Russia and Iran want to reintroduce the leopards in the Caucasus. The Russian Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology and the Iranian Ministry of Environment are about to sign a draft agreement for cooperation in the protection of the environment.
The Russian vice Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, Igor Maidanov, during a visit to Iran signed a document which "is regulating the cooperation between the two countries to preserve the biodiversity and to develop the protected natural territories. The parties have signed the agreement during a meeting in Teheran (on the 29th of December of 2009) between the Russian vice Minister of the Resources, Igor Maidanov, and the Deputy Director of the Iranian Organization for the environment, G. B. Saduk".
This document disciplines the cooperation between the two countries "in the field of biodiversity conservation, development of particularly protected natural zones and Convention of Teheran". Iranians and Russians also examined the practical aspects of the programme of reintroduction of the Persian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor) in the Western Caucasus.
The programme, which started during September of 2009, aims to restore the population of these extremely rare felines, which are at risk of extinction, in the Russian part of the Caucasus, restoring the presence of the leopards in their ancient areal.
In September Maidanov asked the Iranian Ambassador in Moscow, Mamud Reza Sajjadi, if Iran could give some Persian leopards to reintroduce them in the Caucasus. This request concerns at least two female specimens so that they mate with the two males which were given to Russia from Turkmenistan and that are housed in a reserve near Sochi.
The leopard project was wanted directly from Vladimir Putin as a demonstration of environmental commitment on the occasion of the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi. Putin, who has a penchant for large carnivores, went to the city on the shores of the Black Sea to personally welcome the Turkmenain leopards.
Iran is one of the last shelters of Persian leopards, which once populated all the forests and mountains of the Caucasus and central Asia, Small populations of these leopards resist also in Armenia, Georgia and Turkmenistan.
Whaling had a great development during the XVI century in the Atlantic ocean and from the XIX century in the Pacific ocean. The Basques were the first commercial whalers, while the most numerous were the Americans.
The whale is caught with an harpoon, thrown from the whaling ship. In the XIX century the main whale product was the blubber, but the whole animal was used. In modern times, the main product is it meat.
At the end of the XIX century whaling underwent a profound crisis because of the birth of the oil industry and because of the American civil war.
Today, whaling is forbidden in most of the world, but in many countries whale hunters keep hunting these cetaceans.
In 1946 the IWC (International Whaling Commission) was created to promote a coordinated development of the whaling industry and regulate it. At the beginning it encouraged the hunt and so, during the first 30 years of the IWC, 2 million whales were killed. In more recent times, it has started promoting the protection for the cetaceans, even though 39 member countries are still conducive to hunting.
In 1986 came into force the ban of whaling, but since then Japan, Norway, Iceland, Russia, Korea and local whale hunters from other countries went on with their activity, killing 21.760 whales.
In 1994, the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary was created. Notwithstanding this, Japan keeps killing minke whales there.
Norway and Japan are brazenly defying world opinion by going on with the hunt and even increasing it.
Japan is taking advantage of a loophole of the IWC, which allows the hunt in any number of specimens for the purpose of scientific research. So, Japan named its activity "scientific research". Obviously, no new knowledge has been gained.
Blue whale and fin whale are considered "endangered species" by WWF.
Whaling must be stopped. There is no justification for such a barbarity.
You can help things change by spreading the word and helping the organizations that deal with the protection of these wonderful creatures, like Greenpeace, Sea Shepherd, WWF and IWPO.
Please, don't let it remain an unheeded cry.
What do you think about it? Send me an email to thenorternlightsdiary@gmail.com.
In Pevek, a small Siberian town bathed by one of the earth's coldest seas, the Russians are completing the first prototype of floating nuclear power plant.
This power plant is composed of 2 mini reactors of 35 megawatts, mounted on a platform which can be transported offshore. Indeed, the designers created this all to be able to transport it in the remotest regions of the Arctic Ocean.
As if this were not enough, this power plant is going to be used to give energy to the drills of the Arctic oil platforms. The manifacturer said that other floating nuclear power plants of 1000 megawatts to be moored off the cost of Siberia are in planning, to produce energy that, through submarine cables, will be brought to the mainland.
The power plants are using the Arctic marine water for the cooling.
If something went wrong (which is very likely) an intervention in those seas would be almost impossible, while the destruction of the extremely fragile Arctic environment would be granted...and an enormous, shocking tragedy would be about to fall upon us all.
(Thanks to Lorenzo S. for helping me writing this post)
