UN To Support Russian-Chinese Project On Protecting Tigers, Leopards - National Park

VLADIVOSTOK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th February, 2020) The Russian government and the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) have approved the Russian-Chinese project "Crossborder Cooperation on Preserving Siberian Tiger, Amur Leopard and Snow Leopard in Northeastern Asia," which will gain financial support, a spokesperson for the Land of the Leopard national park told Sputnik on Friday.

"The cooperation between Russian scientists from the Land of the Leopard national park and the Chinese party has reached a new level. The international cooperation will be boosted under the project 'Crossborder Cooperation on Preserving Siberian Tiger, Amur Leopard and Snow Leopard in Northeastern Asia,' which was officially approved by the Russian government and the ESCAP," the spokesperson said.

According to the spokesperson, the project envisages financial support for the joint efforts of the Land of the Leopard, and China's Northeast Tiger and Leopard National Park. The allocated money will be spent on creating the united system of monitoring leopards and tigers, establishing a mechanism on exchanging scientific data, developing environmental enlightenment and tourism.

"This component of the massive project is also aimed at supporting one of the biggest goals of both parties: creating the single crossborder national park called Land of the Big Cats, which will be the first crossborder protected area for Amur leopards and Siberian tigers," the spokesperson added.

Amur leopard is one of the rarest and most endangered wild cats in the world. The number of these animals in the wild sank to 19-26 in the mid-2000s, which put the species on the edge of extinction.

As part of the efforts aimed at preventing Amur leopards from extinction in the wild, in 2012, Russia created the Land of the Leopard national park in the Primorsky Territory, which is also home to another endangered wild cat, the Siberian tiger.

Currently, over 90 Amur leopards and more than 500 Siberian tigers live in the wild in Russia's Far East. Both species also live in the border areas of China.