forest and wildlife conservation essay

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Essay on “Forest and Wildlife Conservation” Complete Essay for Class 10, Class 12 and Graduation and other classes.

Forest and Wildlife Conservation

Synopsis :  Forests and wildlife are part and parcel of our precious and fragile environment and need protection and conservation  There are a couple of Acts which prohibit exploitation of endangered species of animals, birds den plants and yet the poachers are on the prowl and illegal hunting and killing of animals is being indulged in with impunity.  Because of fast shrinking forest-over and habitat come times wild animals like hyenas, tigers, wolves and leopards turn man-eaters and attack villages.  The large scale and indiscriminate destruction of forest has created a dangerous situation and alarm bells have started ringing.  Forests a swill life is very valuable and renewable sours of nature and need to be preserved protected and expanded at all costs.  Society forestry be practiced and popularized.  Depletion of forests also causes soil-erosion, floods, erratic rain-falls, droughts etc. More and more people, communities, tribal’s, non-government agencies etc. be involved in the work

            Protection and conservation of forests and wildlife are essential to maintain the earth’s health and environment.  The earth is the only known living planet and it is because of its special environment and ecology which are life-supporting.  Forests are part and parcel of our environment.  They are one of the most valuable resources and gifts of nature.  They play a key role in the maintenance of climate, rain-patterns, water and soil conservation.  They are the natural home of many types of animals, birds, reptiles, insects tic. They supply timber, fuel, medicines, wood for paper pulp and raw materials for many industries.  The increasing depletion and destruction of wildlife is a sauce of great concern.  On out of every seven persons of the world live in India. India has 16 per cent of the world’s population with only 2.4 per cent of its land area. 

            India is very rich both in flora and fauna but many plant and animal species are already extinct and many other are on the road to extinction.  In spite of various acts and rules-regulations against exploitation of wildlife, the real conservation has still a long way to cover.  India is a huge country and one of the major wildlife producer countries of the world and yet there is a skeleton staff to safeguard the interest of wildlife.  Poachers are on the prowl even in sanctuaries and protected forest areas.  They have become fertile influential people and traders in animal-skins, horns, etc.

            There is mindless destruction of forests for timber, firewood and fuel.  Every year there is a loss of about 1.3 hectares of forest areas in India because of large and indiscriminate clearing of forests fro cultivation, quarrying and large dams and irrigation projects.  Then there is intensive and indiscriminate logging for commercial purposes contractors and timber-merchants.  Over-grazing has also taken its toll.  The result is serious ecological imbalance and environment degradation.  There is much pressure on forests and the relation between men and forests has reached the lowest depth.

            The destruction and degradation of forests in upper regions like Himalayas causes such other ruins as erosion of top soil, erratic rainfall, and recurring floods.  Deforestation is a gate social and national evil and should be checked on priority basis.  It results in loss of productivity and environment degradation among much other harm.  Encroachment on forests should also be checked and, if possible, banned.  Non-government agencies, village communities, tribal’s etc. should be involved in social forestry and regeneration of degraded forest lands.  They should be allowed to share the benefits of these schemes in a judicious manner.  The forest and wildlife conservation laws shoals be made more stringent and practiced scrupulously.  Veerappan’s continued bloody trade in ivory and sandal-wood trade upsets all concerned.  Through the Nilgiris, it is now almost impossible to spot a large tusker.  The full clown assault on forest and wifely saddens all the Indians and wildlife lover in foreign countries. 

Essay No. 02

Dying Out Species

Endangered Species

Endangered species are living things whose population is so reduced that they are threatened with extinction. Thousands of species are included in this category. The International Union for the Conservation of nature and Natural Resources published a list of threatened mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and plants. Plants and animals hold medicinal, agricultural, ecological, commercial and aesthetic/recreational value. Endangered species must be protected and saved so that future generations can experience their presence and value. Millions of years before the birth of humans, extinction of living things was linked to geological and clii-nae, the effects of which were translated into major alternation of the environment. Environmental change is still the primary cause of the extinction of animals, but now the changes are greatly accelerated by human’s activity. Clearing land for farms and towns, lumbering, mining, building dams, and draining wetlands all alter the environments so extensively that ecosystems may be completely destroyed. With a burgeoning human population requiring food, shelter, and clothing and constantly demanding more energy-using devices, the temperation to exploit land for human use without regard for

consequences is great. Frequently, several forms of environmental change are responsible for the disappearance of species. For example, as tropical forests are cut down, primates have progressively smaller feeding and living spaces’. They also become more accessible to hunters, who kill animals for food and trap many primates for sale as pets, research animals,  and zoo specimens.

Some animal species may move into human communities when their own are destroyed. Extermination of marauding monkeys, roaming tigers, or foraging deer is easy to justify by people whose livelihood is threatened. Pollution is another form of environmental change. Forty species of birds in the United States, including peregrine hawk, bald eagle, pelicans, and roseate terns, lay thin-shelled as a result of ingesting degradation products of and some other chlorination hydrocarbon insecticides that make their way into the food chain. Species of salamanders in New England are dying out because the ponds in which they breed and the moist soil in which they must live are watered by acid rain (water that combines with pollutants in the air to form acid, sulfuric acid, and other corrosive compounds). Industrial waste dumped in the Mediterranean have so depleted the oxygen supply that some species of bacteria that decompose sewage have been wiped out and the nutrient cycles disturbed. Even the ocean environment has been altered by dumping. There are several species of birds and animals that have been exterminated or endangered as a result of humans killing the individuals for food. The Hawaiian state bird has also become extinct. The 22 finds of clams and 30 kinds of fish imperiled in the United States are probably all endangered by varying combinations of naturally changing environments, Pollution and over-harvesting. Whale are also on the endangered list. Whale hunting is often justified as supplying a

source of protein for protein-poor populations. Actually, whales supply only 1% of the protein needs of any countries, Such as  Japan, that is actively engaged in whaling. In the Soviet Union , whale meat is used to feed animals that are raised for their Pelts such as sable and mink.

 Thus, the wearer of a ram-h-raised Russian sable coat may have indirectly contributed to the ultimate disappearance of the great whales. Many species have been hunted to the point of extinction for their tiff, hides or feat hers. Include the big cats, alligators, kimonos, quetzel birds, eastern grey kangaroos, egrets, and bids of paradise. Many people and groups have taken measure to stop the killing of endangered species. Whether the species were killed deliberately, or by accident (in a oil pill) these groups are trying to stop the killing.

In conclusion, it can be said that endangered species can be as big as a blue whale or as small as a tiny little ant. The responsibility of saving them is on us.

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• Essay on Wildlife Conservation

500+ Words Essay on Wildlife Conservation

Going by the importance of climate change and associated topics are garnering importance worldwide, an essay on Wildlife Conservation for students in English is an expected topic in the English exams. To prepare well in advance Vedantu has brought this essay for you. It is written by experts having expertise in English. Enough data and content are brought to you so that you can recall maximum points in the exam. This will ensure you achieve amazing marks in the English examination.

Let’s Being with the Essay on Wildlife Conservation for Students in English

Like forests, wildlife consisting of animals, birds, insects, etc. living in the forest is a national resource, which not only helps in maintaining the ecological balance but is also beneficial for various economic activities that generate revenue from tourism. The rich flora and fauna also play a major role in maintaining the ecological balance of a region. There was a time when human needs were minimal and there was bare interference in the wildlife. There is no denying the fact that due to urbanization, pollution, and human interventions wildlife is rapidly disappearing from the planet.

Today the biodiversity of the world is threatened due to the extinction of species. There are thirty-five hotspots around the world, which supports 43% of birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians as endemic. The IUCN has compiled a list of species and has classified the different species under extinct, critically endangered, less endangered, vulnerable, near threatened, and least concerned. This list is called the Red Data Book. According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the number of birds, animals, marine and freshwater creatures has dropped by almost one-third of its earlier population.

Causes for Decline or Threat to Wildlife

One of the major reasons for the constant decline of wildlife is human’s ever-increasing demands and greed that have led to deforestation and habitat destruction. For development and urbanization, man has chopped down trees to build dams, highways, and towns and this has forced the animals to retreat further and further into the receding forests.

Rapid industrialization and urbanization due to the fast growth in population in recent decades have taken a heavy toll on wildlife. Global warming and extensive environmental pollution have largely threatened wildlife as they lead to habitat destruction and rising temperature.

There is a huge demand for animal fur, skin, meat, bone, etc. across the globe that has led to a decrease in the wildlife population. Poachers kill the animals for the illegal trading of their body parts. For example, elephants are massively poached for ivory, rhinoceros are poached in Assam for their horns. The desire to keep animals in captivity or their desire to consume certain animals as exotic food has resulted in the disappearance of many animal species such as tigers and deer.

Forest fires, food shortage, increase in the number of predators, extreme weather conditions and other extraneous reasons have led to the extinction and endangerment of many species. For instance, the recent forest fires in the Amazon (Brazil), Uttarakhand (India), Australia, etc. lead to the death of many animals every year. 

Many types of animals, birds, and fauna are needed to retain the ecological balance. They are considered necessary for scientific research and experiments that will benefit mankind.

Steps to Conserve Wildlife

The protection and conservation of wildlife is the need of the hour. Some conservation efforts which are widely implemented are given below:

Afforestation:

First and most importantly, humans need to have control over their needs. We need to prevent man from felling trees unnecessarily. Trees should be replanted if they are felled.

Pollution is one of the major causes that have led to the destruction of the habitat of animal species. Pollution of the environment like air pollution, water pollution, and soil pollution hurts the entire ecosystem. It has become of utmost importance to control environmental pollution.

More campaigns must be launched to raise awareness in humans on the need to keep our environment clean. A man should be responsible to maintain a healthy and balanced ecosystem so they should be cordial with the environment. More organizations like PETA should be set up to create awareness among people for the protection of wildlife.

Population:

The man should consciously put a check on the rapid growth of the population. The slow growth of population will decrease the rate of urbanization and that will have a major impact on the preservation of wildlife.

Wildlife Sanctuaries:

Wildlife sanctuaries should be made to ensure the protection of the areas of ecological significance. Under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 various provisions for protecting habitats of wildlife are made by constructing national parks and sanctuaries. These parks and sanctuaries ensure the protection and maintenance of endangered species.

Ban of Illegal Activities:

Illegal activities like hunting, poaching, and killing animals, birds, etc. for collections and illegal trade of hides, skins, nails, teeth, horns, feathers, etc. should be strictly prohibited and severe punishments and fines should be imposed on people who do these kinds of activities.

Community initiatives

Communities come together to take various conservation initiatives such as the establishment of community forests, raising their voice against illegal activities, creating awareness among the masses, raising voice for the rights of the animals, conserving animals of cultural significance, and many more. For example, members of the Bishnoi community of Rajasthan are very vocal against poaching activities in the region.    

Many countries have taken the initiative to help animals by proclaiming various birds and animals either as national animals or as protected species. In India, the government has launched a program of Joint Forest Management to protect the wildlife and their habitat. Under this program, responsibilities have been assigned to the village communities to protect and manage nearby forests and the wildlife in them.  Animal species have the right to live just like humans. Therefore, we should take every step to conserve them and ensure their survival and betterment.

Wildlife is an integral part of our planet. Wildlife plays a significant role in the ecology and the food chain. Disturbing their numbers or in extreme cases, extinction can have wide-ranging effects on ecology and humankind. Valuing and conserving forests and wildlife enhance the relation between man and nature. We want our future generation to be able to hear the lions roar and peacocks dancing with their extravagant feathers and not just see them in picture books. We must take steps today or else it will be too late and we should always remember 

“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's needs, but not every man's greed.”

-Mahatma Gandhi

FAQs on Essay on Wildlife Conservation

1. How is Wildlife Important for Humankind?

Wildlife comprises animals, birds, insects, and aquatic life forms. They provide us with a number of products, such as milk, meat, hides, and wools. Insects like bees provide us, honey. They help in the pollination of flowers and have an important role to play as decomposers in the ecosystem. The birds act as decomposers by feeding on insects. Birds like vultures are known as scavengers and cleansers of the environment by feeding on dead livestock. Thus, wildlife helps in maintaining ecological balance.

2. Why Should we Conserve Biodiversity?

We should conserve biodiversity because it is very significant for all living organisms and for the environment. We must conserve biodiversity to save it from becoming extinct.

3. Why are Animals Poached?

The animals are hunted and poached for collection and illegal trade of skins, fur, horns, skins, and feathers.

4. Write Two Steps that the Government has Taken to Conserve Wildlife.

The two steps that the government has taken to conserve wildlife are:

In order to conserve wildlife, the government has established national parks and wildlife sanctuaries, and biosphere reserves.

Many awareness programs are launched by the government to create awareness of protecting wildlife.

5. What is the importance of essays on Wildlife Conservation for students in English?

Essay on Wildlife Conservation is a topic given to students because it serves many purposes and holds a lot of importance in the present times. Before starting the essay, students will do adequate research to get enough data about the topic. In the process, they will learn a lot about wildlife conservation. While writing this essay they will learn to empathize with the plight of the animals. Also, they will become better at expressing themselves in written words by writing an essay on this topic as it is a very sensitive topic. This essay will not just help them in fetching excellent marks but it will also sensitize them about the current happenings.

6. What message does an essay on Wildlife Conservation for students in English carry?

Essay on Wildlife Conservation for students in English carries a very significant message that emphasizes the importance of the conservation efforts taken and that are needed. The essay talks about the efforts which have already been taken and are under implementation and it also talks about what needs to be done in the future. It also talks about why we need to conserve wildlife and what significance it holds. Overall the central message of the essay is to conserve and protect the wildlife as much as we can.  

7. What important points should be covered while writing an essay on Wildlife Conservation for students in English?

As such there are no rigid pointers that you need to cover while writing an essay on Wildlife Conservation, but you may use the following pointers for reference:

Definition of wildlife conservation

Explain the reasons for conserving the wildlife with valid points

Efforts that are taken by international agencies. This should also include various treaties and protocols signed 

Mention the efforts that are taken by the Indian government. Talk about various laws and legislations present.

Mention various provisions on the local level

Talk about various popular civil movements such as efforts undertaken by the Bishnoi Community

What can you do as students to conserve wildlife? Give suggestions and examples.

8. What steps taken by the government should be mentioned in the essay on Wildlife Conservation?

The Indian government has undertaken various measures to conserve wildlife in the country. You can mention some of these in the essay on Wildlife Conservation:

Wildlife Conservation Act, 1972

Schedules involved and protections provided to the animals

Conservation efforts for particular animals like tigers, elephants, etc.

Formation of various protected areas such as National Parks, Wildlife Sanctuaries, Biosphere reserves, etc.

Awards and accolades received by India on various international forums

Various international treaties and agreements were signed by India. 

Mention names of international grouping dedicated to conservation efforts whose India is a part of

You may refer to Vedantu’s forum to get more information about steps to conserve wildlife. 

9. In how many words should one write an essay on Wildlife Conservation?

Word count for writing an essay on Wildlife Conservation for students in English can vary depending on which standard the student is studying in. it can range from 300 words to 800 words. Accordingly, the level of writing and richness of the content should vary. You can refer to Vedantu’s guide on essays for further understanding the demand of any given topic. If the essay is being written by a student studying in class 10 then the essay should be data and opinion-driven. It should reflect the ideas and thoughts of the student that are substantiated with authentic data and valid reasons.

Essay on Conservation of Forest

Introduction to Conservation of Forest

Forests are vital ecosystems that cover about 31% of the Earth’s land surface, providing a home to countless species and serving as a source of livelihood for millions of people. However, deforestation, climate change, and unsustainable land use practices threaten these invaluable habitats. For example, the Amazon rainforest, often called the “lungs of the Earth,” is facing unprecedented levels of deforestation due to logging, agriculture, and infrastructure development. Conservation of forests is crucial not only for the preservation of biodiversity but also for maintaining ecological balance, regulating the climate, and ensuring the sustainability of resources for future generations. In this essay, we will explore the importance of forest conservation and the strategies for implementing them to protect these precious ecosystems.

Importance of Conserving Forests

Conserving forests is crucial for various reasons, as they play a vital role in maintaining the health of the planet and supporting life in numerous ways. Here’s a detailed description of the importance of conserving forests:

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• Biodiversity Conservation : Forests are home to over 80% of the world’s terrestrial biodiversity, including many plant and animal species found nowhere else. By conserving forests, we protect these species from extinction and help maintain the balance of ecosystems.
• Climate Regulation : Forests play a key role in regulating the Earth’s climate by absorbing carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere. Through the process of photosynthesis, trees remove CO2 and release oxygen, helping to mitigate the effects of climate change.
• Water Cycle Regulation : The water cycle is regulated mainly by forests. They help absorb and retain rainwater, reducing soil erosion and preventing flooding. Forests also help maintain the flow of rivers and streams, ensuring a steady water supply for both people and wildlife.
• Soil Conservation : Forests help maintain soil fertility by preventing erosion. The roots of trees hold the soil together, reducing the risk of landslides and keeping the soil quality for agriculture .
• Economic Benefits : Forests provide many economic benefits, including timber, non-timber forest products (such as fruits, nuts, and medicinal plants), and ecotourism opportunities. Conserving forests can help sustain these economic benefits in the long term.
• Cultural and Spiritual Significance : Forests hold cultural and spiritual significance for many indigenous communities worldwide. They are often considered sacred places and essential for rituals, ceremonies, and traditional practices.
• Medicinal Value : Many plant species found in forests have medicinal properties and are used in traditional medicine. Conserving forests ensures the preservation of these valuable resources for future generations.
• Carbon Sequestration : Forests act as carbon sinks, absorbing CO2 from the atmosphere and storing it in biomass. This helps reduce greenhouse gas concentration in the atmosphere, thereby mitigating climate change.
• Air Quality Improvement : Forests help improve air quality by absorbing pollutants and releasing oxygen. They play a crucial role in creating a healthy environment for both humans and wildlife.
• Sustainable Resource Management : By conserving forests, we can ensure the sustainable management of forest resources, such as timber and non-timber products, ensuring their availability for future generations.

Understanding Forest Ecosystems

Understanding forest ecosystems is crucial for effective forest conservation and management. Forest ecosystems are complex systems composed of various living organisms (biotic components) and non-living elements (abiotic components) that interact with each other and their environment. Here are some key components of forest ecosystems:

• Trees : Trees are the dominant vegetation in forest ecosystems and play a crucial role in shaping the ecosystem. They provide habitat for wildlife, regulate the climate, and contribute to soil fertility.
• Understory Vegetation : Beneath the canopy of trees, there is a layer of understory vegetation consisting of shrubs, herbs, and grasses. These plants provide food and shelter for many animal species.
• Soil : Soil is a vital component of forest ecosystems, providing nutrients, water, and support for plant growth. Healthy soil is essential for the health and productivity of forest ecosystems.
• Microorganisms : Microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi, and protozoa are crucial in nutrient cycling and decomposition in forest ecosystems. They break down organic matter, releasing nutrients that plants can use.
• Wildlife : Forest ecosystems are home to a diverse range of wildlife, including mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and insects. These animals play various roles in the ecosystem, such as pollination, seed dispersal, and nutrient cycling.
• Water Bodies : Many forest ecosystems contain rivers, streams, lakes, and wetlands. These water bodies are essential for providing water to plants and animals and supporting diverse aquatic species.
• Climate : Climate plays a significant role in shaping forest ecosystems. Temperature, precipitation, and seasonality influence the types of plants and animals that can thrive in a particular forest ecosystem.
• Disturbances : Natural events, such as wildfires, storms, and insect outbreaks, can negatively and positively impact forest ecosystems. They can create opportunities for new growth and regeneration but can also cause damage and loss of habitat.

Types of Forests

We can broadly categorize forests into several types based on their characteristics and the region they are found in because they are incredibly diverse. Here are some of the main types of forests:

• Tropical Rainforests : Near the equator, these forests, characterized by high rainfall and humidity levels, are found. They are known for their incredible biodiversity, with various plant and animal species.

• Tropical Seasonal Forests : These forests experience seasonal changes in rainfall, with a dry season and a wet season. They are found in regions where the climate is tropical but with distinct wet and dry periods.

• Temperate Deciduous Forests : Found in regions with moderate climates, these forests have trees that shed their leaves in the fall. They are known for their rich biodiversity in parts of North America, Europe, and Asia.

• Temperate Coniferous Forests : Found in colder regions with long winters and short summers, these forests are also known as boreal forests or taiga. Coniferous trees like pine, spruce, and fir dominate them.

• Montane Forests : In mountainous regions, these forests, characterized by their altitude, often have unique plant and animal species adapted to the cooler temperatures and higher elevations.

• Mangrove Forests : These forests thrive in saline water along coastal areas in tropical and subtropical regions. They provide essential habitats for fish and other marine life.

• Dry Forests : Found in dry climates, these forests are adapted to survive with limited water. Regions that experience seasonal droughts often host these forests.

• Cloud Forests : Characterized by their mossy trees and unique biodiversity, these forests thrive in mountainous areas with high humidity and frequent cloud cover.

Threats to Forests

Forests around the world are facing numerous threats, primarily due to human activities and environmental changes. Here are some of the major threats to forests:

• Deforestation : One of the most significant threats to forests is deforestation, which involves permanently removing trees to clear land for agriculture, logging, mining, and urban development. Deforestation leads to habitat loss and biodiversity loss and contributes to climate change.
• Illegal Logging : Illegal logging significantly contributes to deforestation and forest degradation. It involves the harvesting, transporting, and selling of timber, violating national laws and regulations.
• Climate Change : Climate change is affecting forests worldwide, leading to changes in temperature, rainfall patterns, and the frequency of extreme weather events. These changes can stress forest ecosystems and make them more vulnerable to pests, diseases, and wildfires.
• Forest Degradation : Forest degradation refers to the loss of forest quality and health due to factors such as logging, pollution, and invasive species. It can result in a drop in ecosystem services and biodiversity.
• Wildfires : Wildfires can cause significant damage to forests, destroying trees’ wildlife habitat and contributing to air pollution. Many regions expect climate change to increase the frequency and intensity of wildfires.
• Invasive Species : Invasive species can outcompete native species and disrupt forest ecosystems. They can reduce biodiversity and alter ecosystem functions.
• Urbanization and Infrastructure Development : Urbanization and infrastructure development, such as roads, dams, and mines, can lead to the fragmentation and loss of forest habitats.
• Agricultural Expansion : The expansion of agriculture, especially industrial agriculture, often involves clearing forests to make way for crops or livestock. This can lead to deforestation and biodiversity loss.
• Mining : Mining activities can have a significant impact on forests, leading to deforestation, soil erosion, and water pollution.
• Overgrazing : Overgrazing by livestock can damage forest ecosystems, leading to soil erosion, loss of vegetation, and degradation of habitat for wildlife.

Strategies for Forest Conservation

Forest conservation is crucial for maintaining biodiversity, mitigating climate change, and ensuring the sustainable use of forest resources. Here are some strategies for conserving forests:

• Protected Areas : Establishing protected areas such as national parks, wildlife reserves, and conservation areas can help protect forests from deforestation and other threats. These areas can also serve as important habitats for wildlife.
• Sustainable Forest Management : Implementing sustainable forest management practices, such as selective logging and reforestation, can help ensure forests’ long-term health and productivity while minimizing negative impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem services.
• Community-Based Conservation : Involving local communities in forest conservation efforts can help build support for conservation initiatives and ensure that conservation practices are culturally and economically sustainable.
• Forest Certification : Forest certification schemes, such as the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification, help promote sustainable forest management practices and responsible sourcing of forest products.
• Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) : REDD+ is a global initiative that aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation by providing financial incentives for forest conservation and sustainable management.
• Agroforestry : Agroforestry practices, which involve integrating trees into agricultural landscapes, can help improve soil fertility, increase biodiversity, and provide additional income for farmers while conserving forests.
• Law Enforcement and Anti-Poaching Efforts : Strengthening law enforcement and anti-poaching efforts can help reduce illegal logging, hunting, and other activities that threaten forest ecosystems.
• Education and Awareness : Educating people about the importance of forests and conservation benefits can help build support for conservation efforts and encourage sustainable practices.
• International Cooperation : International cooperation and partnerships are essential for addressing global issues such as deforestation and climate change. Collaboration between countries can help share knowledge, resources, and best practices for forest conservation.
• Research and Monitoring : Conducting research and monitoring forest ecosystems can help identify threats and assess the effectiveness of conservation strategies, leading to more informed decision-making.

Case Studies

Here are a few case studies highlighting successful forest conservation efforts from different parts of the world:

• Costa Rica’s Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) Program : Costa Rica’s PES program is one of the most successful conservation initiatives in the world. Launched in the late 1990s, the program incentivizes landowners to conserve forests by paying them for their forests’ ecosystem services, such as carbon sequestration, water regulation, and biodiversity conservation. As a result of this program, Costa Rica has seen a significant increase in forest cover, with over 50% of the country now covered by forests.
• Brazil’s Amazon Conservation Fund (ACF) : The ACF is a partnership between the Brazilian government, international donors, and local communities to reduce deforestation in the Amazon rainforest. The fund provides financial incentives to landowners and communities to adopt sustainable land-use practices and protect forests. Since its inception, the ACF has helped to reduce deforestation rates in the Brazilian Amazon by over 70%.
• Bhutan’s Community Forestry Program : Bhutan’s Community Forestry Program empowers local communities to manage and conserve forests in their areas. Under this program, communities are given legal rights to manage forests and benefit from sustainable forest management practices, such as agroforestry and ecotourism. As a result, Bhutan has seen increased forest cover and improved livelihoods for rural communities.
• The Bonn Challenge : The Bonn Challenge is a global initiative to restore 350 million hectares of degraded and deforested land by 2030. Countries and organizations worldwide have pledged to restore forests as part of this initiative, focusing on biodiversity conservation, climate change mitigation, and sustainable development. Successful case studies of forest restoration under the Bonn Challenge include projects in countries such as Rwanda, Indonesia, and Ethiopia.
• The Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative (Y2Y) : Y2Y is a transboundary conservation initiative aimed at preserving the Yellowstone to Yukon region’s ecological integrity, stretching from Yellowstone National Park in the United States to the Yukon Territory in Canada. The initiative focuses on protecting and connecting key habitats for wildlife, such as grizzly bears and wolves, by establishing wildlife corridors and protected areas. Y2Y has successfully brought together governments, Indigenous communities, conservation organizations, and other stakeholders to achieve a common conservation goal.

Future Outlook

The future outlook for forest conservation is challenging and hopeful, with ongoing efforts and emerging trends shaping the conservation landscape. Here are some key aspects of the future outlook for forest conservation:

• Continued Threats : Forests will continue to face threats such as deforestation, climate change, illegal logging, and habitat fragmentation. Addressing these threats will require concerted efforts and innovative solutions.
• Climate Change Impact : Climate change will have a significant impact on forests, altering their distribution, composition, and health. Forests must adapt to changing conditions, and conservation efforts must focus on building resilience and promoting adaptation strategies.
• Technological Advancements : Advances in technology, such as remote sensing, geographic information systems (GIS) , and artificial intelligence (AI) , will play an increasingly important role in forest conservation. These technologies can help monitor forests, detect deforestation, and support conservation planning and decision-making.
• Community Engagement : There is a growing recognition of the importance of engaging local communities in forest conservation efforts. Community-based approaches involving local people in decision-making and benefit-sharing will likely become more prevalent.
• Policy and Governance : Strengthening forest conservation governance frameworks will be critical. This includes implementing sustainable forest management practices, addressing illegal logging, and promoting transparency and accountability.
• Financial Mechanisms : Developing sustainable financing mechanisms for forest conservation will be essential. This includes exploring innovative financing mechanisms such as payments for ecosystem services (PES), carbon offset programs, and green bonds.
• International Cooperation : International cooperation will be crucial for addressing global challenges such as deforestation and climate change. Collaborative efforts among countries, organizations, and stakeholders will be needed to achieve meaningful conservation outcomes.
• Conservation and Development Integration : There is a growing recognition of the need to integrate forest conservation with sustainable development goals. Conservation efforts that benefit local communities and promote economic development are more likely to be successful in the long term.

The conservation of forests is essential for our planet’s health and future generations’ well-being. Forests are crucial in maintaining biodiversity, regulating the climate, and providing numerous ecosystem services. By conserving forests, we can protect valuable habitats, mitigate climate change, and ensure the sustainability of resources for both humans and wildlife. However, achieving effective forest conservation requires a collective effort involving governments, NGOs, local communities, and individuals. Only through collaborative action and a commitment to sustainable practices can we preserve our forests for the benefit of all.

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Essay on Forest Conservation

Students are often asked to write an essay on Forest Conservation in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Forest Conservation

What is forest conservation.

Forest conservation is the practice of keeping forests healthy and safe. It means protecting trees and the life they support from harm. This is important because forests give us clean air, water, and homes for many animals and plants.

Why Save Forests?

We must save forests because they are vital for life. They help control climate, give us oxygen, and are places where countless creatures live. Without forests, our planet would face serious problems, including more pollution and extinction of species.

How to Conserve Forests

To conserve forests, we can plant more trees and stop cutting them down unnecessarily. Laws can protect large forest areas. Everyone can help by recycling and using less paper.

Role of Communities

Local communities play a big role in forest conservation. They can take care of forests by using resources wisely and watching out for illegal activities like poaching and logging. Education helps communities understand the value of forests.

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250 Words Essay on Forest Conservation

Forest conservation means looking after forests to keep them safe and healthy. Forests are like big gardens with lots of trees, plants, and animals. When we protect these forests, we make sure that all the living things in them stay well and that the forests can continue to grow.

Why is Forest Conservation Important?

Forests are important for many reasons. They give us clean air because trees take in bad air and give out good air. They also give homes to animals and are places where many plants grow. Forests help in stopping floods and keeping the soil good for growing things. Without forests, it would be hard for us and animals to live.

How to Conserve Forests?

To keep forests safe, we can do things like not cutting down too many trees and planting new ones. We should not start fires in forests and be careful not to harm the animals living there. It’s also good to use less paper because it comes from trees. When we use less paper, we save trees.

Everyone’s Role

Everyone can help in keeping forests safe. Kids can learn about trees and tell others how important they are. Grown-ups can make rules to protect forests and make sure that people who use the land do not hurt the forests. If we all work together, we can keep our forests healthy for a very long time.

500 Words Essay on Forest Conservation

Why forests are important.

Forests are like giant air filters. They take in carbon dioxide, which is a gas that can make our planet too hot, and give out oxygen, which we need to breathe. Trees also help to clean the water when it rains, and they stop the soil from being washed away. Many people and animals live in forests, and they depend on them for food, shelter, and their way of life.

Threats to Forests

There are many things that can harm forests. Cutting down too many trees without planting new ones, fires, and diseases can destroy forests. Also, when we build too many roads or buildings, we take away space from the forests. Because of these threats, many forests are getting smaller, and some animals and plants are in danger of disappearing.

Ways to Conserve Forests

Protecting forest animals and plants.

Animals and plants that live in forests need our help to stay safe. We can create protected areas, like national parks, where no one is allowed to harm the trees or the creatures that live there. Scientists can also study forests to learn more about how to keep them healthy and help animals and plants that are having a hard time.

Everyone Can Help

Forest conservation is not just for adults or scientists. Everyone, including kids, can help. Learning about forests and how to take care of them is a good start. Kids can also join in on tree-planting days and teach their friends and family why forests are so important.

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ENCYCLOPEDIC ENTRY

Wildlife conservation.

Wildlife conservation aims to protect plant and animal species as the human population encroaches on their resources.

Biology, Ecology, Conservation, Storytelling, Photography

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Wildlife conservation is the practice of protecting plant and animal species and their habitats . Wildlife is integral to the world’s ecosystems , providing balance and stability to nature’s processes. The goal of wildlife conservation is to ensure the survival of these species, and to educate people on living sustainably with other species. The human population has grown exponentially over the past 200 years, to more than eight billion humans as of November 2022, and it continues to rapidly grow. This means natural resources are being consumed faster than ever by the billions of people on the planet. This growth and development also endangers the habitats and existence of various types of wildlife around the world, particularly animals and plants that may be displaced for land development, or used for food or other human purposes. Other threats to wildlife include the introduction of invasive species from other parts of the world, climate change, pollution, hunting, fishing, and poaching. National and international organizations like the World Wildlife Fund, Conservation International, the Wildlife Conservation Society, the United Nations, and National Geographic, itself, work to support global animal and habitat conservation efforts on many different fronts. They work with the government to establish and protect public lands, like national parks and wildlife refuges . They help write legislation, such as the Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973 in the United States, to protect various species. They work with law enforcement to prosecute wildlife crimes, like wildlife trafficking and illegal hunting (poaching). They also promote biodiversity to support the growing human population while preserving existing species and habitats. National Geographic Explorers, like conservation biologist Charudutt Mishra and conservation technologist Rebecca Ryakitimbo, are working to slow the extinction of global species and to protect global biodiversity and habitats. Environmental filmmakers and photographers, like Thomas P. Peschak and Joel Sartore, are essential to conservation efforts as well, documenting and bringing attention to endangered wildlife all over the world.

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Wildlife Conservation Essays

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Home — Essay Samples — Environment — Environmental Protection — Wildlife Conservation

Essay Types and Topics

Argumentative essay topics.

• The impact of climate change on wildlife conservation efforts
• Government policies and their influence on wildlife protection
• The ethical debate surrounding zoos and wildlife preservation

Example Paragraph: Climate change poses a significant threat to the world's wildlife, leading to habitat loss and species extinction. In this essay, we will explore the impact of climate change on wildlife conservation efforts and the urgent need for proactive measures to protect vulnerable species.

Example Paragraph: It is evident that climate change poses a grave threat to wildlife conservation. By implementing sustainable practices and raising awareness, we can work towards a future where wildlife thrives in a changing environment.

Compare and Contrast Essay Topics

• The conservation efforts for marine wildlife versus land-based species
• The impact of human activity on urban and rural wildlife habitats
• The similarities and differences in conservation approaches across different countries

Descriptive Essay Topics

• An exploration of a wildlife sanctuary or conservation area
• The behavior and habitat of a specific endangered species
• The intricate ecosystem of a rainforest and its conservation challenges

Persuasive Essay Topics

• The importance of sustainable living in wildlife conservation
• The role of community involvement in protecting wildlife habitats
• The need for stricter laws to combat illegal wildlife trade

Narrative Essay Topics

• A personal experience with wildlife conservation efforts
• An imaginary journey to a world without wildlife protection
• The inspiring story of a successful wildlife rehabilitation program

Engagement and Creativity

Essay writing is an opportunity to explore your interests and critical thinking skills. We encourage you to choose a topic that resonates with you and to approach your writing with creativity and enthusiasm. Your unique perspective and passion for the subject can greatly enhance the quality of your essay.

Educational Value

Each essay type offers valuable learning outcomes. Argumentative essays develop analytical thinking and persuasive writing skills, while compare and contrast essays foster critical analysis and organizational abilities. Descriptive essays enhance your observational and descriptive abilities, while persuasive essays strengthen your ability to influence and persuade. Narrative essays encourage the development of storytelling and narrative techniques.

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Wildlife conservation refers to the practice of protecting wild species and their habitats in order to maintain healthy wildlife species or populations and to restore, protect or enhance natural ecosystems.

Major threats to wildlife include habitat destruction, degradation, fragmentation, overexploitation, poaching, pollution and climate change.

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• Waste Management
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Wildlife conservation in Kenya

Kenya is one of the most popular safari destinations in the world, with good reason. You can find a vast array of incredible plants and wildlife there, including the famous Big 5—lions, elephants, buffalo, rhinos, and leopards—and the wildebeest migration, known as a wonder of the modern world. Its biodiversity makes Kenya an integral part of global wildlife conservation efforts.

Let’s examine why Kenya has such incredible biodiversity and learn about some of the ways IFAW is working to protect Kenyan landscapes and wildlife.

Kenya’s vibrant wildlife

Kenya is home to an estimated 30,000 different animal and plant species, making it one of the ten most biodiverse countries on the planet. The majority of those species, about 25,000, are invertebrates—animals without a backbone, such as insects and worms—but there are also some familiar faces, including the Big 5 African mammals. Kenya boasts of 1,100 bird species, 315 mammals, 191 reptiles, 180 freshwater fish, 692 saltwater fish, and 88 amphibians. Out of these, some of the most iconic and endangered animal species include black and white rhinos , giraffes , Grevy’s zebras , and African savannah elephants .

In addition to these iconic large mammals, you can find some physically unique animals in Kenya . One example is the dik-dik , a dwarf antelope species which reaches a maximum of 45 centimeters (17.7 inches) tall. You might also find the elephant shrew , a small rodent that hops like a rabbit. Some are endemic, such as the critically endangered Taita apalis , and migratory birds, such as the osprey .

Kenya’s protected landscapes

Kenya lies in East Africa and is almost equally divided into two by the equator. It is approximately 580,000 square kilometers (223,939 square miles), with a lengthy coastline along the Indian Ocean. In addition to the iconic savannahs, the country has mountains, forests, deserts, and even swamps. These varied ecosystems give Kenya varied macro-climates that provide optimal conditions for the survival of different plant and animal communities.

Wildlife conservation is important in Kenya, and about 12% of the total land mass has some form of protection. In total, 8% is defined as either parks or reserves, with 23 national parks and 28 national reserves on land. There are also four marine national parks and six marine national reserves.

Communities derive benefits from these national reserves, such as fish, fuel wood, non-timber forest products, and pasture for livestock during prolonged droughts. The protection status of national parks allows for non-consumptive utilisation only such as tourism, research, and photography. With Kenya’s population expected to reach 57.8 million by 2030, human impact on the environment and natural resources is an issue of major concern.

Animals are protected while they remain within one of these protected areas, but many animals leave national parks and reserves as part of migrations or in search of food and water. This freedom means they can then come into close contact—and sometimes conflict —with humans.

IFAW’s wildlife conservation work in Kenya

Given Kenya’s incredible biodiversity, it’s no surprise that the IFAW has been heavily invested in conservation efforts for 25 years here. Here are some of our key projects and achievements.

Room to Roam

Localized protections have been an important feature of wildlife conservation for decades, but they don’t always meet the needs of larger animals such as elephants. Elephants can travel up to 195 kilometers (121 miles) per day and must migrate across huge distances to find food.

IFAW’s Room to Roam initiative aims to work with these needs rather than against them. We’re building a matrix of connected, protected habitats across southern and East Africa for elephants to safely roam.

Community involvement is key to Room to Roam’s success. IFAW works with the people living closest to the animals and habitats we strive to protect. Our approach is to work with these communities to develop strategies to promote coexistence between people and wildlife—empowering communities from the ground up.

We’re supporting the creation of climate-resilient landscapes by restoring the natural biodiversity of Kenya’s ecosystems. These offer protection from the effects of climate change and vital resources, allowing wild animals and humans to thrive.

Jenga Mama: Empower a woman

IFAW works to empower communities to protect wildlife through the pursuit of wildlife-friendly livelihoods. Jenga Mama —Swahili for ‘Empower a Woman’—is one of these projects.

Women play key roles in providing for their families, and in rural communities, this means utilizing natural resources for food and shelter. The struggle to generate enough income can lead to conflict with wildlife or result in an over-exploitation of nature.

Jenga Mama is a trailblazing education project working with a group of 60 women from Kenya’s Maasai community. The women are taught vocational skills, including dressmaking and catering, as well as the entrepreneurial skills they need to set up their own businesses.

With their new businesses, these women can support their families, easing the tensions between their communities and wildlife. They can also become advocates for wildlife within their communities.

Team Lioness

Women are also at the forefront of our wildlife conservation efforts in Team Lioness . Team Lioness is one of the first all-women ranger units in Kenya and consists of 17 young Maasai women who are dedicated to protecting animals in community land surrounding Amboseli National Park.

As the members of Team Lioness come from the same community they patrol, they can utilise their social networks to gather information that aids in carrying out their wildlife security duties. These rangers are the first women in their families to have professional employment, proving to the community that protecting wildlife is beneficial to people and animals.

Team Lioness are on the front line of conservation and combating wildlife crime, as first responders to human-wildlife conflict incidents, protecting elephants , lions , giraffes , cheetahs , and other key species. They’re countering the threat of poaching and working within their local communities to prevent human-wildlife conflict and spread awareness. 

Conserving coastal Kenya’s marine life

Kenya might be best known for lions, elephants, and other land animals, but we’re also doing essential work protecting coastal ecosystems and the animals that rely on them. Just like the land, the Kenyan coastline has incredible biodiversity and many endangered species.

Kenya’s five marine turtle species are all classified as endangered or critically endangered. They live alongside whales , dolphins , dugongs , sharks , and rays in these waters. All of these animals are at risk from overfishing, loss of mangrove cover, and climate change .

We’ve been providing training to government workers to share strategies for marine conservation and supporting research to understand how the populations of these animals are changing over time. In March 2024, IFAW facilitated the first marine mammal workshop in Kenya , training fishermen, beach management units, members of dive clubs and community-based organizations, rangers working within Kenya’s marine parks, and officials from the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI) on the best practices in marine mammal management and conservation.

Together with coastal communities, we are helping diversify livelihoods to reduce overfishing and improve waste management to protect animals from poisoning, harm, and hazardous objects.

Even simple steps can have a large impact , such as increasing awareness among fishermen about the benefits of proper lines and nets rather than re-purposing mosquito nets. This prevents other species from becoming collateral damage through bycatch.

Supporting wildlife rangers

Illegal poaching and other wildlife crimes represent a huge risk to many of Kenya’s endangered animals. We collaborate extensively with communities to combat these various threats.

Within the Amboseli-Tsavo-Kilimanjaro landscape , we support the Olgulului Community Wildlife Rangers . This includes providing them with non-lethal supplies and equipment to protect themselves and animals. In addition, we provide support to ranger welfare and that of their families, including additional housing, supplies, and education. We also support rangers in Loita, Kenya, from the Ilkimpa Community Conservation Association (ICCA).

We’re also working closely with enforcement agencies on the laws around wildlife crime and empowering teams on the ground to enforce those laws. We’re helping with innovative ways to identify illegal activity and take action quickly to avoid further harm to wildlife.

Where criminal acts are identified, we support the judicial system to ensure that wildlife crimes are successfully prosecuted and the perpetrators punished. This directly protects animals from those individuals and discourages others from harming wildlife for profit.

As part of these efforts, we support the counter-poaching efforts of the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) air wing.

Supporting alternative livelihoods

We want to offer communities powerful, sustainable alternatives to poaching and other income sources that impact wildlife. We’ve partnered with the private sector to help young people in key villages have a brighter future.

As part of this project, we’ve helped people enter the formal financial system and earn an income from commerce or tourism. We’ve trained others in better agricultural techniques and improved their crop yields.

Education is at the heart of much of our work. We’ve been able to support 66 students through high school and university. These students have studied subjects ranging from business to medicine, but they’re all bringing their knowledge and talents back to support their communities.

Mitigating human-wildlife conflict

Not all threats to wildlife come from poaching. Conflict can sometimes occur as people and animals share scarce resources like water and food, predators threaten livestock, and elephants crop raid agricultural land. We work together with communities and rangers to find helpful solutions for peaceful coexistence with wildlife.

In collaboration with USAID , Big Life Foundation , Amboseli Ecosystem Trust (AET), Taita Taveta Wildlife Conservancies Association (TTWCA), and Tsavo Trust , we’ve created 55 local wildlife conservancies which reduce or eliminate human-wildlife conflict. This incredible project has protected the livelihoods of over 90,000 people—without harming wildlife.

Combating wildlife trafficking

IFAW and our partners, the African Wildlife Foundation and Kenya Wildlife Service, have been working together to fight criminals who are trying to traffic animals across the Kenya-Tanzania border, supported by funding from the US State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), and Delegation of the EU to Kenya. We’re improving law enforcement capabilities through the use of DNA evidence and digital technologies.

Ultimately, we want to put an end to wildlife crime . Supporting both law enforcement and local communities offers us the best chance to achieve that goal.

IFAW is making huge strides in wildlife conservation in Kenya, but we can’t do it without your help. Join our effort to protect these incredible animals by donating now or finding out how you can take action for animals .

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• Conservation Of Forest And Wildlife Overview

Conservation Of Forest And Wildlife - Overview

Table of Contents

Conservation of Forest Wildlife Conservation Reasons Why Forests and Wildlife Matter Key Points on Conservation of Forest and Wildlife

Ever since humans evolved, we have changed the land cover of the earth gradually. Consequently, one of the most pressing issues today is the conservation of forest. However, we need to understand the definition of the forest first:

“Forests are defined as large areas of land with trees.”

There are over 800 definitions of forest that are used around the world. And it is not necessary that an area has to be populated with trees for it to be deemed as a forest. And in some cases, an area can be legally designated as a forest, regardless of the type of local vegetation.  Overall, forests are the natural habitat of large scale wildlife, growth of trees, shrubs and different variety of plants which, unfortunately, are dwindling every year. Hence, conservation of forest is an important responsibility that all of us have to undertake.

Almost 31% of the earth’s land surface is covered by forests. According to a 2015 report, 23% of India’s land cover consists of the forest region. Trees and plants in the forest are an integral part of the ecosystem. It sustains life on the planet, provides clean air and shelter. Also, forests help conserve biodiversity.

Forests provide many resources such as food, medicine, fabric, and raw materials. Apart from keeping a check on the global temperature, forests also contribute towards preventing soil from getting eroded and shelters more than 80% of the animal species and terrestrial biodiversity. They also aid in improving the socioeconomic aspects of a country.

Wildlife refers to the animal species that are not domesticated. So, any living organism that lives in the forest region is associated with wildlife. It is found in almost all ecosystems such as rainforests, boreal forests, plains, grasslands, deserts etc. Wildlife provides great stability to our environment wherein they are involved in natural processes either directly or indirectly. Each living organism is placed in the food chain and is equally important, they may be a producer, a consumer or a decomposer, all these are interlinked and depend on each other for their survival.

Also Read:  Forests-Our Lifeline

Let us have a detailed look at the conservation of forest and wildlife.

Conservation of Forest

Conservation of forest is the practice of planting more trees and maintaining the forested areas for the sustainability for future generations. Forests are an important natural resource and are beneficial to humans in several ways. But due to increasing deforestation activities, it has become essential to conserve forests throughout the world. Deforestation is the permanent destruction or loss of forests for the expansion of lands for agriculture, livestock, etc. The process of destructing forests for the expansion of agricultural land is referred to as shifting cultivation.

Following are some of the major steps for conservation of forest:

• With the advent of industrialization, several trees have been cut at an alarming rate for raw materials and various other purposes. This felling of trees can be regulated by selective cutting, clear-cutting and shelterwood cutting.
• Forest fires are one of the common causes of loss of forests. Sometimes the forest land is set on fire to make the land available for commercial purposes. Once cleared, there can be no vegetation. Natural forest fires are also responsible for the destruction of huge forest covers. Latest fire fighting techniques should be adopted to conserve the forest. However, forest fires are an important part of the ecosystem and it helps replenish nutrients in the soil from dead and decaying matter.
• More trees should be planted to increase the forest cover. Trees should be selected according to the geographical conditions of a particular region and proper care should be taken during the growth of trees.
• Prevention of exploitation of forestry and forest products is necessary for the conservation of forest.
• The existing forests should be protected from diseases by spraying chemicals, antibiotics or development of pest-resistant strains of trees.

Also Read: E ndangered Species

Wildlife Conservation

Why is it necessary to save our wildlife, after all, they are just animals and plants?

Wildlife is a very important and vital aspect of our ecosystem . Listed below are a few of the reasons stating the importance of wildlife conservation:

• Important for their medicinal values : More than one-third of our pharmaceutical needs are catered by wild plants. Forests provide great scope for breakthroughs in the field of medical science and technology along with the requirements for the large-scale manufacture of antibiotics and other medicines for therapeutic uses.
• Helps keep our environment healthy: They are responsible for maintaining temperatures globally, thereby fighting against the greenhouse effect and in turn preventing the sea levels to rise sharply.
• Important to maintain ecological balance: the interdependence of plants and animals is very essential
• Economical importance: Fossil fuels obtained from forests help in the economic growth of the country, which in turn contributes towards a better standard of living.
• Helps preserve biodiversity: There are thousands of species that take shelter in these huge forests.
• Microorganisms in wildlife take part in nitrogen fixation, thus, bringing about an increase in the levels of soil fertility

Also Read:  Wildlife Sanctuary

Reasons Why Forests and Wildlife Matter

There is an absolute need to save our flora and fauna in the forests for the following reasons:

• It is all about breathing: Without oxygen, no living organisms can survive. Roughly 20.9% of earth’s gases consist of oxygen and dependence on oxygen is higher, hence plants are essential.
• It plays a specific and significant role in the carbon cycle by absorbing carbon dioxide during photosynthesis.
• It is home for different species: Modernization has caused deforestation. This has led many animals to become homeless, leading to the death of these animals in most cases because of unfavorable conditions.
• Provides employment: Forests provide a source of livelihood to millions around the world. Raw materials that can later be sold come from these forests.
• Forests provide wood: Wood serves as an important raw material for manufacturing industries as well as commercial purposes not only animals and plants, millions of people still live in the forests and in its vicinity. They survive from the abundant resources that forests have to offer.
• Rescue during natural disasters: Vegetation in forests helps during floods as they seep in and absorb all the water, thereby preventing damage to infrastructure.
• Helps regulate climatic conditions: Forests play a key role in bringing about a balance in the atmospheric temperature.
• Biodiversity at its best: To get a closer view of life, visit a forest. Forests, as we know are home to thousands of species.
• Forests also provide great scope for exploration for science enthusiasts.
• Entertainment: Forest areas these days have been turned into adventure spots to help people get a first-hand experience of wildlife.

Also Read:  Flora and Fauna

Key Points on Conservation of Forest and Wildlife

• Deforestation also referred to as degradation or loss of forests needs to be controlled or hopefully stopped.
• Fuelwood and timber should be used wisely and not wasted.
• Forest fire needs to be monitored and damage control measures need to be taken at the right time. Every year, lakhs of trees are destroyed because of forest fires. 2018 saw one of the deadliest wildfires ever in the history of California causing severe damage to property and life.
• Measures and interest need to be channelled towards regrowing trees and increasing the land cover for forests. Reforestation and afforestation need to be promoted throughout the world.
• Proper forest management bodies need to be enforced to monitor wildlife actions and update on the latest.
• Care and habitation need to be provided to extinct species and efforts need to be taken to save them from becoming extinct.

Also Read:  Forests

Stay tuned with BYJU’S to learn more about the conservation of forest and wildlife, how to reduce or  prevent loss of forests and other related topics@  BYJU’S Biology

Frequently Asked Questions

What steps should be taken to conserve forests.

The forests can be conserved in the following manner:

• Introducing afforestation programs.
• Controlling forest fires.
• Proper utilization of forest resources.
• Proper care should be taken to protect the forests from pests and diseases.

Why is it beneficial to conserve forests?

Forests provide us with a variety of resources such as wood, timber, fibre and other raw materials for domestic as well as commercial purposes. They absorb the harmful carbon dioxide gas and maintain the earth’s temperature. They also hold the soil firmly and prevent erosion of soil. This is why it is beneficial to conserve forests.

How can we conserve wildlife?

Wildlife can be conserved by:

• Developing protective areas such as national parks, wildlife sanctuaries to protect the animals in their natural habitat.
• The endangered and vulnerable species can be kept in captivity in places such as zoos and bred to increase their population.
• The cutting of forests should be strictly prohibited. It is an abode of a variety of wild animals.
• Hunting of wild animals should be banned.

Why is it beneficial to protect wildlife?

Wild animals form a part of the food chain. They are responsible for maintaining a balance in the ecosystem. In order to maintain an ecological balance, the wildlife needs to protect.

What are the reasons that have led to wildlife destruction?

Wildlife destruction is caused due to:

• Increasing demand for hides and meat has led to the hunting of animals.
• Cutting down of forests has led to the scarcity of food and space that has killed many animals.
• Frequent floods and earthquakes are the natural causes of wildlife destruction.

What will happen if all the forests are destroyed?

Forests are the major part of an ecosystem. They are an abode to various plants and animals. They maintain environmental balance by inhaling carbon dioxide and regulating rainfall. They provide food and space to animals that help to maintain the ecological balance. If all the forests are destroyed, it will have a severe impact on the environmental balance. There will be frequent earthquakes and floods. The temperature of the earth will rise enormously. Life on earth will be impossible.

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National parks and other protected areas often fail to conserve Earth’s forests, research finds

Senior lecturer in Economics / Institute for Climate Risk and Response, UNSW Sydney

Disclosure statement

Timothy Neal does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

UNSW Sydney provides funding as a member of The Conversation AU.

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The destruction of nature is a global crisis. Establishing protected areas of forest is a common policy governments use to tackle the problem.

Indeed most countries, including Australia, have signed a global agreement to protect 30% of land by 2030. But to what extent do protected areas, such as national parks and nature reserves, actually preserve forests?

My new research examined this question. The findings are the first global-scale estimate of where protected areas are succeeding and failing.

Alarmingly, I found protected areas fail to prevent forest loss in many parts of the world. Clearly, we must make these areas more effective to conserve the remaining diversity of Earth’s plants and animals.

Probing protected areas

Forests are often destroyed through human activity such as logging with chainsaws or the deliberate use of fire . The aim is usually to extract timber, or to clear land for agriculture, roads, housing or other human purposes.

Natural bushfires can also damage forests. In some cases, ecosystems are so badly burnt they cannot recover . There’s a link to human activity here too, because human-caused climate change is leading to more severe, frequent, and wider-ranging bushfires in places such as Australia.

I wanted to know how well protected areas prevent forests from being lost.

To work this out, I first took a map that covers the precise boundaries of about 300,000 of the world’s protected areas. I overlaid it with high-resolution satellite data from between 2001 and 2022 showing forest loss just inside and just outside these boundaries.

This method assumed if forest loss was much higher just outside the boundary of a protected area than inside, the protection was working.

Conversely, if forest loss was relatively similar inside and outside the boundary, that shows the protection did not have a strong effect.

This idea can apply even if forest loss on both sides of the boundary is low – because it suggests the area is remote or otherwise not sought-after for human activity. In these cases, we have no evidence that protection is effective, because the forest probably would have been retained even if the protection wasn’t in place.

What I found

I found protected areas prevent an average 30% of forest loss that would have occurred if the policy was not in place. Forest loss occurred in protected areas in all countries – including Australia – but less frequently than in unprotected forest.

The 30% figure is discouragingly low. But it does indicate protected areas are effective to some degree. And effectiveness varies significantly across countries, as the below graphic shows.

The policy is almost completely ineffective in many countries, including Indonesia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Bolivia, Venezuela, Madagascar, Russia and Gabon. Several of these countries house vast amounts of the planet’s remaining biodiversity. Most, but not all, are developing economies.

In the case of forest loss due to fire, protected areas in advanced economies were also ineffective in some cases.

Australia is a good example. Protected areas here were fairly effective from 2001 to 2018. But the horrific 2019–20 Black Summer fires burned indiscriminately through large swathes of protected forest.

In better news, protected areas were highly effective in some areas, such as New Zealand, Canada, Scandinavia and the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania).

What this all means

My research illustrates the large improvements needed in many protected areas across the globe to genuinely conserve forests. More research is also needed to understand the best policies to achieve this, before it’s too late.

Developing countries clearly need help to protect their forests. Corruption, political instability, and a lack of resources can make it difficult for governments in these nations to enforce forest conservation laws. Government indifference can also play a role .

How do we turn this around? Schemes such as REDD+ , which pays local communities to conserve forest that may otherwise be cleared, could be scaled up .

Foreign aid for forest conservation, from countries such as Australia , can also help. And non-government organisations such as African Parks can put rangers on the ground to help patrol and enforce the integrity of protected areas.

Technology such as real-time deforestation alerts from satellite data can also help .

My findings also highlight the threat climate change poses to forest ecosystems in Australia and elsewhere. Obviously, fire does not respect the boundaries of a national park or other protected area.

So yes, it’s great to see governments around the world signing up to protect 30% of their land . But my work shows attention is needed to make sure those protected areas are working.

• National parks
• Protected areas
• Deforestation
• land clearing
• special protected areas

Professor of Indigenous Cultural and Creative Industries (Identified)

Communications Director

Associate Director, Post-Award, RGCF

University Relations Manager

2024 Vice-Chancellor's Research Fellowships

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A ranger patrols Kahuzi-Biega National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Alexis Huguet / AFP via Getty Images

Fortress Conservation: Can a Congo Tribe Return to Its Forest?

An African Union ruling finds that parts of a Congo national park should be returned to the Batwa people, who were evicted decades ago. Advocates say the ruling must be implemented and that the Batwa will need support to protect the park’s rare gorillas and other wildlife.

By Fred Pearce • September 17, 2024

A landmark ruling from the African Union, the continent’s foremost intergovernmental body, has called into question who should run many of its 250-plus national parks, home to much of its unique wildlife.

In late July, the union’s African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights ruled, after nine years of deliberation, that the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) should hand back parts of the giant Kahuzi-Biega National Park in the forested east of the country to its ancestral owners, the Batwa people.

Such a restitution would right a terrible injustice, executed in the name of conservation. In the 1970s, after the park was established, the government expelled some 6,000 Batwa without consultation from the highland region of the park and revoked their customary land rights. The exiles were left landless and without compensation. To this day, many live in roadside squatter camps, often secretly entering the park to collect firewood, hunt for food, and practice rituals.

“This is an incredibly important ruling, which will impact the thinking and discourse on conservation and land rights across Africa,” says Deborah Rogers, a former ecologist with the Nature Conservancy who has a long-standing interest in the park and is now president of the Initiative for Equality, a network of activist organizations. “It will set a legal precedent among member states of the African Union.”

The ruling “recognizes an Indigenous Peoples’ crucial role in safeguarding the environment and biodiversity,” advocates say.

The U.K.-based Forest Peoples Programme has estimated that Indigenous peoples and other forest dwellers have lost more than 400,000 square miles across Africa — an area the size of Texas and California combined — as a result of these “green grabs.”

The Minority Rights Group, an international advocacy organization that helped bring the case to the commission, calls the ruling a “huge win” against “fortress conservation.” For the first time, the group notes, the commission’s ruling “recognizes an Indigenous Peoples’ crucial role in safeguarding the environment and biodiversity.”

Joshua Castellino, the group’s co-executive director, says the ruling “hopefully establishes a new standard of African protection that can be extended to other instances across the continent and the world.”

But Joseph Itongwa, the executive director of ANAPAC RDC, a Congolese alliance of local organizations advocating for Indigenous rights, urges caution, noting there is no guarantee the ruling will be implemented. “This is an important step for the promotion of our rights,” he says. “But it is not binding. We have not seen, or yet know, of any official reactions from the government.”

Some observers question whether decades after being forced off their lands, the Batwa are prepared to manage the park for conservation and protect its critical species, including one of the world’s last populations of eastern lowland gorillas.

Batwa celebrate the African Commission ruling in the town of Kalehe this month. Forest Peoples Programme.

And some key players are biding their time. The New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), which has been helping to manage the Kahuzi-Biega National Park area since before its inception and has been effectively in charge since 2022, says it “takes note” of the ruling. But it declined to answer questions from Yale Environment 360 about whether it supports the ruling or will help to implement it.

But a Batwa elder now based in Bukavu near the park, who answered on condition of anonymity, explained why the ruling was so important to the tribe. “Our traditional lands in the park are numerous, because each clan has its own hills. Among these hills, there are sacred sites where we communicated with the ancestors and communed with the forest, which we consider to be the nourishing mother. These lands our are identity. To deprive us of them is to exterminate us.”

The African Commission’s ruling is legally significant. It finds that the DRC government has violated 11 articles on human rights in the African Charter, to which it is a signatory. These include the rights of the Batwa to life, property, natural resources, development, health, religion, and culture. And it calls on the government to adopt into law as soon as possible “an effective mechanism for the delimitation, demarcation and titling of the territory traditionally occupied by the Batwa and the various natural resources attached to it in accordance with their tradition,” and to annul all laws “prohibiting the presence of the Batwa on ancestral lands and the enjoyment of the fruits of these lands.”

The forced eviction of Indigenous people has often been planned, helped, and funded by Western conservation groups.

The African Union has endorsed the commission’s decision, but it is far from clear how the Congolese government will respond. According to an attorney based in Bukavu, who is part-Batwa and has been following the case closely, the government has all along attempted to thwart the commission’s investigation. “It has never responded to correspondence addressed to it by the Commission, nor appeared before it, even though it is a signatory member of the African Charter.” (Neither the commission nor the DRC government has responded to requests for comment.)

The attorney, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation, says the commission “does not have the power to enforce its recommendations,” but two other courts on human and peoples’ rights linked to the African Union do have such powers. “If the DRC government continues to show bad faith, we will ask them to issue binding decisions,” the attorney says.

The forced eviction of Indigenous people, such as the Batwa, from their ancestral lands across Africa has been widespread for decades. Usually carried out in the name of conservation, it has in the past often been planned, helped, and funded by Western conservation groups such as the WCS and World Wildlife Fund (WWF). The Batwa of Central Africa have particularly suffered.

Batwa villagers on the edge of Kahuzi-Biega National Park. Mathias Rittgerott / RdR

Physical violence has been frequent. In 2020, the U.N. Development Programme concluded that WWF had for years funded park guards that it knew inflicted violence on Baka people in the region’s parks. The U.S. government subsequently withdrew funding for the organization’s work in the region.

The exposure of such atrocities has come at the same time as evidence has accumulated globally that Indigenous Peoples, often denigrated as forest destroyers, are more usually forest guardians — more effective conservationists than the park managers who often replace them.

The benefits of their custodianship should not be exaggerated. U.N. agencies and others claim that 80 percent of the world’s biodiversity is in Indigenous territories. A commentary in the journal Nature this month — signed by Indigenous people and rights activists as well as ecologists — contends there is no evidence to support this claim. But the authors say their questioning of the statistic should not “detract from the essential, and verifiably considerable, part that Indigenous Peoples play in the conservation of the planet’s biodiversity,” noting “their lands include more than a third of the world’s intact forest landscapes.”

“The Batwa are used as scapegoats when illicit activities are discovered in the park,” says a conservationist.

So the ruling by the African Commission on the land rights of the Batwa in the Kahuzi-Biega National Park, an epitome of attempted fortress conservation, is being seen by many as a wider adjudication.

Leaving aside its symbolic importance, the Kahuzi-Biega park is an important biodiversity hotspot. Named after the two extinct volcanoes at its heart, it sits within the world’s second largest rainforest, covering the Congo Basin and highlands around the Great Lakes of Central Africa. It covers 2,300 square miles and is home to 14 species of primates, including chimpanzees and one of the last groups of eastern lowland gorillas. UNESCO made it a World Heritage Site and calls it “one of the ecologically richest regions of Africa.”

But almost since its designation in 1970 and the subsequent expulsion of its Batwa inhabitants, the park has been in trouble. Park guards have been unable to repel repeated incursions from non-Batwa people. These have included Hutu refugees from the 1994 genocide in neighboring Rwanda, and militias hiding there during the two civil wars in eastern DRC later that decade. It was during this period that a rapid decline in gorillas and elephants occurred, resulting in UNESCO in 1997 putting the park on its list of endangered World Heritage Sites, where it remains today.

Kahuzi-Biega National Park is home to one of the world's last populations of eastern lowland gorillas.. Alexis Huguet / AFP via Getty Images

Many armed groups stayed on after the civil wars, setting up crude mining operations for coltan (used in cellphones and personal computers), cassiterite (tin ore), and gold. Park guards failed to evict them. Fergus O’Leary Simpson, a researcher at the University of Antwerp’s Institute of Development Policy, who regularly visits the area, reports local people say that some senior officials of the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature (ICCN), the government agency that controls the park, are themselves involved in mining and that senior military figures provide weapons to armed groups.

In 2005, the chairman of a Congolese mining company, Cosma Wilungula, was appointed director-general of the ICCN. After 16 years, he was removed from office in 2021 amid allegations of embezzlement. Two years later, the U.S. State Department barred him from entry to the United States on grounds of “significant corruption.”

Through all this, says Rogers, “the Batwa are used as scapegoats when illicit activities are discovered in the park.” And when in 2018, after years of failed negotiations with the ICCN aimed at restoring some of their land rights, some 2,000 Batwa returned in family groups to their old villages, there was a fierce reaction from park guards and the military, including the shelling and burning of villages. A subsequent report for the Minority Rights Group concluded that at least 20 Batwa were killed and 15 women raped in attacks over three years.

“While the Batwa have suffered a great injustice, they are no longer living as forest guardians,” says a researcher.

An international outcry after the report’s publication triggered a change in management at the park. In 2022, WCS secured a public-private partnership agreement with the DRC government that gave it effective control of the park. WCS set up a management board that included Batwa representation and formally recognized “the legitimate claims of the Batwa to their remaining ancestral land inside the Park” and the need for “finding a durable land solution.”

But there is little sign of that solution so far, critics say. “There is a vast discrepancy between what WCS puts out in public relations statements, and what WCS actually does,” says Rogers. Simpson says the main change since the agreement [WCS was substantially managing before, but with less authority] is that “park guards have largely ceased patrolling this region for at least two years.”

Simpson resists the idea that restoring Batwa land rights offers a ready conservation solution. “While the Batwa have suffered a great injustice, they are no longer living as forest guardians.” He says that some Batwa chiefs within the park collude with the militias, taking money in return for letting them cut trees for firewood and charcoal to sell in nearby urban areas. The result, he says, is “thousands of hectares of deforestation,” visible in satellite images.

A guard with the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature burns the homes of Batwa in Kahuzi-Biega National Park in 2019. Kahuzi-Biega National Park

Simpson accuses human rights lobbyists of having an “overly idealized image of the Batwa as ecologically noble savages.” Even so, he says the Batwa are minor players in a wider economy of ecological destruction. The problem, he says, is that the park is full of lootable resources and provides “ideal hideouts” for illegal activity. In such a lawless environment, he says, militarized conservation is “the only feasible form of enforcement.”

But advocates for the Batwa push back strongly against that. They argue the Batwa are the primary victims of the lawlessness, which arises from a corrupt and militarized system of park management. They say the obvious solution — as concluded by the African Commission — is the restoration of land rights for the Batwa. But they will need help, agrees Rogers.

“Does the [commission ruling] mean that the Batwa could step back into Kahuzi-Biega and take over as conservation managers tomorrow? Of course not,” she says. “They will need lots of expert research and consulting, just as do the current managers. They will also need help in dealing with the militias, mining operations, and refugees.” But, Rogers says, “I am completely convinced that their objectives and worldview give them a much better shot at protecting nature.”

The Batwa have so far not been able to benefit from a system for establishing community management of forests.

Ironically, Rogers points out, the DRC already has a system for establishing community management of forests. Since 2016, communities outside national parks have been allowed to take formal control of up to 120,000 acres of forest around their villages from the government. They are then allowed to exploit those forests according to an agreed management plan.

These concessions have been widely applauded by both conservationists and land-rights NGOs. So far, 200 have been granted, covering more than 11 million acres, including 23 in South Kivu, the DRC province that contains most of the Kahuzi-Biega park’s highlands. But Batwa communities made homeless by exile from the park have so far not been able to benefit. “The concessions are the best and still probably the only available basis for the Batwa to obtain their rights,” says Joe Eisen, director of the Rainforest Foundation U.K., which runs a database on the community forests.

Rogers agrees that forest concessions are a potentially valuable tool. “But this doesn’t absolve the government agencies, donors, and NGOs of their responsibility to implement the African Commission’s ruling,” she says. “In the long run, righting the wrongs done to the Batwa is the only way to obtain justice, restore their culture, and protect nature.”

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LANDSCAPE AND BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY OF PROTECTED AREAS NETWORK IN PERM KRAI

• 1 Perm State National Research University, Russia

The problem of creating the systems of specially Protected natural Areas (PA) adequately representing the geographical diversity of different territories has been acute. Creation of the territory nature protection systems always requires comprehensive assessment of the representativeness of the existing PA network. In Perm region the only such research was carried out at the end of the last century. Since then, the region borders, structure and PA network size, as well as the structure of natural resource use have significantly changed. In this study we assess the representativeness of the PA network of Perm region. For this purpose the representation of the PA network on landscape and biodiversity was analyzed. The study identified the endowment of natural areas and the representation of wetlands in the PA network in the region. Protected species of plants and animals which need development of measures for the territorial protection were identified. The size of the PAs necessary to develop the nature protection network was calculated.

How to Cite: Buzmakov, S. A. & Sannikov, P. Y. (2014). LANDSCAPE AND BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY OF PROTECTED AREAS NETWORK IN PERM KRAI. American Journal of Environmental Sciences , 10 (5), 516-522. https://doi.org/10.3844/ajessp.2014.516.522

• 3,497 Views
• 3,063 Downloads
• 1 Citations
• Protected Areas (PAs)
• Landscape Diversity
• Biodiversity
• Protected Species

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Collection Meeting of Frontiers

Collections from siberia and the russian far east, aleksandrovsk municipal history and literature museum "a.p. chekhov and sakhalin" (55 items).

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Ivan Nikolaevich Krasnov's Views of Sakhalin Island (55 items)

Sakhalin Island was used by imperial Russia as a penal colony and place of exile for criminals and political prisoners. Between 1869 and 1906, more than 30,000 inmates and exiles endured the difficult conditions of the forced-labor colony on the island. This collection, consisting of an album and individual photographs, is preserved in the Aleksandrovsk Municipal History and Literature Museum "A.P. Chekhov and Sakhalin" in Alekandrovsk-Sakhalinskiy, Sakhalin Island (off Russia’s southeast coast). The photographs were taken on the island during the late 19th and early 20th centuries and provide rare glimpses of its settlements, prisons, and inhabitants. Most of the photographs in the collection were taken by Sakhalin artist Ivan Nikolaevich Krasnov, although some are unattributed. The collection depicts public life and institutions in the town of Aleksandrovsk Post, convicts working under harsh conditions or in chains, and political prisoners. The photographs also show the daily life both of the Nivkh people, indigenous to the northern part of the island, and the Russian settler population. The predecessor of the Aleksandrovsk Municipal History and Literature Museum "A.P. Chekhov and Sakhalin" appears in some of the photographs. The name of the museum refers to a trip taken to Sakhalin Island by the Russian writer and medical doctor Anton Chekhov in 1890, during which Chekhov researched the plight of island’s prisoners and native populations. The publication of his Sakhalin Island in 1895 highlighted the depravity of the situation in this remote corner of Russia and led to public protests that helped bring about the closure of the penal colony.

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Altai State Regional Studies Museum (221 items)

Photographs by the topographer g. i. ivanov, gornaia shoria, 1913 (109 items).

This collection consists of 109 photographs taken by G. I. Ivanov (1876-192?) during a 1913 topographic expedition to the Gornaia Shoria in the Altai region. That same year, Ivanov participated in another topographic expedition--to the Mrasskii region, Kuznetskii District (central part of the Gornaia Shoria). The photographs reflect both expedition activities and the life of the people in this region. The negatives were transferred to the Altai State Museum of Regional History and Folklife in the 1920s; prints were made and sets from both expeditions were added to the museum’s collections.

Sergei Ivanovich Borisov's Color Photo-Cards of the Altai Mountains (52 items)

A collection of color postcards made from negatives taken by photographer Sergei Ivanovich Borisov (1859–1935) in the Altay, or Altai, Mountains region of southern Siberia early in the 20th century. Borisov was born into a family of serfs in Simbirsk (present-day Ulyanovsk) and was forced to work from an early age. In the late 1880s he moved to the city of Barnaul in Altayskiy Kray, where in 1894 he opened a photography studio. This studio later became the largest and most popular in the city. In 1907, Borisov began his expedition in the Altay Mountains, which lasted until 1911. He took around 1,500 photographs during this expedition, which, upon his return to Barnaul, he presented to the public through the use of a magic lantern. The photographs depict views of nature in remote corners of the Altay Mountains and the Altay and Kazakh peoples indigenous to this region. Borisov offered the photographs to various European publishers for the production of postcards. The collection includes two series of color postcards. The first series was issued by the Swedish printing company Granberg Society in Stockholm, but it is not known where the second series was published.

V.V. Sapozhnikov. Photo Materials from Expeditions in the Southern Altai Region, 1895-1899 (60 items)

A collection of 60 photos by V.V. Sapozhnikov (1861‒1924), a geographer, botanist, ethnographer, and professor at Tomsk State University (the first institution of higher education established in Siberia), who made significant contributions to the study of the South Siberian region. The photographs were taken by Sapozhnikov during his expeditions to the Altai Mountains in 1895‒99 and later reproduced from his negatives for the Altai State Regional Studies Museum in Barnaul. The explorer gave his photograph collection and related materials from his expeditions to the museum in 1904. Each photograph is accompanied by an annotation with a geographic reference written by Sapozhnikov. The collection is unique for its complex and spectacular views, covering a variety of geographic features of the South Siberian region. In many of the photos, Sapozhnikov or other members of the expeditions are shown, struggling with difficult terrain and swollen rivers. Sapozhnikov's scientific activity was closely connected with the Russian Geographical Society, to which he was elected in 1898.

Amur Oblast Museum of Regional History and Folklife (101 items)

Investigations of the zeya river in 1907-1909 (101 items).

Izyskaniia reki Zei v 1907-1909 gg. (Investigations of the Zeya River in 1907-1909) is a unique integrated collection of documentary photographs that presents a vivid picture of the state of the Amur region up to 1909. The album was prepared in 1909‒10 by the mechanical engineer Vladimir I. Fedorov (1876‒1956) on the instructions of the waterways administration of the Amur basin. Its 100 photographs show natural scenes, indigenous peoples, settlers, river transport, and Russian surveyors at work. The photographs are captioned. The Zeya River is one of the most important tributaries of the Amur River. It rises in the Stanovoy range in the Russian Far East and runs southward and slightly to the west for 1,242 kilometers before joining the Amur near Blagoveshchensk.

Berdsk Historical Art Museum (153 items)

Berdsk in siberia during the 19th and 20th centuries (153 items).

A collection of 153 photographs and documents held in the Berdsk Historical Art Museum, drawn from the personal archives of people who lived in the town of Berdsk in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The collection offers glimpses into everyday life, the atmosphere, and the activities in Berdsk, a major center of grain processing at that time. The photographs show groups of students and teachers, local mills, people at work in agriculture and industry, soldiers, and children and youth.  Most appear to date from the early Soviet era. The documents include tickets, ration cards, membership cards, and other items relating to farming, trade, crafts, mining, and so forth. Berdsk is located in Novosibirsk Oblast in central Russia, along the Novosibirsk Reservoir just south of Novosibirsk city. Founded at the beginning of the 18th century as a fortress, it became a city in 1944.

Center for Documentation of Tomsk Oblast Recent History (101 items)

Tomsk regional committee documents regarding deported baltic peoples (101 items).

A collection of 101 documents from the archives of the Tomsk Regional Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union relating to the mass deportation to Siberia of Baltic peoples from Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. The documents, which date from the period 1941–60, are nearly all stamped "Secret." They shed light on such aspects of the deportations as the numbers of people involved, how the reception of deported peoples was organized, the resettlement and placement of deportees, material support, methods of ideological control and the assessment of the communist authorities of the ideological and political influences on the deportees, and the eventual lifting of legal restrictions on these population groups. The Soviet Union invaded the Baltic countries in the summer of 1940 and the deportations of Baltic peoples were carried out the following year, just before the Germany invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941. Estimates of the numbers of deported citizens of the Baltic countries vary, but probably about 50,000 were sent to camps in Siberia in this period. The deportations were aimed out eliminating resistance to communist rule and targeted the political and intellectual elites in the Baltic countries. Deportations were halted following the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, but a second mass deportation of Baltic peoples to Siberia occurred after World War II, in March 1949, as the authorities sought to stamp out continued resistance to Soviet rule.

Igarka Museum of Permafrost (82 items)

Dead road: construction project 503 (82 items).

A collection of materials related to the Salekhard‒Igarka Railway, an unfinished Soviet railroad sometimes called the “Dead Road.” This railroad was intended to unite European Russia with the northern regions of Siberia and to facilitate the export of minerals from the industrial city of Noril’sk. Construction began in 1949 but was abandoned in 1953 after Stalin’s death. Stalin had ordered the construction of the railroad without heeding the advice of specialists, who knew that a railroad built on permafrost would be difficult to maintain. Stalin considered the railroad strategically necessary to facilitate the defense of Russia’s northern coast; however, actual demand for the railway was low. Construction was divided into two projects, number 501 and number 503, and was carried out by prisoners of the infamous gulag system. According to eyewitness accounts, conditions in the camps of these projects and in Yermakovo, the central settlement of construction project 503, were better than in most parts of the gulag system. This collection consists of photographs, documents, maps, letters, and memoirs housed in the Igarka Museum of Permafrost. Photographs depict daily life in Yermakovo, a settlement near Igarka, abandoned buildings and railroad equipment, and musicians and actors of the projects’ cultural and educational divisions. Many of the photographs were taken by Walter Ruge (1915–2011) and depict his wife Irina Andreevna Alferova. Ruge completed a ten-year sentence as a political prisoner in 1951 before he was released to live as an exile in Yermakovo, where he met Alferova, a fellow exile. The collection’s documents and maps provide information about the planning and construction of the railroad and the administration of the camps, while the memoirs and letters describe the experiences of prisoners, exiles, and civilian residents of Yermakovo and the camps.

Institute for the Study of Buddhism, Mongol, and Tibetan Culture of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (95 items)

Albazinskii prison. materials of archaeological research (95 items).

A collection of 95 drawings, color photographs, and slides documenting the results of the archaeological excavations at the fortress of Albazin, the first Russian settlement on the Amur River (at the present-day village of Albazino in the Amurskaya Oblast). The Russians established the fort at Albazin in 1651, and it soon became the largest fortified settlement of Russian pioneers in the Amur region. In 1686, after a long siege by Manchu troops, Russian Cossack troops surrendered the fortress. Under the terms of the Treaty of Nerchinsk, concluded in 1689 to establish peace between Russia and China, the fortress was demolished and the territory around it transferred to China. The photographs, slides, and drawings in the collection show views of the remains of the towers, walls, residential buildings, and household items discovered during the excavations. They offer insight into the economic activities, construction methods, and armament of the Russian soldiers and settlers of the 16th century.

Institute of History of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (405 items)

Photographs from archeographic expeditions to the schismatic monasteries on the upper malyi enisei river (tuva, 1966-75) (43 items).

The schismatic monasteries along the headwaters of the Little Yenisey River came into being in February 1917, when one of the splinter groups of the well-known monastery of Father Nifont moved to the Tuva (or Tyva) area, near the Mongolian-Russian border, from the Ural region. The Tuva copy of the Genealogy of the Schismatic Sect, composed by Father Nifont between 1887 and 1890, contains an appendix by Father Palladii, the head of monasteries in Tuva, laying out this succession of 20th-century monastic fathers-superior in Tuva: Nifont, Sergii, Ignatii and Palladii. Father Ignatii died in prison before World War II; shortly thereafter, Father Palladii’s brother committed suicide while under arrest by jumping into the frigid rapids of the Little Yenisey. Father Palladii was arrested three times, but he was able to escape (from exile in Krasnoyarsk and then from the camp near Vladivostok where the poet Osip Mandel’shtam is known to have perished). Toward the end of his life, Father Palladii was director of the Tuva monasteries, having gained the consent of the authorities to assume this position by promising that he no longer would object to military service for Old Believers. Father Palladii was a skilled transcriber and binder of manuscripts and early printed books who owned a large library of these materials. In 1966 he acquainted Novosibirsk archeographers with previously unknown and unstudied literary works composed in the Urals and Siberia from the 17th to the 20th centuries by Old Believer schismatic writers. The residents of these monasteries refuse to be photographed. They explain this refusal in the following way: upon christening, a person acquires an invisible aura around the head and, after death, this aura serves as a pass into heaven; the aura is diminished each time the person sins, and it is further weakened by photography. Outside monasteries, however, this prohibition is not enforced nearly as strictly, even in the families of spiritual teachers.

Photographs from Archeological Expeditions to Old Believer Monasteries (Rudnyi Altai, Headwaters of the Uba River, 1970-71) (42 items)

The monasteries of the Pomorskie Sect of Old Believers, visited by archeographers from Novosibirsk, were the successors to the Pokrovskii women’s monastery built there at the very beginning of the twentieth century with the financial support of Savva Morozov, a well-known textile mill owner who belonged to the Pomorskie Sect. (During this same period he was also financing underground Bolshevik-Leninist organizations.) Old photographs of the nuns at this monastery have been preserved.This monastery traditionally maintained close religious and economic ties with the local peasantry and the wealthy farming families of Old Believers in the Altai. The prosperous Altai peasantry offered stiff resistance (including armed resistance) to Soviet rule and the policy of “war communism” and collectivization. The harsh repression of this resistance took a toll on the Altai Old Believer communities and their book collections. For example, on the northern slopes of the Altai, in Uimon Valley, and on the Koksa River, where the richest Old Believer farms were devastated, a large collection of manuscripts and early printed books also was destroyed. A few miraculously spared sixteenth-century volumes were among the most valuable discoveries of the expeditions by the specialists from the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. When Siberian archeographers began travelling to the Altai Old Believer communities in the late 1960s and early 1970s, they found that the former prosperity was long gone, and the other valleys that had flourished before 1917 had become nearly depopulated. This was an ideal location for the secretive settlements of hermits, many of whom had once been nuns of the Pokrovskii monastery, while others had come from all parts of the country, e.g., Kuban’, which had maintained intensive correspondence with the Pomorskie Sect.In their way of life, the adherents of the Pomorskie Sect in Altai were less closed than, for example, the Tuva schismatics. Many of the monastery residents were quite willing to be photographed. The photograph taken of the superior of the main monastery, Mother Afanasiia, was placed alongside the icons in the chapel after her death.

Photographs from the Trial of the Dubches Hermits (6 items)

A collection documenting the trial in the early 1950s of the Dubches hermits. The hermits were associated with Old Believer monasteries persecuted by the communist authorities in what was then the Soviet Union. In 1937‒40 these monasteries were secretly relocated from the Ural Mountains to the left bank of the Lower Yenisey River and the Dubches River and its tributaries. Playing a large role in this effort was the men’s monastery of Father Simeon, whose writings traced the history of the monastery beginning in the 18th century, when it was led by the famed Hegumen (father superior) Maksim, the author of numerous polemic works. Along with the monastery of Father Simeon, nuns from the Permskii convent (on the Sylva River) and Sungul’skii convent (near the city of Kasli, Southern Urals) also relocated to the Dubches region. This secret move took several years. At the new site, the taiga (coniferous evergreen forests) was cleared for buildings and vegetable gardens. Several families of peasant adherents who migrated with the monasteries helped to erect a chapel, along with a building to house a rich collection of old books (more than 500 volumes, including a parchment manuscript and some 16th-century printed books). In 1951 the monasteries were spotted from the air by the Soviet authorities and subsequently demolished by a punitive detachment. The hermits associated with the monasteries and the peasants who had supported them were arrested, and all the buildings, icons, and books were burned. The Krasnoyarsk Office of the Ministry of State Security conducted an investigation and put 33 persons on trial. All those indicted were convicted under Articles 58-10 part 2 and 58-11 of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic criminal code and sentenced to prison terms ranging from 10 to 25 years. Alexandr Isaevich Solzhenitsyn wrote about these events in his classic Gulag Archipelago. Two of those arrested perished in Soviet concentration camps: Father Simeon and Mother Margarita. After the death in 1953 of the dictator Joseph Stalin, the others were granted amnesty on November 12, 1954.

Special Settlers in West Siberia in the 1930s (311 items)

The commemorative album “Soviet Narym: Opening of the West-Siberian North by Labor Settlers, 1930-36” contains statistical, narrative, cartographic, and illustrated materials relating to the people who were forcibly settled in the Narym region by the Soviet authorities in the 1930s. The album, compiled in 1936 by the secret police of West Siberia as the result of a government investigation, sought to document for Moscow the opening of the Narym region by labor settlers. Housed for a time in police archives, the album later fell into private hands during a “purge” of these archives, but since 2002 has been in the custody of the Sector on the History of Sociocultural Development, Institute of History, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences.

Irkutsk Municipal History Museum (572 items)

Materials from the ethnographic expedition of p.p. khoroshikh in 1927 (257 items).

Presented here is an album of 167 photographs and 89 drawings made during the 1927 expedition in the Balagansk District of the Irkutsk region by the famous Siberian ethnographer and archaeologist Pavel Khoroshikh and local history specialist Petr Trebukhovskii. The materials in the album detail the different aspects of the economic activities of the Russian and Buriat population, types of houses and farm buildings, tools and daily activities, and various aspects of children's upbringing. Together, these illustrations are the richest source of material for studying the life of the peasant population of the region before the kholkhoz (collective farm) period of the Soviet era; forced collectivization began in 1928. The Balagansk District is located in the south-central part of Irkutsk Oblast, on the left bank of the Angara River. It was settled by Russians from 1655 onward, and has long been inhabited by the Bulagat, a Buriat tribe whose name derives from the Buriat word for sable hunter.

Photography in Irkutsk (136 items)

This collection contains 136 photographs of Irkutsk from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The photographs show views of both the city of Irkutsk and countryside of Irkutsk Province; methods of transportation; and the citizenry--including their way of life, social activities, and forms of entertainment.

Russians in Harbin, 1920s-1940s (from the Archive of V. P. Ablamskii) (110 items)

Vladimir Pavlovich Ablamskii (1911-1994), a figure-skating champion from northern China, was also a famous Harbin photographer and photojournalist. This collection contains Ablamskii’s photographs depicting the life of the Russian immigrant community in Harbin.

The Baikal Region at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century in the Photographs of I. A. and V. I. Podgorbunskiih (69 items)

This collection presents a series of photographs taken by the Podgorbunskiis. The father, I. A. Podgorbunskii, was a priest, teacher, scientist, and local historian. The son, V. I. Podgorbunskii, was an archaeologist. Their photographs of the Baikal region depict the scenery as well as the way of life and culture of local residents.

Irkutsk State University (364 items)

Peoples of siberia: the buryats and yakuts (152 items).

This collection consists of two photograph albums from the early twentieth century, with pictures presumably taken by I. Popov. The album “Views of the Yakutsk Region” contains 151 photographs. Subjects include the Lena River shore; various forms of river transport--including boats, rafts, trade barges, and steamships; post offices along the Lena highway, and transport by horse and reindeer. The album “Peoples of Siberia” contains twenty-seven photographs depicting Yakuts and Buryats, everyday life, festivals, meetings, housing, utensils, and hunting accessories. Several of the photographs are signed with the initials “I. P.”

Views of Hunting Grounds in Irkutsk Oblast (72 items)

Vidy okhotugodii Irkutskoi oblasti (Views of hunting grounds in Irkutsk Oblast) is an unpublished album of photographs depicting hunting grounds along the Lena River in southeastern Siberia. Subjects shown include hunters, river scenes, hunting scenes, dogs, horses, and winter dwellings in the Kazachinsko-Lensky, Zhigalovsky, and Kachugsky Districts of the oblast, along with family photographs of the local Tungusic people. Each photograph is accompanied by a handwritten caption. Taken by the art critic V.N. Troitskii in 1930, the photographs offer insights into the nature, economic activities, and life of the indigenous and Russian populations of Siberia at the turn of the 1920s–1930s.

Views of the Akatuy Hard Labor Camp (48 items)

Presented here is an album of 47 views of convicts and structures at the Akatuy Prison, one of the main centers where political prisoners were held in the Russian Empire during the late-tsarist period. The album belonged to Isaiah Aronovich Shinkman, a physician and member of the Socialist Revolutionary Party, who was incarcerated at Akatuy from 1906 to 1911. The prison was located at the Akatuy silver mine in Nerchinsk okrug (district) in the Transbaikal Territory of Siberia. Thousands of political prisoners were exiled to Siberia from European Russia and from Poland, Finland, Latvia, and Estonia (all then part of the Russian Empire) following the repression of the Russian Revolution of 1905. Criminal labor convicts and political prisoners had long been sent to Nerchinsk to work in extracting lead-silver ores in the region’s mines. The American explorer and journalist George Kennan (1845–1924) visited Akatuy in 1885, and wrote about his experience in his book Siberia and the Exile System (1891), a scathing critique of the system of prisons and prison camps in Russia. The album is held by the Irkutsk State University in Irkutsk and was digitized for the Meeting of Frontiers digital library project in the early 2000s. The photographs it contains offer glimpses into the day-to-day existence and activities of the political prisoners in Siberia in the years before World War I and the outbreak of the Russian Revolution of 1917.

Views of the Trans-Baikal and Irkutsk, a Photo Album by N. A. Charushin (54 items)

This album consists of fifty-three photographs by the Siberian photographer N. A. Charushin. Most of the photographs were taken on the Udunginsk and Circumbaikal Roads and represent images of bridges, rail stations, quays, ferries, and other construction.

Jewish Autonomous Region Museum of Regional History and Folklife (35 items)

Materials of the collection of professor b.l. bruk (35 items).

A collection of documents, photographs, maps, and printed works relating to the life and work of Professor Boris L’vovich Bruk, a well-known Russian agronomist who did much to study and develop agriculture in the Russian Far East and the central regions of Russia. In 1927, Bruk headed the expedition of the Committee on the Land Management of Working Jews (KOMZET) to the thinly populated Birobidzhan region to study the possible resettlement there of Jews from European Russia. The collection also includes the report issued by KOZMET after the conclusion of the expedition. The materials in the collection reflect the life and career of Bruk, his scientific activities, and the propaganda activities of the Soviet state relating to the introduction of modern agricultural technologies into the peasant economy. They also provide information on the nature, climate, and economy of the Birobidzhan region. Located in the Russian Far East near the border with China, the Birobidzhan region was established in 1928 by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin as the Jewish Autonomous Region of the Soviet Union.

Kamchatka Regional Unified Museum (469 items)

Kamchatka in the early twentieth century (297 items).

This album contains 296 works by such photographers as René Malaise, S. I. Beinarovich, I. E. Larin, and other, unknown artists. Larin lived on Kamchatka from 1917 to 1934 and was a prominent communist and the first chairman of the regional soviet. Malaise was a member of a Swedish expedition to Kamchatka in 1922-23. The album itself belonged to Mikhail Petrovich Vol'skii, chairman of the Kamchatka regional soviet in the 1920s and 1930s. This album offers a glimpse of life in the Russian Far Northeast in the first third of the twentieth century. It includes nature scenes of Kamchatka, views of Petropavlovsk and other population centers, and images of the indigenous peoples of Kamchatka and neighboring territories--their occupations and their material culture.

Photographs from the Eastern Reaches of the Russian Empire (44 items)

This collection consists of forty-four photographs of Sakhalin Island and the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskii in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The photographs depict streets, individual buildings, panoramas of populated areas, and local people, including convicts and prisoners. The collection offers insights into the economy, society, and way of life in this remote corner of the Russian Empire around the turn of the twentieth century. The identity of the photographer is unknown.

The Kamchatka Photo Album of B. I. Dybovskii (128 items)

This photo album belonged to Benedikt Ivanovich Dybovskii (Benedykt Dybowski), 1833-1930, a well-known Polish zoologist.  Dybovskii was exiled to Siberia, for taking part in the Polish uprising of 1863-64; he remained there until 1877.  He returned to Siberia in 1879 and served as the Kamchatka district physician until 1883.  Dybovskii studied the environment and fauna of Baikal, Priamur'e, and Kamchatka.  The album presents views of the port of Petropavlovsk and other settlements in Kamchatka as well as photographs of the people of Kamchatka--merchants, craftsmen, peasants, Cossacks, and Kamchadals.  The album holds 127 unique photographs, which provide a clear image of the city of Petropavlovsk, the historical events associated with it, and its people in the second half of the nineteenth century.

Kemerovo Oblast Museum of Regional History and Folklife (302 items)

Civil war in the kuzbass (103 items).

This collection contains documents and photographs from more than thirty participants of the Russian Civil War in the Kuzbass, including commanders and commissars of the Red partisan movement. Among the unique items in the collection are materials relating to the circulation of money in Siberia (that is, the new currency introduced by the Kolchak government) and the photograph album, “Development of the Anzher Coal-Mine District in 1918-23.”

Documents and Photographs from the Kuzbass Autonomous Industrial Society (199 items)

The “Kuzbass” autonomous industrial colony was created in 1921. It was organized by American workers, who took on the obligation of inviting from the United States and Western Europe some eight thousand skilled workers and specialists to industrialize the Kuzbass. The Soviet government turned over to the colonists a number of Kemerovo mine shafts and an unfinished coking plant. To recruit volunteers to work in Siberia, a “Kuzbass Bureau” was opened in the middle of New York City, and an information bulletin began to be published in the United States. Between January 1922 and December 1923, however, only 566 persons arrived for work in the Kuzbass. The colonists included emigrants from America, Canada, the Netherlands, France, Australia, Jamaica, Indonesia, and other countries as well.

Krasnoiarsk Krai Museum of Regional History and Folklife (501 items)

Everyday life of yenisei province, late nineteenth-early twentieth centuries.

This collection includes more than four hundred photographs of daily life in Yenisei Province in the late tsarist period. Photographs include peasants, Cossacks, and high-ranking officials.

Letters from the Decembrist Revolt

Presented here is a collection of 78 letters written between 1838 and 1850 by Decembrists and their wives. The letters were written from places of hard labor and settlements in Siberia and are addressed to Iakov Dmitrievich Kazimirskii, a manager at the Petrovskii Factory. The writers include I.I. Pushchin, V.L. Davydov, A.I. Iakubovich, A.Z. Muraviev, N.A. Bestuzhev, V.V. Vadkovskii, A.P and M.K Iushnevskii, I.S. Povalo-Shveikovskii, E.I. Trubetskaia, S.G. Volkonskii, I.I. Gorbachevskii, M.F. Mit’kov, and E.P. Obolensky. The Decembrists were a group of Russian revolutionaries who led an unsuccessful uprising against tsarist authority in December 1825. They were primarily members of the upper classes with military backgrounds. After the suppression of the uprising, 289 Decembrists were put on trial. Five–the leaders –were executed; 31 were imprisoned; and the rest exiled to Siberia. Many wives of the Decembrists accompanied their husbands into banishment in Siberia. The collection is held in the Krasnoyarskskiy Krai Museum of Regional History and Folklife. The letters came to the museum in the 1930s from the Krasnoyarsk Regional Library as part of a collection of documents assembled by the famous bibliophile-merchant Gennadii Vasil’evich Iudin. Most of the letters were published in the book Sibirskie pis’ma dekabristov: 1838-1850 (Siberian letters of the Decembrists: 1838-1850), compiled by T.S.  Komarova and published by the Krasnoyarsk Book Publishing House in 1987.

M. N. Khangalov Museum on the History of Buryatia (66 items)

Christianity in buryatia.

This collection consists of sixty-six photographs and documents that depict the history and activities of the Russian Orthodox Church in Buryatia in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It includes the papers of Nikolai, Bishop of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands; views of Orthodox churches and cathedrals; church records; confessional lists; birth registers; music manuscripts, and other documents.

Memory of Kolyma Museum (42 items)

Materials on the history of sevvostlag (42 items).

A collection of photographs, drawings, newspapers, and documents gathered in the Kolyma region of Russia. Kolyma is a northeastern region that takes its name from the Kolyma River and includes parts of the present-day Chukotka Autonomous Okrug and present-day Magadan Oblast. This region contained deposits of gold and platinum and was home to Sevvostlag (Northeastern Corrective Labor Camps), one of the Soviet Union’s most infamous labor camp systems, which was administered by a government agency known as Dalstroy (Far North Construction Trust). These materials were collected by the Yagodnoye District public historical and educational organization “Search for the Unlawfully Repressed.” This organization was founded in 1990 with the goal of locating former prisoners of the Kolyma camps. It corresponds with more than 500 former prisoners and their relatives, publishes prisoners’ memoirs, conducts local history research, and carries out expeditions to the remains of camps. The materials collected by Search for the Unlawfully Repressed became the basis for the collections of the Memory of Kolyma Museum, where this collection is housed. The collection’s photographs depict ruins of camp buildings, daily life in Kolyma, and journalists traveling in the region. Other materials of the collection include a map of Kolyma’s camps, newspapers from the region, certificates, letters, records of criminal cases, and personal files.

Museum of the History of the Norilsk Industrial Region (212 items)

The last archipelago: investigation of severnaya zemlya in 1930-1932 (212 items).

A collection of materials, including manuscripts, photographs, and a photograph album, from the N.N. Urantsev Foundation devoted to the last major geographical discovery on earth: the exploration of Severnaya Zemlya in the expedition of 1930‒32 expedition under the leadership of G.A. Ushakov (1901‒63) and N.N. Urvantsev (1893‒1985). The manuscripts and photographs offer new and previously unknown information about the harsh conditions and limited plant and animal life of Severnaya Zemlya and document the history of the expedition. As characterized by N.N. Urvantsev, this was the last polar expedition of the Nansen-Amundsen era, in which success was achieved through human endurance and perseverance in pursuing a goal using a minimum of technical and material resources. Severnaya Zemlya (meaning “northern land” in Russian) is an archipelago of four large and many smaller islands located in the Arctic Ocean, immediately north of Cape Chelyuskin, the most northerly point in Siberia. Much of the territory is covered by ice and snow. The archipelago was first discovered only in 1913 and was not explored until the two-year Ushakov-Urvantsev expedition mapped and surveyed the territory.

National Research Tomsk State University (101 items)

Drawings and paintings by pavel mikhailovich kosharov (143 items).

The Research Library of Tomsk State University and the Tomsk Oblast Museum of Regional History and Folk Life hold a collection of about 150 works by the famous Siberian artist, teacher, and public educator Pavel Mikhailovich Kosharov (1824–1902). Siberia in all its diversity is the basic theme of this collection of paintings, lithographs, sketches, studies, and drawings, which capture various remote corners of the Siberian wilderness, spectacular vistas of the Altai, scenes of numerous Siberian cities and villages, and the faces and way of life of the indigenous peoples of Siberia.

Nikolaevsk-on-Amur Museum of Municipal History and Folklife (103 items)

Nikolaevsk-on-amur in postcards during the early 20th century (103 items).

Presented here is a collection of 103 postcards of the city of Nikolayevsk-on-Amur in the early 20th century. The collection provides a unique photographic record of the development of the city and of the lower Amur region in this period. The cards offer views of the architectural appearance of the old city (especially valuable, because during the Russian Civil War Nikolayevsk-on-Amur was destroyed and burnt), as well as of the culture, daily life, and occupations of residents, and of the different ethnic groups that made up the population of the region. The postcards all have printed labels on their front sides, in Russian or in both Russian and German. A few of the postcards contain written messages on the back, and have been digitized on both sides. The collection is housed in the Nikolayevsk-on-Amur Municipal Local History Museum. Formation of the collection began in the 1960s. Postcards came from former residents of the city of Nikolayevsk-on-Amur and from the exchange of collections with other museums and local history specialists.

Novosibirsk State Museum of Regional History and Folklife (526 items)

Boris smirnov print collection (99 items).

Boris Vasilievich Smirnov (1881–1954) was a Russian artist who in 1904 traveled by prisoner transport from western Russia across Siberia. Along the way he created a series of drawings and watercolors of the people and places he encountered. Best known as a portraitist, Smirnov focused on the faces of the men and women he met, who included exiles, prisoners, settlers from Ukraine and western Russia, local military and civilian officials, peasants and merchants. His works from this period also include a handful of drawings of houses and landscapes. The sketches were made in the Ural Mountains, Irkutsk, Omsk, Krasnoyarsk, and in villages along the route. The details of Smirnov’s journey are sketchy. Some accounts say that he traveled along the Great Siberian Road as a volunteer on the way to the front in the Russo-Japanese War. Other accounts say that he was an exile, possibly sent to Siberia for refusing to be conscripted into the army. The Great Siberian Road, depicted in several of Smirnov’s drawings, was the route from Moscow to China via Siberia. Smirnov’s collection of 99 graphic items is preserved in the Novosibirsk State Museum of Regional History and Folklife. The collection was acquired by the museum from the artist in 1950.

Ethnographic Artists' Sketches from the 1920s and 1930s (96 items)

The graphics collection of the Novosibirsk State Museum of Regional History and Folklife includes the works of such famous Siberian painters as Dmitrii Inokent’evich Karatanov, Natal’ia Nikolaevna Nagorskaia, Aleksei Vasil’evich Voshchakin, and Grigorii Gustavovich Likman. These lesser-known drawings and watercolors were done in the field in the 1920s and 1930s. They include both ethnographic sketches and first-hand depictions of the young, fast-growing Siberian megalopolis.

Native Peoples of Siberia (212 items)

This collection includes more than two hundred photographs taken during scientific expeditions into the most remote wilderness regions of Siberia at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth centuries. This selection illustrates the life of seven indigenous groups from East Siberia: Kets, Dolgans, Buryats, Yakuts, Even, Evenks, and Toffalars.

Photographs from the Ethnographic Expeditions of Natal'ia Nagorskaia (20 items)

The well-known Novosibirsk ethnographer and graphic artist Natal’ia Nikolaevna Nagorskaia (1895-1983), while on the staff of the Novosibirsk State Museum of Regional History and Folklife (NGKM), made a number of ethnographic expeditions to Khakasiia, Gornaia Shoriia, Turukhan krai, and the Altai. The NGKM collections preserve the materials from her expeditions, including field sketches, expedition journals, photographs, and artifacts of the material culture of the native peoples of Southern Siberia.

The Road Building Department of the Tomsk District. Railroad Construction in 1909 (49 items)

The road building department of the tomsk district. road construction in 1906-1908 (50 items).

Presented here are two albums preserved in the Novosibirsk State Museum of Regional History and Folklife containing photographs documenting various stages in the construction of dirt roads in the Tomsk region by workers and engineers of the road-building department of the Russian Resettlement Administration. The albums date from 1906–8 and 1909. The Russian state paid for the construction of roads, such as those depicted in the albums in order to connect settlers with a railroad line, a navigable river, or commercial-industrial centers. The overall purpose of the road-building program was to promote the colonization of the taiga (moist coniferous forest regions) of Siberia. The albums show the construction of roads in the region between the main line of the Trans-Siberian Railroad and the Chet’ and Kandat Rivers in Tomsk gubernia (governorate), a distance of 170 versts (about 182 kilometers).

Omsk State Museum of Regional History and Folklife (371 items)

The first western siberian agricultural, forestry, and commerical-industrial exhibition in omsk, 1911 (157 items).

A collection of photographs documenting the First West Siberian Agricultural, Forestry, and Industrial Trade Exhibition, which took place in Omsk in 1911. The exhibition was held from June 15 to August 1 of that year, and was a significant event in the life of the Siberian region. Nothing on this scale or this level of ambition had ever been staged in Siberia. The collection includes photographs of the exhibition organizers, general views, and images of pavilions, exhibits, prize-winning livestock, crowds at a musical event, and even an aviator and his airplane. Also included are drawings made by the engineers and architects for several of the pavilions. The photographs provide insights into the economic and social development of Siberia in the early 20th century and show a dynamic and self-confident region.

Types of Buildings in the Cossack Settlements (48 items)

Types of cossacks: siberian cossacks on duty and at home (74 items), views of the cossack territories (92 items).

Presented here are three albums depicting the territories, culture, and way of life of the Cossacks living in the steppe regions of western Siberia and present-day Kazakhstan. These albums were created for and exhibited at the First West Siberian Agricultural, Forestry, and Commercial-Industrial Exhibition in Omsk in 1911. The albums were part of a collection of photographs assembled between 1891 and 1918 by the museum of the West Siberian Branch of the Imperial Russian Geographic Society in Omsk. The photographs in the albums were taken in 1909 by N.G. Katanaev (son of Colonel G.E. Katanaev) during a journey to Cossack settlements in Stepnoi krai (later the oblasts of Ural’sk, Turgai, Akmola, and Semipalatinsk). The Cossacks began serving in garrisons in fortified Siberian towns from the late 16th century onward. In 1808 the Cossacks in these outposts were organized as the Siberian Cossack Host, a military force of mainly cavalry regiments that subsequently took part in the Russian conquest of Central Asia as well as in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904‒5 and in World War I. Omsk was the administrative center for the host, which was headed by an ataman appointed by the tsarist authorities. The host was abolished by the Soviet authorities in 1920.

Phototext Foundation (196 items)

Materials of the ethno-photo expedition: people on the frontier (196 items).

This collection contains photographs from the international photographic expedition, “People on the Frontier,” to the Saian-Altai region from June 12 to July 4, 2002. The photographs tell stories about such topics as the peoples of the region, their religions, steppe roads, and everyday life. Photographers who participated in the expedition included Heidi Bradner (Panos Pictures, London), Vladimir Dubrovskii (Novosibirsk), Sergei Il’nitskii (Moscow), Andrei Kobylko (Novokuznetsk), Aleksandr Kuznetsov (Krasnoiarsk), and Aleksandr Sorin (Moscow). The expedition, which began and ended in Novosibirsk, covered 7,000 kilometers and included stops in Biisk, Gorno-Altaisk, Ust-Koksa, Ust-Kan, Ongudai, Ulagan, Kosh-Agach, Tahsanta, Aktahs, Buiisk--Kemerovo, Abakan, Kazanovka, Askiz, Kyzyl and Maiskii, Talon, Tulesh, Kilinsk, and Belovo.

Private Archive of Sergei Nikolaevich Chashchin (85 items)

Firefighting in irkutsk province (85 items).

This collection of photographs and documents from the private archive of Sergei Mikhailovich Chashchin relates to the establishment of a firefighting service in eastern Siberia in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It includes materials about early firefighting equipment, the organization of a Siberian firefighting team, and the leaders of Siberia’s first firefighting service.

Siberian Museum Agency (247 items)

The russian far east in modern photography (165 items).

A collection entitled “The Russian Far East in Modern Photography,” which documents several regions of the Russian Far East at the beginning of the 21st century. The Russian Far East encompasses a large geographical area that borders the Pacific Ocean and stretches from the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug in the northeast to Primorsky Krai in the southeast, along the borders with China and North Korea. The collection includes several photographs by the famed researcher and photographer Vitalii Aleksandrovich Nikolaenko (1938–2003), who spent more than 30 years observing and studying the brown bears of the Kamchatka Peninsula and was eventually killed by a bear while carrying out his work. Also included are photographs of Sakhalin Island by Moscow-based photographer Aleksandr Vladimirovich Sorin, of Kamchatka and the Kuril Islands by Aleksandr Mikhailovich Bermant, of Primorsky Krai by Vladimir Mikhailovich Kobzar’, and of Kamchatka by Irina Vladimirovna Stakhanova. The photographs depict the varied natural landscapes of the Russian Far East, including the geysers and volcanoes of Kamchatka and the coastlines of Russia’s Pacific islands. The collection also captures the work of the region’s fishermen, daily life and recreation in its settlements, and its wildlife, including Kamchatka bears and Amur tigers. The collection was gathered for the Meeting of Frontiers digital library project in the early 2000s.

Timeless Chukotka (82 items)

This collection entitled “Timeless Chukotka,” which was created by Moscow photographer Aleksandr Vladimirovich Sorin (born 1965) and Novosibirsk journalist Artem Gotlib. In June and July of 2003, Sorin and Gotlib undertook an expedition to the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, the most northeasterly region of the Russian Federation. Chukotka is characterized by a low population density, an untouched and mostly mountainous natural landscape, and a harsh Arctic climate. About half of the region’s territory lies north of the Arctic Circle. Transportation by airplane is more efficient and more widespread than travel on the region’s few roads. Sorin and Gotlib initially planned to travel by barge along the Anadyr’ River, but the complications of transportation in Chukotka led them to alter their plans. Their eventual route took them from Anadyr’, the administrative center of the region, to the tundra settlement of Ust’-Belaya, and on to the settlements of Bukhta Provideniya, Sireniki, and Novoye Chaplino on the shores of the Bering Sea. Sorin and Gotlib concluded that conventional concepts of time and punctuality have little meaning in Chukotka, which explains the word “timeless” that they used in naming their collection. The photographs depict the daily lives of the people of Chukotka, as well as its settlements, coastlines, and natural landscapes. The collection was gathered for the Meeting of Frontiers digital library project in the early 2000s.

State Archives of Novosibirsk Oblast (130 items)

Construction and views of the circumbaikal railroad. 1900-1904 (58 items).

In the second half of the 19th century, Russia underwent a period of extensive rail development that culminated in the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railroad. Akin to the great railroads to the Pacific in both the United States and Canada, Russia's transcontinental line was intended to supply and populate Siberia as well as deliver raw materials to the rapidly developing industries west of the Urals. Working against an ambitious timetable and under severe conditions of climate and terrain, the Russians effectively united the European and Asian parts of the empire by completing this herculean project. The engineering plans provided for the sequential construction of six basic segments. The fourth of these was the Circum-Baikal Railroad from Irkutsk to the eastern side of Lake Baikal. This album of 56 photographs in the Collection of Documentary Materials on the History of the West-Siberian Railroad (1890s–1978) in the Novosibirsk Oblast State Archive documents the construction of this part of the line. The photographs focus on engineers and workmen building tunnels and trestles along the route.

Construction of the Middle-Siberian Railroad. 1893-1898 (20 items)

This photographic collage is from an 18-page album in the Collection of Documentary Materials on the History of the West-Siberian Railroad (1890s–1978) in the Novosibirsk Oblast State Archive that documents the construction of the Mid-Siberian Railroad from Novo-Nikolaevsk (present-day Novosibirsk) to Innokentievskaia near Irkutsk, with a spur line to Tomsk. The collage features portraits of the men responsible for the construction of the line, overlaid on photographs showing the construction process.

Views of the West-Siberian and Ekateringburg-Cheliabinsk Railroad (52 items)

This album of 50 photographs from the Collection of Documentary Materials on the History of the West-Siberian Railroad (1890s–1978) in the Novosibirsk Oblast State Archive documents the construction of the West Siberian railroad and the railroad between the cities of Ekaterinburg and Chelyabinsk. The images, by the artist and printer Artur Ivanovich Vil’borg (born 1856), include views of railroad bridges over the Ushaika, Tom’, and Lebiazh’ia Rivers, the passenger depots at the Tomsk, Ob', and Oiash stations, and portraits of engineers and other personnel involved in the railroad construction.

The State Public Scientific and Technical Library of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (113 items)

Tsarist patents, 1899-1917: urals, siberia, and the russian far east (113 items).

This collection consists of a selection of tsarist patents awarded to residents of the Urals, Siberia, and the Russian Far East in the final years of the empire. These documents are a valuable source of information about the opening of the Siberian and Far Eastern regions in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and technological progress in Russia--the state of industrial development, the organization of industry, and the extent of mining and mineral excavation.

Tobolsk Museum of History, Architecture, and Preservation (239 items)

Drawings and illustrations by mikhail stepanovich znamenskii, 1858-1891 (239 items).

A collection of 239 drawings and illustrations made by the 19th century Siberian artist Mikhail Stepanovich Znamenskii(1833–92) between 1858 and 1891. From the West Siberian city of Tobolsk, Znamenskii was a well-known local historian, archaeologist, ethnographer, artist, and master of satirical prints and drawings. The collection reflects almost all aspects of his work. It includes drawings of artifacts from archaeological finds in the territory of West Siberia, sketches of nature, people, and cities, a few maps, and several satirical albums with caricatures and humorous sketches of everyday life of the people. Together, the illustrations in the collection give a portrait of the people of and physical conditions in West Siberia in the second half of the 19th century.

Tomsk Oblast Museum of Regional History and Folklife (422 items)

Photographs by i. s. fateev: the tym river selkups in 1938 and 1940 (177 items).

This is a collection of prints from glass negatives shot by Ivan Stepanovich Fateev. The photos were taken in the Tym River region on two expeditions organized by the museum director, Petr Ivanovich Kutaf’evyi. Fateev captured the way of life of a group of Narym (southern) Selkups living in close proximity with their Evenki neighbors during the period of aggressive Sovietization of West Siberian native peoples.

The Civil War in West Siberia (45 items)

This collection contains unique documentary photographs relating to the Russian Civil War in Siberia. The photographs highlight the anti-Bolshevik (“White”) movements, underground and partisan activities in Tomsk Province, and the establishment of Soviet rule in Tomsk. The collection also includes material about the punitive expeditions of Admiral Aleksandr Kolchak. Most of the photographs were acquired by the Tomsk Oblast Museum of Regional History and Folklife in the 1920s and 1930s from the Research Commission on the History of the October Revolution and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

The Grigorii Nikolaevich Potanin and Nikolai Mikhailovich Iadrintsev Collection (110 items)

This collection consists of diverse materials belonging to Grigorii Nikolaevich Potanin (1835–1920) and Nikolai Mikhailovich Iadrintsev (1842–94), two prominent Siberian scholars, social and political activists, and leaders of the regional-studies movement. The materials include their correspondence with friends and social activists (eighty-five items), photographs from N. G. Potanin’s expedition to Mongolia in 1899 (seventeen items), and photographs from the journal of Nina Aleksandrovna Adrianova, who was the daughter of Aleksandr Vasil’evich Adrianov, a specialist in regional studies (eight items).

Maps from the Tomsk Oblast Museum of Regional History and Folklife (48 items)

The Tomsk Oblast Museum of Regional History and Folklife (TOKM) map collection represented in the Meeting of Frontiers project numbers forty-nine items on 117 pages. The collection was built quietly throughout the history of the museum. The bulk of the collection consists of nineteenth-century regional maps of Tomsk, Tobolsk, Irkutsk, and Enisei guberniias, land-use and road maps, and maps of Siberian cities.

V. I. Surikov Museum of Art in Krasnoiarsk (321 items)

Works of d. i. karatanov, a. g. vargin, and a. p. lekarenko from their expeditions to siberia (321 items).

This collection presents sketches, drawings, watercolors, and paintings by three well-known Krasnoiarsk artists, Dmitri Innokent’evich Karatanov, A. G. Vargin, and Andrei Prokofievich Lekarenko, produced during their expeditions to Siberia in the 1910s and 1920s. These works are located at two institutions: V. I. Surikov Museum of Art in Krasnoiarsk and Krasnoiarsk Krai Museum of Regional History and Folklife. Karatanov (1872-1952) studied at the St. Petersburg Academy of Fine Arts but left the Academy in 1896 before finishing his course of study to return to Krasnoiarsk. He began teaching at the High School of Arts in Krasnoiarsk in 1910; many well-known local artists studied under him. The main theme of his work was the Siberian landscape. He was named an “Honored Artist of the RSFSR (Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic)” in 1948.  Very little is known about Vargin. The 110 drawings that he made during his trip to Siberia with A. A. Savel’ev are his only surviving works.  Lekarenko (1895-1974) studied under Karatanov and V. A. Favorskii, and was one of the founders of the local artists union “New Siberia.” He also taught at the High School of the Arts in Krasnoiarsk as well as at the Surikov Academy of Arts in that city. In 1967 Lekarenko was awarded the “Order of Honor” and named “Honored Artist of the RSFSR” for his dedication to educational work.

V.A. Obruchev Museum of Kyakhta Regional History and Folklife (71 items)

Russian-chinese cross-border trade (71 items).

A collection of 71 items (photographs and negatives on glass) made in the late 19th century and early 20th century by the famous revolutionary-populist and social and political activist N.A. Charushin (1851–1937) and by N. Petrov. Charushin began serving a hard labor sentence in the Transbaikal Territory in 1878. The materials in the collection illustrate aspects of Transbaikal history in this period, with a particular emphasis on the tea trade with China, which at that time was one of the main branches of the economy of the region. The photographs show various technological processes of growing and preparing tea, sections of trade routes, as well as views of China, Mongolia, Buryatia, and various towns and villages of Transbaikal, as well as images of local people of different ethnicities and nationalities. Several of the photographs, including one of the large and imposing Russian consulate, were taken in Urga, at that time the capital of Outer Mongolia (and known today as Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia).

V.K. Arseniev Primorsky Regional Unified Museum (267 items)

Photo archive of geologist mikhail alekseevich pavlov (125 items).

A collection from the family archive of prominent geologist Mikhail Alekseevich Pavlov (1884–1938). Pavlov was born near Ekaterinburg and completed his schooling at the Nikolai Gymnasium in Tsarskoe Selo (present-day Pushkin) in 1905. He went on to study geology at Saint Petersburg University and participated in many field expeditions. While still a student, Pavlov took part in the attempted expedition to the North Pole in 1912‒14, which was led by the Arctic explorer Georgii Iakovlevich Sedov (1877–1914). Along with his school and university friend Vladimir Iul’evich Vize (1886–1954), who served as the expedition’s geographer, Pavlov collected a large body of scientific data on the northern archipelago of Novaya Zemlya. After finishing his education, Pavlov worked as a geologist and teacher of geology. He devoted most of his career to the geology of the Far East, working as an employee of the Far East Geological Committee (Dal’geolkom) in 1919–31. Pavlov was arrested in 1931 and in 1938 was executed after exhaustion prevented him from reporting for work in the labor camp where he was a prisoner. Such a fate was typical for representatives of the Russian intelligentsia in Stalinist Russia. Many photographs in this collection were taken by Pavlov himself, while others are unattributed. The photographs date from approximately 1875–1929. They depict Pavlov’s geological expeditions in Siberia and the Far East, expedition participants, views of nature, Pavlov during his school and university years, and his family members in various years.

Photographs of Georgii Iakovlevich Sedov's Expedition to the North Pole (59 items)

Senior Lieutenant Georgii Iakovlevich Sedov (1877–1914) was a hydrographer and surveyor who devoted much of his career to exploration of the Northern Sea Route north of Siberia. The son of a poor fisherman, Sedov succeeded in becoming an officer of the Imperial Russian Navy, an unprecedented achievement for someone of his modest origins. This collection, consisting of an album and individual photographs from the family archive of geologist Mikhail Alekseevich Pavlov (1884–1938), depicts the expedition undertaken by Sedov in the years 1912–14. The members of the expedition departed from Arkhangelsk in August of 1912 on the sailing vessel Saint Martyr Foka, intending to travel to Zemlya Frantsa Iosifa, from where they would attempt to reach the North Pole by dog sled. The expedition relied on private means, which contributed to the shortages of fuel and food that led to its failure. Sedov, whose health was already failing when he set out for the pole by sled in early 1914, died before reaching his objective. The members of the expedition nonetheless carried out extensive surveying and scientific observations while wintering on Novaya Zemlya in 1912–13 and made significant contributions to knowledge of northern geography. Many photographs in the collection were taken by Nikolaj Vasil’evich Pinegin (1883–1940), the artist and photographer of the expedition. Other photographs are attributed to Pavlov, the expedition’s geologist, who over the course of his career conducted a great deal of geological research in Siberia and the Russian Far East. The photographs show the expedition’s departure from Arkhangelsk, the members of the expedition on the Saint Martyr Foka, the harsh conditions endured by the expedition in winter, and views of the Arctic.

The Family of Yul Brynner Photo Album (83 items)

A collection of 82 photos from the archive of Yul Brynner (1920–85), the famous Hollywood actor, Academy Award winner, and Vladivostok native, preserved in the V.K. Arseniev Primorsky Regional Unified Museum in Vladivostok. Yul Brynner, whose real name was Iulii Borisovich Briner, was the grandson of the Vladivostok businessman and public figure of the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries Iulii Ivanovich Briner (1849–1920), the owner of the lead and zinc mines in Tetiukh (present-day Dalnegorsk) and the shipping company and ship-repair shops in Vladivostok. Iulii Ivanovich had six children: Leonid, Boris, Felix, Margarita, Maria, and Nina. Boris Iul’evich (1889–1949), the father of the future Oscar-winner Yul Brynner, continued his father's business. Most of the Briner family emigrated from Primor’e (the Primorskiy region) in 1931 and lived subsequently in China, France, and the United States. The collection dates from 1923 and the photographs, from different years, depict Yul Brynner himself and his numerous relatives.

Yakutsk State Museum of the History and Culture of Northern Peoples (123 items)

Yakut material culture in ethnographic sketches of the 1920s-1940s (123 items).

A collection of ethnographic sketches created in the Yakut Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic during the 1930s–1940s. The Yakut ASSR—informally referred to as Yakutia and known today as the Sakha Republic—covered a large region in eastern Siberia. It is the historical home of the Yakut (Sakha) people, a Turkic people who arrived in the region around the 13th century and still make up almost half of its population. This collection of sketches was created by Ivan Vasil’evich Popov (1874‒1945), an artist and teacher who was born near Yakutsk and received his education in Yakutsk and Saint Petersburg. Popov was born into a family of priests who had been among the first to give sermons in the Yakut language and had taken part in the writing of a Yakut dictionary. Accordingly, some of his first works of art were icons that he painted as a seminary student. Although Popov had to work as a teacher throughout his adult life, unable to support his family through his artistic activities alone, he made a significant contribution to the documentation of Yakut material culture. In addition to recording Yakut culture in his drawings and paintings, Popov documented Yakut life in photographs and contributed to the recording of oral history and folklore. This collection of Popov’s drawings depicts Yakut material culture of the 17th‒20th centuries. Featured items include furniture, interiors and exteriors of dwellings, grave monuments, hats, footwear, tools, and hunting equipment.

Geospatial analysis of elephant habitat suitability and movement for mapping the elephant corridor in Dalma Wildlife Sanctuary (India)

• Published: 16 September 2024
• Volume 196 , article number  936 , ( 2024 )

Cite this article

• Satendra Kumar Chaudhary 1 ,
• Arvind Chandra Pandey 1 &
• Bikash Ranjan Parida 1  

Wildlife and natural resources constitute an integral part of the ecosystem, whereas human interventions dismantled the living conditions of the wildlife. This is testified in the Dalma Wildlife Sanctuary (DWS) where the habitats of Asian elephants have changed due to human intervention and deforestation over the decades. The present study aimed to assess the elephant habitat suitability in the DWS of Jharkhand state (India) using the geospatial parameters such as forest density, degree of slope, proximity to water bodies, land use land cover, proximity to agricultural land, built-up density, and road density. The analytical hierarchical process technique was utilized to determine habitat preference and selection of relevant factors to categorize criteria. The study revealed that about 6.7% (26.74 km 2 ) of the area is very highly suitable for elephant habitat, while 52.26% (208.49 km 2 ) of the forest area was found highly suitable. The most suitable habitat was identified in the core parts of the forest, while the least suitable areas were found in the southern part, where the presence of roads, built-up, and agricultural land was prominent. It was also observed that most human–elephant conflicts were exhibited in the low and very low suitable areas, while 90% of the elephant movement was witnessed in the high and very high suitable areas. Among the four identified corridors, three are inactive, and their location corresponds with low to very low suitable habitats. The study identified the migratory corridor routes inside the sanctuary where effective management is required for the conservation of elephant habitats and minimizing conflicts.

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Acknowledgements

Authors thank the Forest Department of Jharkhand for providing the necessary information and elephant data of the Dalma Wildlife Sanctuary. We thank USGS and Copernicus for providing Landsat and Sentinel satellite data, which were used in the analysis.

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Satendra Kumar Chaudhary, Arvind Chandra Pandey & Bikash Ranjan Parida

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Satendra Kumar Chaudhary: Investigation, Methodology, Software, Data Analysis, Visualization, writing– original draft, review and editing. Arvind Chandra Pandey: Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Software, Data Analysis, Visualization, writing– original draft, review and editing. Bikash Ranjan Parida: Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Software, Data Analysis, Visualization, writing– original draft, review and editing. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the article.

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Bikash Ranjan Parida: Conceptualization, Investigation, Supervision, Methodology, Software, Data Analysis, Visualization, writing– original draft, review and editing.

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Chaudhary, S.K., Pandey, A.C. & Parida, B.R. Geospatial analysis of elephant habitat suitability and movement for mapping the elephant corridor in Dalma Wildlife Sanctuary (India). Environ Monit Assess 196 , 936 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-024-13110-2

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Received : 16 December 2023

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Published : 16 September 2024

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-024-13110-2

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• Analytical hierarchical process

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Wildlife featured in this article, wild cam: wolverine densities vary across canadian boreal forest.

September 10, 2024 by Joshua Rapp Learn

JWM article shows legal trapping is the primary source of death in Alberta and Ontario

After decades of uncertainty, researchers have established population estimates for wolverines in two boreal forest areas in Alberta and Ontario.

The results reveal that the carnivore’s populations are denser in Alberta than Ontario, though trapping was a major conservation concern for both populations.

In both areas, trapping caused twice as many deaths as predation and vehicle collisions combined, said Matt Scrafford, a conservation scientist at the Wildlife Conservation Society Canada who was the principal investigator of both studies.

In a study published recently in The Journal of Wildlife Management , Scrafford and his colleagues analyzed and compared the two populations of wolverines ( Gulo gulo )—one in each province. In northwestern Alberta, Scrafford and his team tracked wolverines around Rainbow Lake from 2013 to 2016. In Ontario, they estimated the population around Red Lake in the northwest of the province from 2018 to 2022.

“They’re very hard to study,” Scrafford said. “They live in very remote places.”

The researchers used baited poles fixed with trail cameras. The camera, aimed at the best angle to capture photos of the animals’ unique chest patterns, would go off as the wolverine walked up the pole, which sticks out parallel to the ground.

They also captured wolverines using traps, placing unique ear tags on them for identification.

Based on the live captures and the photos, Scrafford and his colleagues estimated wolverine population numbers at these locations. They found twice as many wolverines in Rainbow Lake, Alberta, as in Red Lake, Ontario, per capita. In Rainbow Lake, an area important for the oil and gas industry, the team estimated 6.7 wolverines per 1,000 square kilometers, while at Red Lake they estimated about 3.5 wolverines per 1,000 square kilometers.

The researchers aren’t sure why there are more wolverines around the Alberta site than the Ontario site, but they think it might be due to the latter being farther south. Rainbow Lake is within core wolverine distribution, while Red Lake is near the southern end of the species’ range in Ontario—there aren’t many wolverines south of that area.

The researchers also tracked the animals with GPS and VHF collars for several years—45 in Rainbow Lake and 53 in Red Lake. These devices revealed some of the common causes of death for the carnivores, as well as information about their denning habits and typical diet.

Overall, trapping was the primary cause of death for wolverines by a long shot. Alberta permits two animals per year per trapper—one intentional and one incidental—while in Ontario, trapping of wolverines by non-Indigenous trappers is prohibited due to their threatened status in the province. Nonetheless, trappers accidently catch wolverines in traps meant for martens ( Martes americana ), lynx ( Lynx canadensis ), wolves ( Canis lupus ), or other wildlife in both locations.

In fact, Scrafford and his colleagues removed traps and snares from the limbs and necks of several wolverines they captured during their study. Others were missing paws—possibly from getting caught in snares in the past. “They likely had to chew their paw off to free themselves,” Scrafford said.

Roadkill and wolf predation were also sources of death in both locations, with a handful of kills in each province. The wolf kills happened mostly along roads, so humans may be indirectly responsible for the number of dead wolverines in these areas by providing access routes for the canids deep into wolverine habitat.

“We found fairly low survival in Rainbow Lake and slightly higher survival in Red Lake,” Scrafford said.

As a result, the population trajectory showed evidence of decline in northwestern Alberta, with a 50-60% yearly survival rate, while the population in northwestern Ontario was predicted to remain stable, with an 85-86% yearly survival rate. Since these species are long lived and slow to reproduce, the cutoff for a stable population is about 75% yearly survival, Scrafford said.

Scrafford said that reducing access roads and seismic cut lines used by the oil and gas industry might be one way of reducing deaths, since both human trappers and wolves use these features to access wolverine habitat.

This photo essay is part of an occasional series from The Wildlife Society featuring photos and video images of wildlife taken with camera traps and other equipment. Check out other entries in the series  here . If you’re working on an interesting camera trap research project or one that has a series of good photos you’d like to share, email Josh at  [email protected] .

This article features research that was published in a TWS peer-reviewed journal. Individual online access to all TWS journal articles is a benefit of membership.  Join TWS now  to read the latest in wildlife research.

Header Image: Wolverines are found in both Ontario and Alberta. Credit: Liam Cowan

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