Darwin Initiative
Towards official protection for the largest wetland in the world
Authors: Dr Natasha Semenova, Professor Elena Lapshina, Dr Susan Shaw, Dr Bryan Wheeler.
University of Sheffield, UK in collaboration with Tomsk State University, Russia
The Darwin project "Bogs of Tomsk Province, Inventory, Assessment and Biodiversity Action Plan" ran from 1997 to 2000. The main output from the project was an "Action Plan for the Conservation of Biodiversity of Wetlands in Tomsk Province (Siberia)", which put forward a series of actions needed to ensure protection of these globally-important mires. Three of these action points involved the Great Vasyugan Bog (Vasuganskoe) in southern Siberia:
- To carry out preparatory work on the creation of inter-regional specially-protected territory in the system of the Great Vasyugan Bog
- To prepare a scientific basis for the creation of inter-regional specially-protected territory at the federal level in the territory of Great Vasyugan Bog.
- To create working group for defining the borders and inspection of the territory
- To prepare materials on the creation of the specially-protected territory on the Great Vasyugan Bog for representation in the Government of Russian Federation
The Great Vasyugan Mire, located in the southern part of the West Siberian Plain (Fig. 1, Fig. 2), is thought to be the largest wetland in the world. This single mire complex comprises almost 2% of the total peatland area of the world: it covers about 57,000 km² and contains some 18,000 km² of open bog, 20,000 km² of open fen, and over 19,000 km² forested mire. It forms the water divide between the Ob and Irtysh Rivers and stretches east-west over more than 500 km, across the borders between the Tomsk, Novosibirsk, Omsk and Tyumen administrative regions.
 | Figure 1. Location of the Great Vasyugan Mire (Western Siberia, Russia). |
 | Figure 2. The Great Vasyugan Mire is located in Western Siberia, at the junction of the Southern taiga and Small-leaved forest zones. |
 | Figure 3. Protection of the Great Vasyugan Mire: the location of the declared protected area within Tomsk Province and the planned protected area within Novosibirsk Province. |
Within the Great Vasyugan Mire, large complexes of minerotrophic mires can still be found, which in the temperate forest zone of Eurasia have largely been destroyed by human activities. This mire is a particularly good representative example of the southern taiga peatland landscapes and one of the best examples of wetland landscape macropatterns and biodiversity in the world. The Vasyugan Mire provides habitats for rare plant communities and species, in particular for some orchid species, and it sustains important populations of many rare and threatened birds, such as golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos), peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus), possibly the black stork (Ciconia nigra), and is a resting place for waterfowl and waders during migration periods. Species such as Eurasian curlew (Numenius arquata), whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus), black-tailed godwit (Limosa limosa), and common greenshank (Tringa nebularia) nest in some parts of the mire.
Mammals in this region, including some species of high commercial value, occur at the site due to the rich diversity of habitats and the inaccessibility of some areas. Sable (Martes zibellina), American mink (Mustela vison) and Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra) are found in paludified forest with rivers and streams on the fringes of open mires. High concentrations of capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus) and hazel grouse (Tetrastes bonasia) also occur there. Large numbers of elk (Alces alces) have been recorded in the vicinity of forested headwaters and major river valleys on the northern part of Great Vasyugan Mire during the winter grazing period. A local herd of reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) lives here, although completely unregulated hunting and large numbers of wolves have seriously undermined this population.
In addition to the large populations of globally-rare animal and plant species, the mire complex is characterized by a large diversity of surface patterning. In this respect, and in its location on the junction between boreal forest and steppe, the Great Vasyugan Mire resembles the well-known, but much smaller, Red Lake Peatlands in Minnesota (USA). The vast extent of the mire has permitted the development of impressive macro-patterns on the surface, on a scale that can only be really appreciated from satellite images.
With a maximum population density of 1 person per km2, the Great Vasyugan Mire occupies one of the least populated areas of Western Siberia. Peatlands form the main landscape-type in this region (over 50% of Western Siberia is covered with peat) and, perhaps not surprisingly despite their peat and rich biological resources, have largely been regarded as "wastelands", with little economic value other than for traditional subsistence activities around the margins (e.g. hunting, fishing, berry-gathering, timber). However, the realisation within the last 50 years that the area also has substantial mineral resources (including oil and gas) has lead to a rapid exploitation of the "wilderness" that was the Great Vasyugan Mire. Today all of the western part (up to about 78˚ longitude East) is under the influence of the gas/oil industries.
About 10% of the area of Western Siberia is currently under some form of protection. This includes different types of protected areas, for protection of typical and rare landscapes, and for plant and animal species, but there are currently no large protected areas specifically for peatland, and in the south of the forest zone of Western Siberia there are still no special protection areas for mires. Therefore, the Great Vasyugan Mire has recently become a prime candidate for protection.
At the end of the Darwin project on Peatlands in Tomsk Province, two of the Russian participants (Prof. E. Lapshina and Dr N. Semenova) were appointed to the Inter-Regional Commission on the Great Vasyugan Bog and have been able to contribute information, materials and experience from the project. Since 1998, work has continued on the preparation of official documentation to create a special protected area within the Great Vasyugan Mire in Tomsk Province and Novosibirsk Province. We are delighted to report that official agreements in Tomsk Oblast have at last been completed and the special protected area (regional landscape Zakaznik) was declared in March 2006 with a total area of 509,045 ha (Fig. 3). About 10% of the Great Vasyugan Mire was nominated as a special protected area of regional value. The agreements include many restrictions on the use of resources by the many user-groups, including hunters and foresters, as well as on its use for scientific research. No prospecting or exploitation of mineral resources will be permitted in the area.
Whilst this designation is of course welcomed, it is just a start - the wetland is recognised to be of federal and international conservation importance and requires further protection measures. The next objective is the designation of a special protected area in Novosibirsk Province (Fig. 3). The Departments of Nature Resources in the Administrations of Tomsk and Novosibirsk Oblasts will also continue the preparation of documentation for the designation of the area as a special protected area at the federal level. Part of the Great Vasyugan Mire was included in the Russian Tentative List of Ramsar Sites of international value. In addition, in collaboration with scientists at Tomsk University, officials at the Department of Nature Resources at the Administration of Tomsk Oblast are preparing documents for inclusion of the Great Vasyugan Mire on the Tentative List of World Heritage Sites. Together, these designations will confer upon the Great Vasyugan Mire the official status of what it truly is: the greatest mire on Earth.
 | Great Vasyugan Mire: ombrotrophic mire landscape, with ridge-hollow complexes (right foreground), ridge-hollow-lake complex (in the centre) and pine-dwarf shrub-Sphagnum bogs (ryam) (on the left and in the background). Photo: E. Lapshina |
 | Great Vasyugan Mire: minerotrophic birch-willow-sedge-moss string-hollow complex with lake. Photo: E. Lapshina. |
Page last modified: Sunday, 27 January 2008