The Second Meeting of the International Contact Forum on Habitat Conservation in the Barents Region in Petrozavodsk, November 26-29, 2001

Finland, Sweden and Norway have all had bilateral cooperation in nature conservation with Russia for more than ten years. The idea of joining the efforts and creating a multilateral cooperation forum arose in the summer 1998, when the Russian, Norwegian, Swedish and Finnish specialists participated in an international scientific expedition in Belomore-Kuloi Plateau, Archangelsk region.

The International Contact Forum on Habitat Conservation in the Barents Region was officially established in Trondheim, Norway, November 1999 by the initiative of the Biodiversity Group under the bilateral Russian-Norwegian Commission on Environmental Cooperation. The Contact Forum is a cooperation arena for all stakeholders interested in habitat conservation issues in the Barents Region - authorities, specialists, representatives of indigenous peoples organisations and other interested institutions and NGOs. The Barents Region includes the regions of Nordland, Troms and Finnmark (Norway), Norrbotten, Västerbotten (Sweden), Oulu and Lappland (Finland), Murmansk, Karelian Republic, Archangelsk, Nenets Autonomous Region and from the beginning of 2002 also Komi (Russia).

According to the forum mandate agreed at the first meeting in Trondheim, the Contact Forum will focus its work on proper management of existing protected areas, on the need for additional protected areas and on other activities relevant for habitat conservation. For the two first years of its existence the Contact Forum has been effectively chaired by Norway.

The second meeting of the Forum

The second Contact Forum meeting took place in the capital of the Republic of Karelia, Petrozavodsk, 26-29 November 2001. The meeting was organised and led by the Norwegian Directorate for Nature Management with the assistance of the Vodlozersky National Park. The main objective of the meeting was to further increase and improve cooperation in the field of habitat conservation between the Barents States. The Contact Forum offered a possibility to discuss on-going projects, future cooperation and exchange of information and experience concerning the management and activities of protected areas.

On behalf of the hosting region, Republic of Karelia, Mr.Valery A. Shljamin, Minister of the Foreign Relations, greeted the Contact Forum emphasising the importance of international cooperation in nature protection activities. The conclusions and recommendations of the Contact Forum work are expected by the authorities now, when the new strategy of environmental and nature protection is under development for the Northwest Russia.

Mr. Nikolai S. Ivanov, Head of Biodiversity Division of the Department of Nature Resources in Northwest Region, Ministry of Nature Resources of the Russian Federation, expressed full support for the Contact Forum work. A new scientific-technical council for protected areas and biodiversity conservation is established within the Department, having administrative and scientific representatives of all regions of Northwest Russia. The Council will be ready to handle Contact Forum recommendations for new protected areas, project proposals to support the existing conservation areas and development of sustainable tourism in Northwest Russia.

Altogether 70 representatives from environmental authorities, scientific institutes, nature protected areas, NGOs, indigenous peoples form the Barents Region gathered for the four days’ seminar. The participants described the present status of nature protection in their countries and regions, presented results and progress of the habitat conservation projects and suggested new project initiatives.

The need to develop protected areas

Directors of Russian National Parks and Strict Nature Reserves (Zapovedniks) located in the Barents Region presented their current status and future plans. The general opinion was that the parks are today facing severe problems, which mainly are due to the financial difficulties and continuous organisational changes in the federal protected area administration. However, the parks are committed to develop their management and activities. International cooperation projects are important. A big international cooperation project to develop the Barents Region protected area network was supported by many participants. The vertical Green Belt of Fennoscandia, from the Gulf of Finland to the Barents Sea, could be accompanied by the horizontal belt of protected areas in the north of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia.

Mr. Tapio Lindholm from the Finnish Environment Institute presented the project proposal “GAP-Analyses in Northwest Russia, Special Protected Areas Biological Research“ to be a comprehensive and topical international project to assess the representativeness of the protected areas network as a whole in Northwest Russia. The original project plan is developed in cooperation with the experts of St. Petersburg and Moscow scientific institutes together with their Finnish colleges. The GAP-Analyses will connect biological research to the need of structural and economic assessment of the protected areas, from the recreation, ecotourism and environmental point of view. The project proposal aroused discussion, which will be continued between the specialists in the near future in order to determine the scope, objectives, contents, activities and participation in the project.

A field visit to the Vodlozero National Park was organised at the end of the Contact Forum meeting. On the way the participants of the visit had the opportunity to see examples of the old-growth forests, and also cultural and historical monuments of Karelia. Overnight stay was organised in the Varispelda tourist village guest houses, which are under construction. The aim is to create a special type of village, combining features of a traditional Karelian village with tourist services and accommodation. Besides the nature protection functions, the Varispelda village project supports conservation and revival of local traditions of wooden architecture, local crafts and historical landscape. The participants had a possibility to try the hiking trails near the village, a relaxing smoke sauna bath and a delicious dinner in a good company.

Future of the Contact Forum

During the four days of the Contact Forum meeting a lot of informative lectures and many intensive debates were held. The organisers asked for suggestions to improve the work of the Contact Forum. The opinion of the majority was that the Contact Forum should remain as it is: an open discussion forum for all stakeholders on nature conservation issues in the Barents Region. A lot of new project ideas were generated, but so far the Contact Forum does not have special financial instruments for implementing all those initiatives. However, expressing recommendations to decision makers, preparing project proposals and finding financing possibilities is easier and more effective, when several stakeholders, regions and countries join their efforts.

The participants decided that Finland will be the new Chair of the Contact Forum and suggested Russia to act as a Co-chair for the next two years. The Contact Forum representatives expressed their gratitude to the Norwegian and Russian organisers for the opportunity to make new contacts and exchange information and experience with colleges across the Barents Region, to present the aspects of their own work and to contribute to the Contact Forum with own ideas, project plans and offers for collaboration. The next meeting will be held in the year 2003 and Finland will be responsible for organising it.

Directorate for Nature Management, Norway, will publish a report on the proceedings and conclusions of the Second Meeting of Contact Forum. The materials will be available by contacting: postmotlak@dirnat.no

Riitta Hemmi
Finnish Environment Institute

Top  |  Back  |  Home