Our Projects: Community and Education - Fighting for Minds in Siberia
DSWF supported since: 1994
During the late 1980s and early 1990s, an estimated 50-70 Siberian tigers were being poached each year and, by 1993, the population had crashed to fewer than 100 animals. At the time, experts warned that without drastic action the Amur tiger could be extinct by 2000.
Action (in the form of Inspection Tiger) has been taken and tiger numbers have quadrupled in just over adecade. The reasons for this phenomenal success are fairly clear:
- increased education initiatives and public awareness
- greater involvement of state environmental law enforcement agencies
- increases in prey populations
- compensation programme for farmers suffering from tiger attacks
Inspection Tiger (originally 'Operation Amba') was created in March 1994 by American and Russian conservationists within the Russian Ministry for Natural Resources to carry out survey and research work, establish hunting controls, set up anti-poaching units, run trade investigations and start a region-wide education and awareness programme. Following a number of reforms, Inspection Tiger is now in charge of tiger-human conflict resolution only, and does not do anti-poaching patrols.
In March 1998, the Phoenix Fund was founded by several Russian and US conservationists primarily to manage fund-raising and to coordinate tiger conservation activities. DSWF now channels its support for Amur tiger conservation through the Phoenix Fund. Since 2008, the Phoenix Fund with funds from our granting foundations provides help to the 14 teams of the provincial Game and Rare Species Department, that operate on the whole territory of Primorsky region. Also, Phoenix supports a number of protected areas. Namely, the DSWF finances anti-poaching brigades and educational work in the Udege Legend National Park in the north of Primorye.
Grants given by DSWF
DSWF has given grants totalling £248,225 for the period 1994-2005. Currently, funding is being spent on:
- anti-poaching patrols (providing salaries and vital equipment such as snowmobiles, radios, jeeps, fuel and rations, paying informants, investigative work, updating the environmental and administrative laws database and a salary for the environmental law enforcement projects coordinator)
- education and awareness programmes (salary for the Phoenix educational projects coordinator, ecological education in northern Primorye, Tiger Festival Days in Vladivostok, Novopokrovka and Luchegorsk, Tiger Eco-Centre in Novopokrovk, education and outreach materials)
Tiger Eco-Centre. The first centre has been established in Novopokrovka, in northern Primorye in a renovated classroom in a 150 pupil school for six and seven year olds. The centre is used by all 16 schools and 2,600 pupils in the district (which has a total population of 22,200 spread over a vast area of 2,063 square kilometres or 12.4% of Primorye). Each school typically has children aged 6-18 years from several far-flung villages and one of them is over 500 kilometres away.
Tiger Outreach Programmes. The Phoenix Fund educator visits all 16 schools in the region to teach the children about tigers and conservation, as well as training schoolteachers to hold their own eco-classes. Phoenix Fund develops reference materials (posters,booklets, CDs, books) and teachers' guides on the endangered wildlife of Primorye. All educational materials are approved by the State Educational Institute. The aim of the outreach programme is to nurture a caring attitude towards wildlife.
Tiger Festival Days. The first of these one-day events was organised in Vladivostok in September2000 and the day has now become a regular event celebrated across the country (including Moscow) on the last weekend of September each year. At the beginning, it was Phoenix's initiative to hold Tiger Days not only in Vladivostok, but all over the region. We have found many enthusiastic supporters - ecological leaders from the local communities, that constantly introduce their ideas and innovations to make the festival brighter and take the larger part of the preparations upon themselves. In 2009, this wonderful event took place in Vladivostok, Luchegorsk, Novopokrovka, Terney, Partizansk, Kirovka, Dalnerechensk, Arseniev and Lazo towns of Primorsky region and Bichevaya village of Khabarovsky region.
Summer Camps. Two-week summer camps are also arranged for schoolchildren and students to teach them about the forest and its endangered wildlife.
The Future . The aim is to have more than one Eco-Centre and to have more Tiger Festival Days in towns and villages throughout the tigers' range.
How You Can Help . The Tiger Eco-Centre and the outreach programme are both in desperate need of books and other educational materials and artistic materials.
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