24 September 2007 |
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WWF-Russia collected over six hundred voices for the protection of the Korean pine-broadleaved forest, Amur tiger's home.
Tiger day is one of the favorite holidays for Vladivostok citizens. This year around 2 500 people came to the central square to celebrate it for the 8th time. Each year the holiday has something peculiar. Today, guests saw flags of tiger range countries and heard the appeal “Stop cutting cedar (local name for Korean pine) - save Amur tiger.”
“Tiger day provides an excellent opportunity for people to express their positive attitude towards nature conservation, - says Yurii Darman, director of WWF-Russia, the Amur branch. – Therefore this year we decided to collect signatures on a petition to a new Russian Government asking to include Korean pine into the list of tree species forbidden for cutting.”
For the last 50 years the area of Korean pine forests in Primorskii province has reduced nearly twice. Unceasing cutting of cedar and lack of governmental control over forest use since 2006 deprive tiger of its home.
This year WWF-Russia has started “Korean Pine the Tree of Life”campaign. Over 25000 Far-Eastern citizens have addresses the Russian President and Governors of Primorsky and Khabarovsky provinces to protect cedar forests. But the ban for cedar cut and commercial logging operations in Korean pine forests disappeared from the new forest legislation thus threatening cedar forests with complete destruction. During the event, WWF collected signatures of 617 participants of the Tiger day for the petition to Viktor Zubkov, the new head of Russian Government.
This event is one more attempt to save both Amur tiger and Korean pine.
For additional information please contact |
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Elena Starostina, Press-officer (WWF Russia Far - Eastern Branch),
tel/fax: (4232) 41-48-68, send e-mail
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