Development of a system of specially protected natural areas
Specially protected natural areas (PAs) are land territories, water surface and airspace above them, where natural complexes and objects that have special conservation, scientific, cultural, aesthetic, recreational and health value are located.
By 2016, the area of PAs in Russia was about 11.4% of the total area of the country. The system of specially protected natural territories in Russia is represented by 247 federal territories (103 reserves, 48 national parks, 64 federal sanctuaries, 17 federal natural monuments) and about 13,000 regional protected areas of various categories.
The World Wide Fund for Nature is working to expand PAs to preserve unique ecosystems and habitats for rare and endangered species. In specially protected natural areas, natural complexes are preserved as a whole, with all the complexity and diversity of their ecological structure.
The work of WWF Russia in the PAs sphere includes five directions:
- development of the theoretical bases of reserve management;
- spatial planning of (regional) PAs systems;
- creation of new PAs;
- support existing PAs.