Conservation of rare, endangered and endemic species of the Baikal region

Conservation of rare, endangered and endemic species of the Baikal region

March 2022 – currently

Acceptance of applications for participation in the program in 2022 is closed. The projects that received grant support this year can be found via the link. The Foundation will announce a new round of applications in early 2023.

The Sustainable Development Goals №15 is dedicated to the conservation of land ecosystems. To achieve it, the issues of habitats and biodiversity degradation, poaching should be solved and systems approach for conservation of endangered species should be developed. Nevertheless, according to the 2020 IUCN Red List 2020, 35 765 animal, plant and fungi species are threatened to become extinct. Extinction of any species negatively impacts the whole ecosystem, which this species was part of.

Baikal is famous as habitat for rare animal and plants, more than 50% of Baikal species are endemic, meaning that they live only in the Baikal area. However the lack of funding for conservation programs for Baikal endemic and rare species still poses a problem. Existing state funding program are usually dedicated to keeping tracks of numbers, but rarer to monitoring species dynamics and restoration initiatives. Insufficiency and absence of data of populations’ wellbeing, as well as information on habitats and reasons of species’ degradation hinder development of the effective measures on conservation of rare and endemic species, based on scientifically validated data. The issue of launching conservation projects is even more difficult in the Baikal area, if species’ habitat is outside of specially protected natural area. Moreover, the priority in funding distribution is given to animals than to plants.

Considering state of the problem and analysis of the most serious challenges in the sphere of biodiversity conservation in the Baikal region, the Foundation initiated special grant program. The program is aimed at joining efforts of the researchers, specialists and specially protected natural areas for conservation, studying, restoration and support of the wellbeing of the rare and endemic animals and plants. Each species is indicator of lake Baikal state. That is why it is essential to conserve all of them. This initiative will help to develop systems cross-sectoral partnerships, meaning SDG 17 on partnership for the sustainable development.

Goal:

  • to promote the sustainable development of the Baikal ecosystem through the study, conservation and restoration of the unique flora and fauna of the Baikal natural area.

Who can apply for support::

  • representatives of specially protected natural territories;
  • specialized research organizations, including institutes, universities and other institutions engaged in scientific and environmental activities on the territory of the Russian Federation;
  • environmental NGOs and NGOs with experience in implementing environmental projects.

Directions of grant support:

  • restoration and support of wellbeing of species, subspecies and populations of rare, endangered and endemic plants and animals;
  • conservation and restoration of habitats for species, subspecies and populations of rare, endangered and endemic plants and animals;
  • study and monitoring of species, subspecies and populations of rare, endangered and endemic plants and animals.

Participants of the program:

Following the results of the first selection of participants in the spring of 2022, grant support was accorded to:

  • the project of studying the black-capped marmot: searching for its habitats in the Irkutsk region and the Republic of Buryatia, collecting materials for molecular genetic research, finding out the reasons for the reduction in its number (implemented by a team from the Irkutsk regional environmental organization «Asia-Irbis», the Koltsov Institute of Developmental Biology of RAS, and the Baikal-Lena Nature Reserve’s scientific department);
  • the project of studying the black-capped marmot: analysis of the animal’s adaptation to environmental changes in the territory of the Barguzin Ridge in the Republic of Buryatia (implemented by specialists from the Institute of Geography of the Siberian Branch of the RAS and employees of the FSBI «Zapovednое Podlemorye»);
  • the project of studying factors for the conservation and restoration of an endangered plant species — Megadenia bardunovii (implemented by the staff of the Siberian Institute of Plant Physiology and Biochemistry of the Siberian Branch of the RAS);
  • the project of monitoring the golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) (implemented by specialists of the Chikoy National Park);
  • the project of studying the Baikal seal: counting animals on the Ushkany Islands, studying the impact of environmental factors on the overall physiological state of the seal (implemented by scientists from the Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences).

In 2022, the implementation of five new environmental initiatives was made possible thanks to the support of the corporate trustee of the World Around You Foundation, Siberian Wellness Corporation; the «Nuzhna Pomosch» («Help Needed») and «Kod Dobra» («Code of Goodness») foundations; a donation from Raiffeisenbank and the Christmas fundraising fair «Horoshkola».

Documents:

Publications

Открыт прием заявок на проекты по сохранению биоразнообразия Байкала, Филантроп, 12.04.2022

Принимаются заявки на участие в программе сохранения биоразнообразия Байкала, Агентство социальной информации, 12.04.2022

Объявлен конкурс грантов по сохранению биоразнообразия Байкальской природной территории, Глагол: иркутское обозрение, 08.04.2022

Открыт прием заявок от ученых на мероприятия по сохранению биоразнообразия Байкальской территории, Сибирские новости, 08.04.2022



Biodiversity Conservation