MOSCOW, June 4 (RIA Novosti) - Russia and China have
agreed to start preparations to create a cross-border nature
reserve to protect endangered Siberian tigers and Far East
leopards.
The decision was announced at a meeting of a subcommittee
on environment protection in Beijing on Thursday. The agreement
was signed by Russia's Minister of Natural Resources, Yury
Trutnev, and his Chinese counterpart Zhou Shengxian.
At two-day talks the Russian and Chinese officials also
discussed the issues of cross-border pollution, particularly in
the Songhua River, and ways to protect the environment.
The officials also stressed the importance of further
"deepening the Russian-Chinese cooperation in environmental
protection" as a key area of the countries' strategic
partnership.
The sides acknowledged the importance of restoring wild
animal populations in cross-border regions based on joint
programs. The countries are also to hold consultations in the
near future to protect migrating birds.
Siberian tigers, also known as Amur tigers, are the
largest subspecies of tigers, growing to over 3 meters in
length and weighing up to 300 kilograms. They are on the World
Conservation Union's critically endangered status list, and
there are only about 500 of them left in the wild. Since 2006,
poachers are known to have killed around 10 in Russia's Far
East.
News
