Protected natural areas of Siberia and Mongolia: comparative analysis
T.P. KALIKHMAN1, A.V. BARDASH1, S. ENKH-AMGALAN2
1V.B. Sochava Institute of Geography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Irkutsk, Russia
2Institute of Geography and Geoecology, Mongolian Academy of Sciences, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Keywords: territorial nature conservation, legislative framework, institutional differences, systems of protected natural areas, classification of categories of protected areas, spatial relationship of protected areas
Abstract
The large inland territory, including Russian Siberia and Mongolia, as discussed in this article, has similarities in physical-geographical, and socio-demographic parameters, as well as in the attitude to them as the “resource colonies”. The Siberian and Mongolian components significantly differ politically thus affecting the institutional and managerial characteristics and the formation of territorial nature conservation, which is implemented in the activities of specially protected natural areas. The article provides an analysis of the existing systems of protected areas in Siberia and Mongolia, and of their structure and legislative basis. The similarities and differences of the laws of Russia and Mongolia are consistently considered: on land, on specially protected natural areas, and on territories of traditional nature management. The analysis of the legislation revealed a difference between similar categories of protected areas, management features as well as some aspects of law enforcement. Based on statistical information as of the beginning of 2021, summary tables of protected areas by category and by administrative units have been compiled. On the basis of databases collected by the authors and previously published thematic atlases, maps of protected areas have been compiled, demonstrating their distribution in Mongolia and Siberia. In spite of the differences identified, a converging aspect is shown: the presence and planning of interstate transboundary protected natural areas. It is concluded that the existing system of Mongolian protected areas is more effective. It is characterized by a greater representativeness of landscape diversity, more evenly distributed across administrative units of the country, developed in terms of areal indicators, more homogeneous in terms of representation of various categories of protected areas, and more peculiar due to the presence of transboundary protected areas between aimags. The Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) is a positive exception in the Russian part of the system.
|
