18.12.07

Establishment of Kamchatka Krai PA Association announced.

Each and every year is filled with memorable events, but only a few events shape history. Such a historical event was the merger of Kamchatka Oblast and Koryak Autonomous Okrug to form   Kamchatka Krai, a new constituent part of the Russian Federation. So great a change in the region couldn’t help but trigger other similar changes. Namely, merger trends gave a push to multilateral stakeholder discussion which eventually resulted in the decision to establish Kamchatka Krai Protected Areas Association (KKPAA) whose place in future would be among other commendable community initiatives aimed to strengthen protected areas (PAs) management and demonstrate their social value. Thus, KKPAA was officially established on 3 December 2007.
The Association boasts of large and representative membership including Directorate of Refuges and eight protected areas – Kronotsky, Koriaksky  and Commander Islands state reserves (zapovedniks); all peninsula’s nature parks (Nalychevo, Bystrinsky, Kluchevskoy, South-Kamchatka)  and the Kol River Salmon Refuge. The goal of the Association is to coordinate efforts of PA staff in various scientific, ecotourism and awareness raising activities so as to derive maximum benefits both for their own PAs and for contiguous areas.  Worldwide, various level protected areas, as a rule, are not sufficiently funded by the state. Yet, PAs often become tourism investment centers for contiguous areas and thus may be considered geese laying golden eggs.
The establishment of Kamchatka Krai Protected Areas Association was publicly announced at widely-participated VI Ecology and Nature Use Exhibition held in Kamchatka Exhibition Center from 6 to 8 December. Through support from UNDP/GEF Project “Demonstrating Sustainable Conservation of Biological Diversity in Four Protected Areas of Russia's Kamchatka Oblast”, the joint display of Kamchatka’s PAs presented within the framework of the newly-born association was highly evaluated both by visitors and organizers.
The Exhibition was covered by the Kamchatka’s most influential mass media including AiF-Kamchatka, Kamchatskoye Vremya, Vesti, Komsomolskaya Pravda na Kamchatke, Domashnyaya, Vash Dom Kamchatka, Troika, and Zapovednaya Territoriya newspapers, GTRK Rossiya and Oblastnoye Televideniye i Radioveshaniye TV broadcasting companies,  and Radio SV radio station.

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