Yury Darman, Amur branch WWF Russia

Evgeny Simonov, Rivers without Boundaries

The Amur River: from the Daurian

steppe to the Sea of Okhotsk

Amur on the Globe

Annual Flow Rate, 1090 cum/s

Annual Run-off, 346 km3

Watershed, 1843000 km2

Length, 4510 km

Amur: Natural Resources

• Freshwater - 346 km3/year• Salmon – 100 million kg (max year harvest)• Sturgeon – 1,2 million kg (max year harvest)

• Arable lands – 6 million hectares • Timber stands - 15 billion cubic meters• Annual logging - 20 million cubic meters

• Gold mining -30 tones annually

Amur River Basin – 14 ecoregions, including 5 WWF Global

- 5C

+3C

600

mm

900

mm

250

mm

Amur: Biodiversity richness

• 2800 vascular plants (400 in Red Data Book)

• 130 fish species (7 in Red Data Book)

• 23 amphibians and reptiles (2 in Red Data Book)

• 380 bird species (27 in Red Data Book)

• 90 mammal species (18 in Red Data Book)

Amur: Fauna Richness

Fish species Mammals Nesting Birds

Amur Flag species

The only breeding

site for 14 rare

species of birds

The stopover for

millions of ducks

and waders,

hundreds

thousands of geese

Amur

Yangtze

Unique Phenomena: Birds Migrations

White-

naped

crane

Oriental stork

Red crowned

crane

Amur: Birds migrations

Major

flyways

junctons:

Dauria

Song-Nen

Zeya-Bureya

Sanjiang

Khanka Lake

Amur estuary

Amur: Wetlands

• Russia - 14,7 mo ha (2,4 mo ha lost)

• China -6,6 mo ha (4,8 mo ha lost)

Amur: Water Infrastructure

Existing Dams – 50

Planned Dams - 250

Amur: Forest Cover Change

South Korea

1 million.cub.m

Japan

6 million cub.m

China

17 million

cub.m

Illegal logging –

annually

6 million cubic

meters

Threat: Asia

Market Pressure

and Illegal

Logging

China, 1986 – 1 million ha burned forestRussia, 1998 – 2 million ha burned forest

Threat: Forest and Steppe Fires

Each spring steppe fires

burn 70% of all wetlands

Kaluga sturgeon1900th

1940th

1990th

Sturgeon

Other

Salmon

0,0

10,0

20,0

30,0

40,0

50,0

60,0

70,0

80,0

Years

Fish catch in Amur river, Russia

(thousands tonns)

Depletion of Fish Resources

Nivkhi

Nanai

Ulchi

25000 people

depend of

Amur river

natural

resources

50 settlements

disappeared

Indigenous People

Poisoning aquatic biota (pesticide,

phenols, benzine, etc)

Amur Fish Report

published in 2004

•13 November 2005 – benzine

spill in Songhua River to

Amur River

•29 January 2008 – signed

Cino-Russian Agreement on

sustainable use and

protection of transboundary

waters

Amur: Oil&Gas Pipelines

Amur: Human Population

China -75 millions

Russia – 5 millions

Amur River Basin: non-balanced development

Climate Change

+0.6 C Amur middle stream +2.0 C Amur upper stream

Long-term precipitation cycles in the Amur River basin

(Parilov et al., 2005).

______________________________________________________

1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005

Изменения атмосферных осадков и температуры воздуха

-0,4

-0,2

0,0

0,2

0,4

0,6

0,8

1,0

1,2

1,4

1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005

ос

ад

ки

, м

од

ул

ьн

ые

ко

эф

фи

ци

ен

ты

-5,0

-4,5

-4,0

-3,5

-3,0

-2,5

-2,0

-1,5

-1,0

те

мп

ер

ату

ра

, оС

интегральная разностная кривая годовых сумм осадков

температура воздуха, осредненная по периодам увлажненности

влажный

период

влажный

период

сухой

период

сухой

период

Drought cycles and flooding dynamics are important factors shaping regional biodiversity.

Temperature growth and cyclical change in annual rainfall in Amur up-stream (Obiazov, 2007)

Wet period Wet periodDry period Dry period

Change of water level

540

541

542

543

544

545

546

1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000

ур

ов

ен

ь в

од

ы, м

594

595

596

597

598

599

ур

ов

ен

ь в

од

ы, м

Далайнор

Барун-Торей

Dalai Lake

Torey Lake

Dala

i L

ake w

ate

r le

vel

(m a

msl)

To

rey L

ake w

ate

r level (m

am

sl)

Cyclical succession in steppe lakes

Dramatic climate cycles – the

key driver of ecosystem

dynamics in Amur up-stream

Lake Barun-Torey

in wet and dry periods

Water transfer Hailaer-Dalaihu

May 2009

September 2009

Rivers without Boundaries

Look on web :

arguncrisis.ru

dauriarivers.org

ergunariver.cn

看网站

MONGOLIA

Torreylakes

Dalai lake

Buir lake

Hailaer

Argun

Khalkh

Kherlen

RUSSIA

CHINA

Protected areas that could be affected by the water diversion in China – occupy 1 000 000 ha.

Seriously affected

wetland ecosystems

occupy 380 000 ha

Cyclical re-distribution of bird

populations.

It makes little sense to protect one single wetland cluster in the Daurian Ecoregion,

since most of the area’s wildlife migrates among the steppe’s scattered wetlands

according to 30-year drought cycle patterns.

Amur/Heilong Green Belt –

IRBM and climate change adaptation

Establishment of Protected areas in RFE Ecoregion

5000

5500

6000

6500

7000

7500

8000

8500

9000

9500

1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003

Year

sq

uare

, th

ou

san

ds h

ecta

res

4

4,5

5

5,5

6

6,5

7

7,5

%

Square, thousands hectares

Rate from ecoregion,%

Amur Green Belt: 4,6 million ha of Protected areas created with WWF support in 1995-2008, including 997,000 ha of new protected wetlands

• 2 nature reserves• 3 national parks• 2 federal refuge• 23 provincial

refuges• 7 monument of

nature

1 World Heritage

15 Ramsar sites,

10 Biosphere NR

75 IBA

Amur: Nature Protected Areas

Protected areas in Amur River Basin, square km

0

20000

40000

60000

80000

100000

120000

140000

China Russia Mongolia

Provincial

National

Total - 212,555 sq.km (11%)

Gift to the Earth : new protected areas in 4 provinces of Amur-Heilong Basin

1997 – Khabarovsk

3,6 million hectares

1998 – Primorsky

1,8 million hectares

2000 – Amursky

1,4 million hectares

2005 – Heilongjiang

1,8 million ha

Existing examples of EconetWussuli/Ussury

Green Belt of PAs

Restoring Econet

on Alim River

Forest

Wetlands

Dauria达乌尔草原

Lesser Xingan

小兴安 岭:

龙江三峡

Lake Khanka

兴凯湖

Hunchun

荤春

Priority areas for transboundary cooperation

示范区域

Wandashan

完达山-锡霍特山

Wuma大兴安岭

北部

• Sanjiang-三江

Onon-Baldg

Amur IRBM Initiative

International Conference “Amur-2000”

2000 – Creation of

Amur Ecoregional

Council;

2002 – Approval of

Amur CAP;

2003 – Creation of

NGO Amur Coalition;

2003 - Creation of

Amur Basin

Coordination

Committee

2008 – Amur Ramsar

Regional Initiative

1992 – International Conference

“Cranes and Stork in Amur River”

Building partnerships – the only tool for IRBM implementation

17 NGOs, 9 research institutes, 16 nature reserves

50 000 participants in Amur marathon

Green Shield of Black Dragoon

The Friends of Amur

25 thousands participants

Amur Ambassadors

35 groups, 370 students

2008 – Ramsar Sites Year

2009 – Free Flowing Amur

IRBM approach – the only way to integrate

all conservation projects in Amur River

Basin and ensure sustainable development

under climate changing condition