Chita, Chita Oblast, Russia.

June 25-26, 2002

We, representatives from Chita Oblast, the Russian Federation and and the eastern Aimags ( Dornod and Khentii) in Mongolia, hereinafter referred to as "the Parties", participating in the TumenNET Strategic Action Program (SAP) for the Daurean Steppe Zone (DSZ) Workshop, which was held in Chita city, Chita Oblast, the Russian Federation, on 25- 26 June, 2002,

bearing in mind existing bi-/multi-lateral cooperation agreements such as the Agreement between the Governments of Mongolia and the Russian Federation on Cooperation for environment conservation, 15 February 1994, the Agreement between the Governments of Mongolia and the Russian Federation on the Protection and Use of Border Waters, 15 February 1995 and the Agreement between Mongolia, the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China on the Daurian International Nature Protection Area, February 1994;

recognizing the importance to preserve the biological diversity on Russian - Mongolian transboundary territories as globally significant for the entire Northeast Asian Region;

considering centuries-long traditions of the people who had lived on these territories in harmony with nature and its wildlife;

welcoming the initiatives Northeast Asian countries have taken in the sphere of protecting biological and natural diversity of the transboundary territories and wetlands;

ascertaining that the preliminary study of the political, socio-economic and legal situation within the concerned countries provides for the implementation of measures to minimize or exclude the threat to the biological and landscape diversity of the transboundary territories;

further recognizing the Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis (TDA) as a foundation document on which concrete measures should be taken to address the root-causes for environmental degradation, particularly land and wetland degradation;

stressing the importance of protecting the transboundary biodiversity and water resources in border areas and promoting the rational use of these resources;

considering that efforts must be made to initiate a treaty as a cooperative mechanism for implementing the SAP in future

have reached the following understanding, with the TumenNET Project Coordination Unit and the SAP Lead Agent ( Republic of Korea) as witnesses:

- strengthening regional legislative mechanism and legislating special laws supporting ecological network and land reservation;.

- providing a protective status to ecological corridors; expanding buffer PA zones, etc.

• Promoting eco-tourism and recreational infrastructures in the border areas:

- data base preparation for potential tourism and recreational resources of the border territories;

- preparation of pilot eco-tour projects.

• Biodiversity and landscape conservation of the Daurian Steppe Zone and other territories in border zones as basis for the sustainable development:

- restricting (up to prohibiting) hunting in the spring season on the territories of the global migratory flyway of birds (so-called "bottleneck");

- implementing a system of measures to preserve rare and endangered species: antelope "zeren", Bustard, Japanese White-naped Crane, Demoselle Crane, Mongolian Marmot, Manul cat in the Russian part of the Daurian Steppe Zone;

- strengthening the regional legislative basis for regulating the natural resources management and environmental conservation (environmental auditing).

• System of measures for wetlands conservation:

- inventorization of wetlands and assessment of their ecological functions on border territories;

- elaboration and implementation of program for wetlands rehabilitation and conservation in the Daurian Steppe Zone.

- Controlling and decreasing the land degradation and ecosystem fragmentation on border territories:

- reforestation and forest–belts plantations;

- inventorization of degraded land due to mining, erosion, agricultural activities etc., and subsequent rehabilitation;

- promoting public access to ecologically vital information on major projects, including those of prospective transboundary pipelines.

• Public awareness raising for the responsible attitude towards biological and landscape conservation.

- using the informational potential of regional NGOs to involve the local population and public opinion in handling transboundary environmental issues;

- starting a wide public awareness program to prevent illegal hunting and to facilitate wildlife conservation on border territories;

- enforcing government and public control of the quality of surface and ground water in the border territories (rivers Menza, Onon and others).

• Protecting biodiversity by reducing damages of natural catastrophes (renovating legal, economic structure, management systems to reduce loss from natural disasters, preventing forest and steppe fires and neutralizing harmful insects and diseases, minimizing the anthropogenic pollution, improving scientific and technological basis to forecast natural disasters in Aimags and Sum areas, exchanging information with neighboring countries, monitoring catastrophes, evaluating risks and environmental sensibility to catastrophes, establishing the regional catastrophe combating center in Eastern zones, establishing the biogeocoenosis stations).
• Strengthening natural protected areas’ networking near border regions (improving the quality of life of local people in nature protected areas near borders, investigating environmental resources providing appropriate conditions for their sustainable use and biological regenerating and reduction of illegal hunting).
• Protecting transboundary water resources (creation of monitoring system, extension of transboundary water protection activities together with neighboring countries including research and investigations of water resources, obtaining accurate data base of water resources and promoting the public awareness for water conservation)
• Preventing of land degradation and desertification (forest protection and restoration, improvement of land management, sustainable pasture management practices and restoration of degraded land in mining areas).

- establishing new NPAs in border areas;

- improving and strengthening legal and regulatory systems;

- raising public awareness and community involvement;

- improving ecologically sustainable quality of life of local communities in the buffer zones;

- establishing joint management of border NPAs;

- considering the possibility to include some protected areas of the Daurian Steppe Zone (Russian and Mongolian parts) in the World Heritage List.

• Prevention of land degradation and ecosystem fragmentation through

- extension of reforestation, plantation and soil improvement activities;

- conduction of surveys to identify the environment hot spot areas in the Daurian Steppe Zone using GIS and establishing proper monitoring systems in the above cited areas;

- utilizing the traditional agricultural way of local communities in the border zone (e.g. nomadic livestock breeding, improving the quality of natural meadows and pastures by using sustainable practices);

- improving the regional and urban planning;

- enhancement of community involvement for preventing the land degradation;

- elaboration and implementation of the legislative tools and economic stimulation of the local community for sustainable land use.

• Conservation of water quality and fresh water ecosystem through

- controlling and monitoring fresh water quality in Onon and Ingoda rivers by increasing the number of hydrological stations or posts and by strengthening the technical capacity of hydro- chemical laboratories in order to prevent pollution of Amur river;

- elaborating programs for wetlands conservation and sustainable use of their resources;

- developing and maintaining data bases for the assessment and management of nominated and recognized wetlands as Ramsar sites and other valuable wetlands for waterfowl birds;

- promoting ecologically sustainable mining activities to prevent the water pollution.

• Conservation and enhancement of rare, endangered and most valuable fauna and flora species, among these, using restoration of ecosystems, particularly in areas suffering from from economic activities pressure:

- restricting (up to prohibiting) hunting in the spring season on the territories of the global migratory route of birds (so-called "Bottleneck");



- inventorizing the vertabrates inhabiting the Daurian steppe zone and its adjacent territories and publishing a complete annotated list (in Latin, English, Russian, Mongolian languages);

- establishing the regular birds monitoring on their migration flyways in the wetlands of the Daurian Steppe Zone;

- conserving valuable and medicinal plants, particularly the endangered species.

• Exchange of information and consultations consistent with national laws on environmental impact assessment on the development activities in border areas, such as roads, bridges and railways construction, e.g. over Onon and Ingoda rivers.

- raising public awareness on conservation transboundary biodiversity and international water protection by publishing the periodical newsletter " Environmental Transboundary News " (draft) in Mongolian, Russia, English languages, in the electronic and printed formats;



- developing eco-tourism depending on the potential of protected areas:

• developing a series of pilot eco - tours;
• disseminating the information on eco tourism resources/potential;
• designing, issuing and distributing the posters on the protection of eco tourism resources of the Daurian Steppe Zone;
• organizing training courses for the sustainable eco - tourism in the protected areas; developing and implementing the joint eco – tourism projects;

- preventing steppe and forest fires through improving the operational communication, training the local communities in fire management, and raising public awareness.



- building local capacities for effective implementation of the SAP through integrating stakeholders, local community-based organizations and the business sector in biodiversity conservation, enhancing people's awareness and involvement in the planning and management of biodiversity conservation and water protection.

• To implement the above activities, the Parties will explore joint cooperation mechanisms that may involve:

- Elaboration of the convention on protection the transboundary biodiversity and international water protection for the implementation of the SAP utilizing the mechanism of bi-lateral commission;

- exchange of research experiences, experts and researchers;

- seminars, symposia and meetings of specialists, as well as training courses and study programs;

- exchange of research, methodologies and other information for setting up data bases consistent with relevant national laws and regulations;

- development and implementation of joint programs and projects;

- creation of joint working groups.

Signed at Chita, Russia,