OUTCOMES
Due to the Amur Program's initiative, Muraviovka wetlands as well as other territories in the Amur, Primorski, Khabarovski, and Chita regions were included in the Ramsar convention of wetlands of international importance. The park introduced new forms and methods of environmental education that now are widely used in the Russian Federation. Muraviovka Park as an independent private organization is responsible for administering daily and other operations and arrangements.
Amur Program staff are striving to involve local people in the Park's activity. During the last four years, more than 500 students (including orphanage children) and 100 teachers have participated in summer environmental education camps. The Park has donated thousands of books to the town library, purchased and collected footwear and clothes for over 120 local children, exchanged visits of Russian and American teachers and students, provided jobs for local people, and distributed free vegetable seeds that became a small but important source of income.
The Park has involved Russian, American, Chinese and Japanese officials, as well as local communities, by facilitating cultural and information exchanges and fostering a sense of joint responsibility for migratory birds and their wintering and breeding grounds. The AMUR Program proposed to develop Russian-Chinese cooperation for monitoring and management of the Oriental White Stork and other endangered migratory bird populations, sustainable agriculture, and environmental education. The Amur Program also initiated a program on Oriental White Stork restoration in the Korean peninsula and helped to save Sanjiang Plain wetlands in China.
As a result of education efforts and wildlife management, the number of cranes and storks in the park has increased 250% times during the past four years. Growing numbers of endangered birds have attracted ecotourists from developed countries, building new opportunities and generating new sources of income. Seminars and workshops on ecotourism, environmental education, prescribed burning, and environmental laws; official visits of decision-makers from the Amur Region to Japan and China; publication and distribution of printed materials; and children's art and photo exhibits organized by the Amur Program are helping to create a new world view in local people which combines interests of humans and their environment. Governmental officials participate in these seminars and workshops together with NGO activists from Russia, China, and other Far Eastern countries. This promotes good working relations and develops a structure for future management of the Amur Program in which all strata of the international society in the region will work together toward a common goal.
At the same time, we can talk about sustainability only when the activity of the Park as a sustainable land use territory is self-sufficient. The Amur Program puts most of its effort and investments into its general operations and a five-year plan, which, if realized, will ensure self-sufficiency of Muraviovka Park. The Park is trying to teach local adults and children to produce original handicrafts which can be sold to tourists, as well as farming and other skills. We also create new jobs in the area. Former school students - the participants of environmental clubs and summer camps - are now college or university students and our helpers; we hope that in a few years they will be working with us as wildlife biologists, game managers, tour operators, and agronomists.
The Amur Program is also working on the watershed analysis with a goal to distribute successful approaches tested in the Park throughout the larger area that will lead to the next level of sustainable land use.
In 1998, the Park will complete construction of the Education Center and will begin professional training in wildlife management, agriculture and handicraft to help the community and orphanages to raise income. An alternative way of nature resources use will be offered to local community. The Demonstration farm will introduce new agricultural practices and teach rural youth to respect farming as a profession.
Educators trained in Muraviovka Park have started summer ecological camps in the Primorski and Khabarovski regions, and establishment of private nature protected territories in the Primorski region is being modeled after the Muraviovka Park experience.
While our work with children is geared toward long-term benefits, some immediate conservation gains have occurred. The children becoming involved with wetlands and their wildlife share their concerns with their families with an effectiveness we could never match. Muraviovka Park is the first private, non-commercial nature protected territory in Russia trying to integrate human and wildlife interests.
Since its inception, the Amur Program and Muraviovka Park have been a joint venture of Socio-ecological Union and a number of international organizations, including the International Crane Foundation, National Audubon Society, and The Nature Conservancy, as well as teachers from New Jersey and Wisconsin and many individuals. We invite new volunteers and supporters to help us to save the beautiful Amur River and its riches. For more information about the Amur River Program, please contact Sergei Smirenski, Email amur@glasnet.ru, or Elena Smirenski, Email elena.icf@baraboo.com.
The Amur River Program received a 1997 Society for Conservation Biology Distinguished Service Award for efforts to conserve the natural character and rich biotic diversity of the Amur River Basin.
