important plant areas in central and eastern europe - Plantlife

Section 5
National IPA team
Coordinating organisation:The World
Conservation Union (IUCN) Programme
Office for Russia and the Commonwealth
of Independent States (CIS), Moscow
Coordinator: Galina Pronkina
Recommendations
Priorities for plant conservation in
European Russia:
■ Prepare a list of endemic species for
use in conservation work.
■ Create an inventory of plant species in
regional and federal protected areas.
■ Assess the status of rare species using
IUCN red listing criteria.
■ Prepare a list of Russian species for
inclusion in global and European Red Lists
and conservation lists.
Russia and the CIS Region
By Galina Pronkina
The Russian Federation and the Commonwealth of Independent
States cover a vast area of Europe and Asia with a range of
habitats from the polar deserts of the Arctic to the sandy deserts
of central Asia. There is a wealth of landscape types, plants and
fungi, from the tundra, taiga and wetlands of the north to the
steppes and grasslands of the south, to the diverse mountain areas
of the Caucasus.
The IUCN-CIS Moscow Office acts as a focal point for the
European Plant Conservation Strategy and the IPA project in Russia
and the CIS Region.They work to raise awareness for plant
conservation, disseminate Russian-language materials, establish
networks of specialists and stakeholders, and develop project
proposals with partners.
Awareness raising
In order to raise awareness among specialists and stakeholders, IUCN-CIS has translated
the European Plant Conservation Strategy, the IPA Site Selection Manual and information
leaflets into Russian and distributed them in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia,
Armenia,Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Other information materials have also
been published in Russian (see references). An IPA workshop was also held at the
International Symposium on Steppes of Northern Eurasia in Orenburg, 2003.
■ Assess the effectiveness of the
protected area system for plant
conservation.
■ Assess the conservation priorities for
species, habitats and sites.
■ Identify Important Plant Areas and
assess protection status.
The following areas have been identified
as particularly unique, valuable or
vulnerable areas, where plant
conservation action is needed urgently:
■ The agricultural and steppe zone of the
central and southern part of European
Russia.
■ The Russian Arctic (European and
Asian), a priority region for IUCN.
■ The Caucasus and central Asia
(Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan).
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