- Building Partnerships for Forest Conservation and Management in Russia (2000-2006), funded by Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) the project commenced in mid-October 2000; it was extended in January 2003 and accomplished all 80 field activities in September 2005. All project goals and objectives were also achieved.
The Project goal was to create due conditions for partnerships between governmental and social organizations and to draw different social groups into the process of decision making. 1091 people were directly involved in the project: 125 people were involved in legal and administrative reform, 312 people involved in the assessment of PA management effectiveness and 654 people were involved in creating NTFP businesses to support sustainable local livelihoods. 508 (46.6%) of all participants were women and more than 200 women are actively participated in project development. The number of indigenous peoples involved in the project were 461 (42.3%). During project implementation, 15 major publications were produced.
- Creating a Framework for Public Involvement in Russian Forest Management Decision-making (1999-2000), funded by the Dutch Government (LNV). The project prepared guidelines and recommendations on legislation and regulations of public involvement in decision making processes in forest management and conservation, built a coalition of empowered stakeholders to implement those guidelines and recommendations and facilitated the Aarhus Convention (1998) on the Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters.
- Introducing Global Forest Watch in Russia (GFW) (1999-2000), funded by WRI. GFW has already been launched in Canada, Indonesia, Gabon and Cameroon. The overall goal of the project was to support the stewardship and conservation of Russia’s remaining large tracts of natural forest, by providing decision makers and civil society with independent, timely and accurate information on their state and change.
- World Bank forest loan for Russian Federation (1998-2000). Russia and the World Bank signed a 5-year pilot project for the development of the Russian timber industry worth USD 60 million. The Temperate and Boreal Programme was designated to be in charge of the component dealing with public involvement in forest decision-making. A sociological survey in 6 regions of the Russian Federation was made, including all WB pilot regions (Leningrad oblast, Krasnoyarsk and Khabarovsk krais).
- World Bank Forest Policy Review and Implementation Strategy (FPIRS) (2001). The Temperate and Boreal Programme was asked to advise the World Bank on how to conduct a global process that was open to a broad range of stakeholders and run in a transparent manner. Nine regional consultations and two global Technical Advisory Group meetings were facilitated by the Temperate and Boreal Programme.
- Improving Forest Legislation in Russia (2001-2004), funded by the Dutch Government LNV. An analysis of current legislation related to rural forests and forest land privatization within the CIS was completed as well as a contribution made to the development of the Russian National Forest Policy and legislation via the Ministry of Natural Resources, the World Bank Forest project in Russia and participation in the Russian State Forest Service Council. The comments to the new Forest Code of the Russian Federation were submitted to the Ministry of Natural Resources.
- The World Forestry Congress (WFC) Secretariat (2002) requested the Temperate and Boreal Programme participate in the preparation of WFC. The Temperate and Boreal Programme also made a keynote presentation at the Boreal theme session of the Congress. In the same year, the programme assisted the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources in drafting its National Report on Temperate and Boreal Forest Management Criteria and Indicators (Montreal Process) to the Fourth Session of the United Nations Forum on Forests, and other documents, for different international fora, and the report was presented at the Congress as well.
- UNESCO study on potential boreal forest World Heritage Sites (2003-2004). At UNESCO's request, this study took place from Alaska to Russia and included Canada, Finland, Norway and Sweden. A consultation report "The Boreal Forest Study: Finding exceptional protected area sites in the boreal ecozone that could merit World Heritage Status” was presented at Expert Workshop in October 2003 in St. Petersburg, Russia, bringing together 33 governmental, NGO and academic experts from four boreal countries to discuss priorities in boreal forest conservation and to identify gaps within existing networks of protected areas as well as on the World Heritage List. The Temperate and Boreal Forest Programme worked jointly with the PPA, and with IUCN-CIS office in Moscow, which received a grant from UNESCO to hold the 2003 Russia workshop. Following the workshop, IUCN produced a shorter version which was presented by an IUCN delegation to the World Heritage Committee in Suzhou, China (June 27 – July 7, 2004).
- Forest Public Council (FPC) (2004) was established under the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources, after five years of working alongside other Moscow-based NGOs and the Russian Federal Forest Agency. The role of the Temperate and Boreal Programme is to advise the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources on different forest issues. The Council was reorganized in 2007/2008 and now is Environmental Council under the Russian Federal Forest Agency.
As a part of permanent Conference on Kyoto Protocol Ratification by the Russian Federation, IUCN TBFP and IUCN Forest Programme of IUCN-Russia Office were involved in a number of expert meetings (2000-2003) resulting in Governmental decision (November 2004) on the Protocol ratification.
- Improvement of Sustainable Use and Conservation of Mountain Forest (with FAO, UNEP, countries of the ECA region) proposals for UNEP/GEF. Workshop in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan was held (February 17-18, 2005). More than 30 participants representing Central Asia countries, Russia and Kazakhstan and international organizations (UNDP, UNEP-GRID Arendal, GEF/SGP, and IUCN) and the Mountain Partnership participated. PDF B concept prepared by IUCN was discussed. It was agreed that the project concept "Enhancing the System of Protected Areas to Ensure Long-Term Conservation of Globally Significant Montane Biodiversity in Central Asia" will be further assessed and elaborated to determine their eligibility. Based on the outcome of this process, a submission strategy was intended to be developed for the GEF Secretariat in close collaboration with UNDP and the countries and other stakeholders that would be involved.
- A number of projects were accomplished, dealing with facilitation of consultations and civil society involvement in the process, elaborating relevant strategies and drafting documents, facilitation of conferences and other meetings, printing publications and a dissemination of statements and other documents. These activities were supported by UK, USA, Canada, Dutch and other governments, European Commission and the World Bank.
Past projects
Due to the efforts made by civil society and private sector to combat illegal logging, for the first time, ISC invited representatives of NGO and private sector to participate in the ISC meeting as well as IUCN to facilitate its meeting (February 2005).The ENA FLEG ISC invited IUCN to facilitate the process of civil society involvement in the process.
- ENA-FLEG: Optimising Russian forest resilience to climate change through improved forest governance arrangements - Pilot phase (2004-2005), funded by the UK Global Opportunities Fund. Publications of the project in Russian and English were included into the registration package of the ENA FLEG preparatory Conference (Moscow, Russia, June 6-8, 2005). Under this project a number of meetings organized by IUCN TBFP and IUCN-Russia with support of its member organizations, including Russian Ministry of Natural Resources, and representatives from broad range of stakeholders were carried out. Russian NGO position paper on ENA FLEG was widely disseminated and included as an annex to the Minutes of ENA FLEG International Steering Committee meeting.
- Preparation for the ENA-FLEG Preparatory Conference and Ministerial Conference: Supporting Civil Society Participation and Broader Stakeholder Engagement in Key Countries and Sub-regions (2005-2006) was supported by the Canadian Forest Service and GTZ, Germany. The process was organized involving 6 IUCN offices from ENA region (Europe, Russia and CIS and Asia). Fifteen representatives of national and local NGOs from the region (Western, Central and Eastern Europe, Russia, Central Asia, Caucasus, China, Mongolia and Japan) and from indigenous peoples were selected and actively participated in the ENA FLEG Preparatory Conference (Moscow, Russia, June 6-8, 2005). Prior the PrepConf the NGO meeting took place in Moscow (June 5, 2005) where participants elaborated and discussed ENA FLEG issues matrices according to the agenda of Preparatory Conference. These preliminary consultations as well as development of action points during civil society strategy session (June 7) helped the NGO representatives to better lobbying during the event as well as to actively participate in panels and sessions. Joint civil society statement was presented at final session of the Conference. IUCN was also invited to facilitate a few sessions as well as to work on draft Declaration.
- At the Ministerial Conference on ENA Forest Law Enforcement and Governance (ENA FLEG), held in St Petersburg from 22-25 November 2005, countries agreed on a Ministerial Declaration and endorsed an Indicative List of Actions, which provides a framework for implementation of the St. Petersburg Declaration. IUCN experiences and lessons learned highlight that a clearly recognized and well-resourced multi-stakeholder follow up process is essential to maintain the momentum created by the Ministerial Conference and translate it into specific policy and field action. IUCN TBFP participated and facilitated meeting of the International Steering Committee and the World Bank (February 2005) as well Pre- and Ministerial Conferences.
- Forest governance and illegal logging: Improving legislation and interagency relations in Russia (2005-2006), funded by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth, to further work within ENA FLEG process, IUCN TBFP via Moscow Office signed another contract to elaborate the project
On this topic a few other small projects were elaborated including:
- Supporting Civil Society and Private Sector Participation and Dialogue in support of the ENA-FLEG process (2006), funded by the US Department of State
- Improving Forest Governance in Russia: Forest Inventories and the Russian Forest Code (2006-2007), funded by the Canadian Forest Service. Back to top
