What's for lunch?: Siberian tigers, which evolution has fitted with protective "eye" markings on the back of their ears, need 8 kg of meat a day to survive. JOHN GOODRICH PHOTO
Sunday, Feb. 14, 2010
By PATRICK EVANS
After leaving Kolya's cabin, I visit the remote village of Krasny Yar on the River Bikin. This is one of just a handful of settlements in this vast region still partly inhabited by indigenous hunter tribes — the Udege and Nanai. The original Dersu tribe — whose eponymous member traveled with czarist Russian mapmaker and naturalist Vladimir Arsen'ev through this wilderness, and later figured in the title of Akira Kurosawa's 1975 film, "Dersu Uzala," about those explorations — was closely related to the Udege. Many so-called Northern Peoples were killed or deported during the years of repression under Josef Stalin. The Udege now number only 2,000.
In Krasny Yar an ambitious World Wildlife Fund project aimed at protecting the Bikin drainage, which contains some of the world's richest old-growth forest, is already nine months into a three-year plan. The project, worth some ¥144 million, is helping local people establish forms of income from nontimber-derived products such as eco-tourism and textiles. Unfortunately, though, it is beset with controversy.
The head of Krasny Yar, Vladimir Shirkov, represents the project on behalf of the village. According to a number of local residents, he is also masterminding local illegal logging operations on the Bikin. The WWF's man on the ground, Ivan Rogov, says his organization is planning expeditions to gather evidence to help prevent violations in the sector. During a day out in the forest with a young Nanai hunter, I see evidence immediately: big trucks heading deep into the forest along well-worn trails. The following day, I see trucks leaving the forest fully laden.
The WWF project is set to last until 2011, after which, unless more funding comes in, the Udege and other people of Krasny Yar will have to fend for themselves among the corruption that continues to eat away at their dwindling ancient resource.
To find out more about the ongoing WWF project in the Bikin drainage system, visit www.panda.org
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