BEIJING, March 1, 2016 – The World Bank approved a US$3
million grant from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) last week,
aimed at helping create the ecological conditions for recovery of
threatened biodiversity in China’s Northeast, with a focus on amur
tigers.
“The project will take a landscape approach. It will establish
ecological corridors connecting nature reserves to provide habitat for
the conservation of large populations of key biodiversity while
decreasing human-wildlife conflict,” said Garo J. Batmanian, World Bank’s Lead Environmental Specialist in China and project team leader. “This
innovative approach will enable the co-existence of multiple land uses,
from biodiversity conservation, to economic activities such as farming
and forestry.”
The Landscape Approach to Wildlife Conservation in Northeast China Project will focus on the following actions:
- integrating wildlife conservation considerations into economic development planning and sectoral policies and planning frameworks in targeted landscapes;
- enhancing the effectiveness of protected area and network management;
- increasing wildlife carrying capacity through restoration, expansion and connectivity of critical habitats, including the expansion of biodiversity-friendly landscapes adjacent to protected areas;
- promoting more effective patrolling and monitoring in both protected areas and the greater landscape to reduce mortality of flagship species; and
- reducing human-wildlife conflict by increasing benefits to and buy-in from local communities for wildlife conservation.
The project will be implemented...
in the Changbaishan area in Jilin and
Heilongjiang Provinces by the provincial forest agencies under the
coordination of the State Forest Administration. It is home to the few
remaining amur tigers in the wild in Northeast China. The beneficiaries
will include rural population living in the project area and government
agencies responsible for forestry, wildlife conservation and natural
reserve management.
The GEF grant will be complemented by US$17.58 million in
co-financing that comes from the national, provincial and local
governments and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). The project will
be implemented between 2016 and 2019.
Amur tiger is the largest of the six existing sub-species of tigers.
The total population in the wild is estimated to be only 400
individuals. The number of amur tigers in China is estimated to vary
from 18 to 22 individuals, which wander back and forth across the
boundary with Russia.
The Global Environment Facility (GEF) unites 183 countries in
partnership with international institutions, civil society
organizations, and the private sector to address global environmental
issues while supporting national sustainable development initiatives. An
independently operating financial organization, the GEF provides grants
for projects related to biodiversity, climate change, international
waters, land degradation, the ozone layer, and persistent organic
pollutants.
