important plant areas in central and eastern europe - hirc.botanic.hr ...

Section 5National IPA teamCoordinating organisation:The WorldConservation Union (IUCN) ProgrammeOffice for Russia and the Commonwealthof Independent States (CIS), MoscowCoordinator: Galina PronkinaRecommendationsPriorities for plant conservation inEuropean Russia:■ Prepare a list of endemic species foruse in conservation work.■ Create an inventory of plant species inregional and federal protected areas.■ Assess the status of rare species usingIUCN red listing criteria.■ Prepare a list of Russian species forinclusion in global and European Red Listsand conservation lists.Russia and the CIS RegionBy Galina PronkinaThe Russian Federation and the Commonwealth of IndependentStates cover a vast area of Europe and Asia with a range ofhabitats from the polar deserts of the Arctic to the sandy desertsof central Asia. There is a wealth of landscape types, plants andfungi, from the tundra, taiga and wetlands of the north to thesteppes and grasslands of the south, to the diverse mountain areasof the Caucasus.The IUCN-CIS Moscow Office acts as a focal point for theEuropean Plant Conservation Strategy and the IPA project in Russiaand the CIS Region.They work to raise awareness for plantconservation, disseminate Russian-language materials, establishnetworks of specialists and stakeholders, and develop projectproposals with partners.Awareness raisingIn order to raise awareness among specialists and stakeholders, IUCN-CIS has translatedthe European Plant Conservation Strategy, the IPA Site Selection Manual and informationleaflets into Russian and distributed them in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia,Armenia,Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Other information materials have alsobeen published in Russian (see references). An IPA workshop was also held at theInternational Symposium on Steppes of Northern Eurasia in Orenburg, 2003.■ Assess the effectiveness of theprotected area system for plantconservation.■ Assess the conservation priorities forspecies, habitats and sites.■ Identify Important Plant Areas andassess protection status.The following areas have been identifiedas particularly unique, valuable orvulnerable areas, where plantconservation action is needed urgently:■ The agricultural and steppe zone of thecentral and southern part of EuropeanRussia.■ The Russian Arctic (European andAsian), a priority region for IUCN.■ The Caucasus and central Asia(Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan).56