Svetlana
Yegorova-Johnstone, Representative Ministry of Nature Conservation, Republic
of Sakha
(Yakutia)
First of
all I would like to express my deep gratitude to the UNESCO for the
invitation to participate in this conference.
The Earth
is being destroyed at a rate the world has not seen; life is being destroyed
five times faster now than a decade ago. Every year we release 23 billion
tons of carbon dioxide into the air, increasing the Earth’s temperature and
threatening the life of plants, animals and people. The destruction of a
forest anywhere affects the quality of air we breathe.
The
Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) is the most forest-rich republic in Russia - the
most forested country in the world. We have responded to WWF’s challenge to
make a Gift to the Earth, by designating a forest bigger than France as one
of the world’s largest systems of reserved territories called Ytyk Kere
Sirder.
Today Mr
Kalamanov V.A. underlined how important the code of behaviour is in
respect of the environment. Through thousands of years of communication
with Nature the peoples of the North have established a unique philosophy of
interaction with Nature. According to this philosophy, the environment is a
holistic entity, an animated living organism, which is spiritualized and
worshipped. Some forests, lakes and mountains are sacred to us. Northern
people have their own moral responsibility to Nature. They treat it with
great care and respect and they live in complete harmony with it. These
attitudes are passed down from generation to generation as a code of
behaviour and to break this code of our ancestors is considered a great sin.
The concept
of State Ecological Policy of the Republic was a major factor of the
development of the System of the Protected areas and was first announced by
the first President of the Republic Nikolaev M.E. at the very first Congress
on Nature Conservation held in April 1994 in Yakutsk.
By signing
an Agreement on Nature Conservation between the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)
and the WWF in Gland, Switzerland on February 10th 1997, the
Republic has committed itself to the establishment of an ecologically
representative network of protected areas covering 28.5% of each forest
type, demonstrating a range of socially and ecologically appropriate models.
The present
system of protected territories, Ytyk Kere Sirder, not only follows the
ancient tradition of our ancestors but also reflects federal and
international aspirations. These policies are designed to protect the rights
not just of the present generations but of future generations of the native
peoples. Their rights to a better and healthier environment; their rights to
natural resources and the rights of the Sakha Republic to continue along the
road of sustainable development. The protected areas cover some 883.2
thousand square kilometres (28.5% of the republic’s territories), which is
roughly the size of two Germanys, and contains 2 Nature Reserves which the
Sakha Republic passed on to the Federal System of Particularly Protected
Nature Territories, 127 Particularly Protected Nature Territories (5 Nature
Parks (Aan Aiylgy), 78 reserved sites of geological resources (Erkeeiy
Sirder), 1 protected landscape (Uluu Tyuelbe), 26 unique lakes, 17 natural
monuments) and over 100 particularly protected territories of local
significance.
I wouldn’t
be able to describe all of these but I would like to talk about the National
Nature Park “Lenskie Stolby”. The material
for this presentation has been carefully prepared by the Ministry of Nature
Protection of the Republic of Sakha, the Institute for Biological Problems
of Cryolithozone SD RAS, with the assistance of the Institute of Geology,
the Permafrost Institute and the Lenskie Stolby National Park. Lenskie
Stolby
is an
obvious candidate as a
World Natural Heritage
Site for the following reasons:
-
In Lenskie Stolby
territory you can find ancient skeletal animals, such as archeocyathids
and trilobites which were swimming in the shallow waters of the Cambrian
sea some 530-520 million years ago . In 1995 the International Union of
Geological Science included Lenskie Stolby in the Global Indicated List
(GIL GS). The remains of the most ancient organisms found here are
unique evidence from the most important stage of the history of Earth’s
development and the explosion of biological diversity that occurred on
Earth in the Lower Cambrian period.
-
Another
outstanding feature of Lenskie Stolby is the permafrost rocks (PFR), the
thickness of which is about 100-500 metres. Cryogenic pale-yellow
solodic soils were formed on loess-like loams. These soils are typical
of the Central Yakutian plain and are not found anywhere else in the
world. Scientists suppose that soil formation has been occurring on the
ancient Lena terrace since the Eopleistocene in the conditions of
permafrost and dry semiarid climate. All this explains the uniqueness of
the soil cover and accounts for the special features of the fauna.
-
The presence of
rare and endemic plant species including Redowskia sophiifolia which is
unique to this territory and nowhere else in the world, and is thought
to be a relic of the Lower Pleistocene age.
-
Numerous bone
remains of mammoth fauna have been found from the Quaternary Period.
These include species such as mammoth (Mammulhus primigenius Blum),
bison (Bison priscus Boj), woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiguibatis
Blum), Lena’s ancient horses (Eguus lenensis Russ) and reindeer (Rangifer
tarandus L.). These species roamed this territory 60,000-24,000 years
ago. As you know the “Yukagir” mammoth’s remaims were the best PR for
the Republic in EXPO 2005 World Exhibition in Japan the exact copy of
which is put out for the observation in your hall today.
-
In the park area
there is an exclusively original landscape of wind drift sands -
tukulany - forming the type “northern cold desert” which is also typical
only for the middle Lena area.
-
Lenskie Stolby was
settled by man in ancient times. Obviously primitive people hunted for
large mammals grazing in herds and that enabled them to survive in the
cold climatic conditions. There are some monuments showing the history
of human development during the paleolithic and neolithic periods.
Implements of paleolithic people found by Yu.A.Mochanov in
Diring-Yuryakh were identical to those in Olduvai South Africa, and the
numerous rock drawings, petroglyphs and sites of neolithic people show
the evolution of Homo Sapiens.
-
Lenskie,
Buotamatskie and Sinskie Stolby are remarkable for their astonishing
beauty. You wouldn’t find anything like it throughout the whole
territory of the North-East of Eurasia. The famous Russian
Poet-Decembrist wrote the following lines : “ As you drift past the
mountains you admire the work of Nature: fairy tale castle with its
battlements, towers and minarets and the majestic waters of the river
heaving at its feet…Silence falls on the virgin creation and the soul in
deep communion with the Universe…”
The territory of Lenskie
Stolby is an integral system, where natural ecosystems, numerous natural
monuments and evidence of ancient man’s activity have been well preserved.
The territory is protected by the administration and officers of the park
and by the law and decrees of the Government of the Russian Federation and
the Republic of Sakha.
Traditional nature
management and licensed use of the biological resources by the members of
eight communities of the national minorities of the North located in the
park area (there are no settlements) is of key importance for the
conservation of the natural monuments and bio-diversity of the ecosystems.
Giving the “Lenskie
Stolby” the status of The World Nature Heritage Site of UNESCO would
increase its chance of survival and protect from the impact of man’s
economic and recreational activities.
Svetlana
Yegorova-Johnstone, Representative Ministry of Nature Conservation, Republic
of Sakha
(Yakutia)
