Education at eco-centre in Luchegorsk town, Pozharsky district of Primorye (Northern Primorye).© Phoenix Fund
Monitoring at the Kozmino oil-loading port, one of the intermediate points in the oil-pipeline system that links Eastern Siberia and the Pacific Ocean.© Phoenix Fund
In 2009/10, The Rufford Foundation provided a grant of £20,000 to the Phoenix Fund.
Phoenix Fund is a Russian environmental NGO whose mission is to conserve the unique biodiversity of the Russian Far East, especially Amur tigers and leopards.
Phoenix Fund continued monitoring oil and gas projects in Primorye (the East Siberia-Pacific Ocean Oil Pipeline Project and Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok Gas Pipeline) through conducting regular patrols to reveal violations, prevent poaching and eliminate possible negative impact on rare and endangered wildlife of the region.
Due to recent alarming news on the sharp decline in tiger numbers, Phoenix Fund considers reinforcement of anti-poaching efforts as a high priority. Thanks to support from The Rufford Foundation, Phoenix Fund continued providing fuel and spare parts and undertaking repairs for one of the anti-poaching teams of the Primorsky Game and Rare Species Department, which operates in Krasnoarmeisky district.
Besides focusing on law enforcement as the short-term key to the survival of the species, Phoenix Fund staff recognise that it is education of the community that will ensure the survival of wildlife in the long-term. Within the limits of the project, Phoenix Fund has been the supporting work of the experienced educators in Krasnoarmeisky and Pozharsky districts of Primorye. In addition, in summer 2010 Phoenix Fund staff will organise a workshop for educators (to raise the skill of educators and improve ecological lessons), Journalists Awards (to make representatives of local mass media concerned about nature) and a Young Inspector’s Summer Camp (to change children’s attitude towards wildlife and increase their environmental consciousness).
