russia Center for Study of Public Opinion (VTsIOM). As a result of these works, two books were published, recommendations for the development of National Strategy were given, and the concept of the Public Agreement on wildlife conservation as one of instruments of Strategy implementation was justified;
· tender was held and a firm was selected for the analysis of operating nature protection legislation and development of proposals on its perfection (preparation of new laws, amendment of laws in force, specification of powers of authorities, increase of efficiency of legal enforcement, etc.).

· to create a special structure for planning and implementation of preparation phases of National Strategy and Plan of Action for biodiversity conservation;
· to create regional model of the Strategy at Nizhni Novgorod for distribution to other regions.

· on the basis of the Auxiliary Task Force including representatives of interested ministries and agencies, the Group of Strategy Coordination was created, which managed works of this direction;
· tender was held and firms were selected for preparation of National Strategy and basic directions of the National Action Plan; the Strategy and Plan were adopted at the National Forum in 2001 and published in Russian and English languages;
· tender was held and a firm was selected, which, together with experts of the Component, carried out the PR-company on distribution of the Public Agreement on wildlife conservation in Russia;
· in Nizhni Novgorod, a tender was held and a firm was selected, which has ensured development of a regional model of strategy, its approval by local Administration, and dissemination; the first approbation of the model has passed in Volgograd, where Administration developed and approved the Regional Strategy and Action Plan; similar actions were initiated in more 10 regions;
· tender was held and a firm was selected, which collected 1600 applications to the National Environmental Action Plan in a format of Federal Target Program and prepared Regional Action Plans; the collected data have allowed the Project to participate in preparation of 3 subprograms of the Federal Target Program "Environment and Natural Resources" for 2002-2010: for protected natural areas, for conservation of rare species and for protection of the Lake Baikal;
· as the first phase of the National Action Plan, in 3 regions, where Action Plans were developed on a competitive base and authorized by regional Administrations, projects were selected and implemented under the program of small grants (under the decision of the World Bank winter mission of 2000).

            Under this direction according to the task:

· tender was held and experts were selected, who have carried out the analysis of interrelation and impact of economic forces on biodiversity (materials were published and disseminated);
· tender was held and a firm was selected, which has prepared curricula and programs for professional training on economy of environmental protection and biodiversity conservation; two seminars were held at which about 60 experts have passed training;
· tender was held and firms were selected, which draw up and published manuals and handbooks for training of experts in the field of biodiversity conservation;
· by the results of the all-Russia tender, case studies were supported and experience of different regions of the country was disseminated, including experience of protected areas (total of 19 projects);
· new financial instruments of biodiversity conservation were initiated: inter-regional and local funds were created; idea to use benefits from "environmental services", practice of economic evaluation of protected natural areas, new approaches in pricing of using bioresources were introduced into the state policy,

            In this direction, the following works were executed:

- Information analytical center was equipped with hardware, software, personnel and information resources;
- information biomonitoring system and the largest in Russia environmental  Web-portal BioDat.ru were created, which has united all information resources of the Project and now serves as the national center of a biodiversity data network;
- multiuser system, network of qualified manufacturers and users of biodiversity information, large databases and GIS were generated on BioDat.ru, capable to promote monitoring of biodiversity in the country;
- analysis and preparation of information for applied nature protection purposes was organized, including supply with information of the MNR activities and other ministries and agencies in the field of biodiversity conservation;
- module of information system devoted to protected natural areas of Russia was generated.

            The following tasks were set:

· increasing of institutional potential for the management of the protected area system, the Sub-Component "Institutional Support";
· perfection of logistic potential of reserves and national parks, the Sub-Component "Actions and Planning";
· development of public  environmental educational programs aimed at conservation of biological diversity and security of protected areas in Russia, the Sub-Component "Public Support and Education Programs";
· creation of new types of protected areas and maintenance of already existing, the Sub-Component "Conservation of Ecosystems";
· perfection of curricula and vocational training of the staff for protected area management, the Sub-Component "Training".

            According to the set tasks:

· time consumption for current office-work and operative information exchange both inside agencies and between management and protected areas was essentially reduces due to procurement of computer equipment;
· regular comprehensive verifications of reserves and national parks activities were supported. Leading experts of the Department and involved experts (scientists of the Russian Academy of Science, representatives of public organizations) have made 84 inspection missions to 38 reserves and 10 national parks;
· experts analyzed the organization of monitoring in state natural reserves of the Russian Federation and related problems in the framework of the Expert Panel, which was not created as a structure because of instability of administrative structures of Goscomecology. Recommendations for optimization of collection, storage and use of information were developed;
· leading experts of the Department of Reserves and National Parks developed and authorized in corresponding structures regulatory documents for the activity of subordinated specially protected natural areas;
· leading experts of the Department of Reserves have developed "Basic Directions of Development and Organization of Activity of State Natural Reserves of the Russian Federation for the Period till 2010";
· 8 new associations of reserves and national parks were created, 34 regional seminars on coordination of scientific studies, improvement of environmental education, training courses on use of GIS technologies, book keeping, advanced training of workers of security services, some field expeditions were carried out, 2 environmental camps were organized. 13 scientific collections, 4 methodological manuals, booklets and reference literature were published. Especially protected natural areas, included in associations, were equipped with computers and modems, some reserves and national parks create a joint GIS.

            According to the tasks:

· five years' management plans and GIS were created in two reserves and 5 national parks, the personnel was trained;
· 39 projects on strengthening security service were implemented; necessary goods, engineering, and equipment were procured;
· 18 model school projects were implemented;
· long-term programs of environmental education were created in 10 specially protected natural areas;
· necessary goods, services and works were procured, visits-centers were created, training seminars were held.

            The environmental educational center "Reserves" was created and successfully works. It coordinates environmental education in reserves and national parks.

            4. Expansion of the system of protected natural areas was planned for the maintenance of greater covering of key territories necessary for conservation and development of globally important elements of biodiversity and development of management principles and regulatory acts for security services.

             According to the task, operating systems of specially protected natural areas supporting the biological diversity at species and ecosystem level were created in several model regions, several projects focused on the perfection of techniques of territorial environmental protection and their dissemination among experts.

            5. The project assumed to develop a set of training programs for personnel of specially protected natural areas.

             According to the plan, 4-volume manual on biodiversity conservation was issued under Component A for specially protected natural areas.
 

            According to the tasks of the Interregional Sub-component:

· Administrations of Constituents of the Russian Federation of Baikal Natural Area (BNA) currently organize the Baikal Council, a coordination body operating on the same principles as the model of management of the Baikal Component of the GEF Project;
· an attempt was made to reconstruct the Federal Baikal Commission at the federal level to smooth the instability of environmental protection management.

· uniform environmental policy in Baikal Natural Area was formed on the basis of Biodiversity Conservation Strategy for the Lake Baikal and the Action Plan for its implementation, in which principles of biodiversity conservation of the Lake Baikal and tasks for each environmental zone of BNA were formulated;
· result of eight tenders on practical actions for Baikal wildlife conservation is the portfolio of one and a half thousand proposals on Baikal conservation; Action Plan on Biodiversity Conservation of the Lake Baikal was drawn up and more than 350 projects have been implemented in the Baikal Natural Area;
· information flows regarding biodiversity conservation were organized and structured;
· legislative initiatives and legal enforcement practice of Constituents of the Russian Federation in the BNA corresponding to tasks of biodiversity conservation were coordinated;
· cost of natural resources was estimated in a number of areas of the Baikal region;
· indicative planning system for the development of areas was introduced (on the base of Environmental Component);
· plans and strategy of environmentally sound use of natural resources and economic development were developed for separate sites of BNA and some enterprises;
· system of environmental management was introduced at largest enterprises of Baikal region (including BPPM, Sayanskkhimprom, Irkutskenergo, Buryatenergo);
· system of environmental education was strengthened;
· experts and administrative personnel of area administration and separate branches and enterprises have passed training.

· principles and tasks of the Biodiversity Conservation Strategy for the Lake Baikal was implemented through the Small Grants Program "Local Initiatives" with participation of most different layers of society in practical actions on biodiversity conservation. More than 43,000 persons were involved in the Lake Baikal Biodiversity Conservation.
· Results of this activity are:
        * conservation of more than ten species of plants and animals and their habitats;
        * organization and/or extension of specially protected natural areas and refuges;
        * restoration of natural landscapes;
        * increase of the environmental awareness in Baikal region, both in state and non-state sectors;
        * increase of awareness of population and active propagation of environmental knowledge.

            As a conclusion it should be noted that the coincidence at implementations of GEF Project tasks might not be total since the situation in Russia sharply changed during the Project implementation and some tasks have lost the urgency. At the same time, additional tasks emerged the solution of which was necessary for achievement of the Project objectives.
            The following achievements of the Project that provide high stability of the results for the years ahead should be especially noted:

- growth of environmental financing in regions due to own and outside funds;
- start of self-developing instruments of biodiversity conservation - formation of regional action plans, opening of BioDat.ru, creation of funds to support the biodiversity and reserves;
- preservation and perfection of the system of protected natural areas;
change of public perception of wildlife conservation problems due to involving of a great number of people in the project implementation.

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