Volcanoes of Kamchatka

This is a serial World Heritage site which includes several protected areas of different categories. 95% of Kronotskiy Strict Nature Reserve (Zapovednik) and 80% of South Kamchatka Federal Sanctuary (Zakaznik) are under strict conservation management on the base of federal regulations and correspond to IUCN category I or II. A management plan for the Biosphere Reserve, comprising of Kronotskiy Strict Nature Reserve and South Kamchatka Sanctuary, but not considering specific requirements of the World heritage designation, was approved for the period 2017 to 2021.
The other four components of the serial site were designated as Nature Parks by regulations of the regional government. New management plans were developed individually for the period 2020 to 2024, but of insufficient quality. The Nature Parks roughly corresponding to IUCN PA Category V. Until 2010 each of the Nature Parks was an independent state institution on regional level. According to the resolution No.191 “On Reorganizing Certain Kray State Institutions” adopted by the Governor of Kamchatka Kray on August 14, 2009 and with Order No. 78-P “On Reorganizing Kray State Institutions” adopted by Kamchatka Kray Natural Resources Ministry on August 17, 2009 the for institutions were reorganized in one “Kray State Institution Volcanoes of Kamchatka Nature Park” (State Party of the Russian Federation, 2015). The new administration structure was introduced for the joint management of the component parts in regional responsibility. However, an overarching plan for a joint management of the entire World Heritage Site was not developed yet and is not foreseen (State Party of the Russian Federation, 2016; UNESCO/IUCN, 2019).

No systematic management effectiveness assessment using standard methodology (e.g. RAPPAM, METT) has been conducted. A biodiversity trend assessment revealed decreasing abundances of most key species in four component sites between 2003 and 2007, suggesting insufficient management effectiveness (Mosolov, 2008). Management effectiveness of the South Kamchatka Nature Park component has been characterized as extremely low by local PA staff (IUCN Consultation, 2012), primarily because of dramatically insufficient institutional capacity (staffing, resourcing, specialist training, coordination and enforcement powers). Management effectiveness of the federal PAs comprising the site is considered somewhat higher. The ban on net fishing in the mouth of the Nalychevo River has had a positive influence on the Pacific Salmon population in the entire river catchment. Regular surveillance activities reduced illegal extraction of aquatic biological resources with positive effects on the populations of predators like Brown Bear, Wolverine, Steller’s Sea Eagle (State Party of the Russian Federation, 2016).

This is a serial site consisting of 6 components, which increases the border/area ratio and poses additional management challenges. There are no official buffer zones, but a proposal was made to create a buffer zone for Kronotsky Zapovednik (UNESCO/IUCN, 2019). The 2007 monitoring mission recommended to clarify and communicate the site’s boundaries as geographical coordinates as some inconsistencies were noticed (UNESCO, 2012). The most recent figures provided in State Party of the Russian Federation, state an area for the World Heritage site of 3,959,952.9 hectares. This represents a clarification with regards to the area of the nature parks components of the World Heritage site having noted discrepancies with previously reported figures. However, since only boundaries of one component (Southern Kamchatka Nature Park) have been recently clarified through the Retrospective Inventory process, the boundaries of all other components of the site remain somewhat uncertain and have been recommended to also be 'formally updated through the submission of high-resolution maps and shapefiles' (UNESCO, 2018), which have yet to be provided (State Party of the Russian Federation, 2019; UNESCO/IUCN, 2019).

None of the six components within the Volcanoes of Kamchatka World Heritage site have a formal buffer zone. However the Kronotsky Biosphere reserve is surrounded by a so-called cooperation zone, and there is a proposal to designate a 840,285 hectare buffer zone for the Kronotsky Zapovednik, aiming to conserve the wild Northern reindeer and bighorn sheep populations (UNESCO/IUCN, 2019). Concerns are also noted around new zoning of different components of the site which greatly diminished the area of the site under strict protection regime (UNESCO/IUCN, 2019), therefore posing threats to the values of the site. 

The boundaries of the South Kamchatka Nature Park have already been changed at national level in which an area was excluded from the territory of the northern cluster for the implementation of a “Three Volcanoes Park” project (Government of the Russian Federation, 2020). In 2020, a minor modification proposal was submitted by the State Party to the World Heritage Committee to reflect this. It is currently being evaluated. The 2019 mission report (UNESCO/IUCN, 2019) states that the Three Volcano Park, would 'establish a huge tourist resort at the edge of the property, with installations within it and serious impacts on this component of the property and the property’s OUV'.

Limited information is available. Previous plans to build two power stations inside Kronotskiy Strict Nature Reserve (now suspended) indicate that the safeguarding of the integrity of this site is not well recognized in regional planning.

Little information is available and no systematic stakeholder analysis has been documented. There have been conflicts between local people and authorities about the allocation procedure for hunting licenses, which puts local indigenous hunters at disadvantage (UNESCO/IUCN, 2007), and about the exclusive use rights of indigenous fishing grounds (Indigenous Portal, 2010).

In 2009, Kamchatka Nature Park was formed including four of the six protected areas making up the Volcanoes of Kamchatka serial World Heritage site. The legal protection status of the parts of the site that are designated as Nature Parks is insufficient for a long-term protection of the site’s values (UNESCO, 2012). Neither a joint management plan for the entire World Heritage site nor guidelines for harmonization of individual management plans are available. Competences and jurisdiction are split between federal and local/regional authorities (UNESCO/IUCN, 2019). The Kamchatka territory law No. 375 of 27.09.2019 "On amendments to the law of the Kamchatka territory "On specially protected natural areas of Kamchatka Territory"" was adopted on 27.09.2019 (http://docs.cntd.ru/document/561554836). The adopted law allows changing the boundaries of protected natural areas of regional significance, in particular excluding territories from them. The law creates a legal basis for the change of borders and reorganization of protected areas of regional significance of Kamchatka Territory, including those that constitute the World Heritage site.  

No specific assessment of enforcement capacity is available; however, given overall low human and financial resources and given the large size of the site, enforcement capacity is probably limited. A case in point is the threat of poaching noted in the report on the State of Conservation of the Volcanoes of Kamchatka, which recommended that the State Party supports the efforts to address poaching through increased staffing and budgets (UNESCO, 2018).

The site has been subject to numerous recent decisions and recommendations of the World Heritage Committee, as well as reactive monitoring missions by the UNESCO World Heritage Centre and IUCN. In 2015, the State Party gave a response “with regard to Resolution No. 37COM 7B.21 adopted by the World Heritage Committee” in Phnom Penh 2013. With the “Report On the State of Conservation of the UNESCO World Heritage Property Volcanoes of Kamchatka (Russian Federation, Nr. 765bis) in 2015” from January 29, 2016 the State Party also gives a response to the Decision 37 COM 7B.21 (World Heritage Committee, 2013), recalled by Decision 39 COM 7B.20 (World Heritage Committee, 2015). In 2019, the State Party delivered an updated Report on the State of Conservation of the UNESCO World Heritage Property Volcanoes of Kamchatka (Russian Federation, No 765 bis) in 2019. A  joint UNESCO World Heritage Centre/IUCN Reactive Monitoring mission to the World Heritage property “Volcanoes of Kamchatka“ was organised in August 2019 (UNESCO/IUCN, 2019). It should be noted that a number of recommendations have been noted in the 2019 mission report (UNESCO/IUCN. 2019), which relate specifically to recommendations which remain outstanding from previous decisions and missions, and 'since 2007, possible threats to the property and problems arising from various projects like mining and the use of geothermal energy, from poaching and illegal hunting, but also from uncoordinated and uncontrolled tourism, have been regularly discussed by the World Heritage Committee, but have not diminished substantially' (UNESCO/IUCN, 2019).

While the Strict Nature Reserves and State Sanctuary exclude most types of resource use, management of use for sustainability in Kamchatka Nature Park is only partly within its jurisdiction. Sustainable reindeer grazing is practiced at the Bystrinskiy part of Kamchatka Nature Park. Hunting and fishing are partly forbidden, but uncontrolled.

The main funding source is the Kamchatka Kray budget. The financing of the nature parks was considered unsustainable in 2007 (UNESCO/IUCN, 2007) and had only increased by ca. 20% until 2011, to ca. $1.1 million annually (UNESCO, 2012). The funding of all (regional) Kamchatka protected areas of 29 million rubles per year was considered insufficient in 2012, and is merely meeting staff and some limited operational costs (IUCN Consultation, 2012). This suggests that the World Heritage site as a whole lacks a sustainable financing base (funding gap estimated as $700,000 per year – UNESCO/IUCN, 2007), particularly regarding the still insufficient number of ranger staff in relation to its size.
There is no recent information about the overall budget of the entire World Heritage site. The two component parts in federal administration are financed by the federal budget. The four component parts of the Kamchatka Nature Park are financed by the regional government of Kamchatka Kray. There are differences between the federal and the regional administrated components. The situation of the federal components seems much better, but numbers are not indicated in the State Party of the Russian Federation, 2015 and 2016. According to the recent Reactive Monitoring Mission report, the financial resources for the various components are still insufficient, though the Kronotsky Zapovednik and the South Kamchatka Sanctuary are better equipped (UNESCO/IUCN, 2019).

Staffing levels of Volcanoes of Kamchatka Nature Park are considered dramatically insufficient in relation to its size. The staff number of the Kronotsky Zapovednik, financed by federal budget was 110 employees in 2015. The Nature Park Volcanoes of Kamchatka with 4 components had only 37 employees in 2015 (State Party of the Russian Federation, 2016). The State Party of the Russian Federation (2016) also indicates several educational events in 2015, e.g. a training seminar “Preparation of guides for specially protected areas of Kamchatka Region”, jointly organized by the Kronotsky Reserve together with the administration of Volcanoes of Kamchatka Nature Park, and supported by the regional non-commercial organization “Association of Specially Protected Areas of Kamchatka Region”.  

There is no education and interpretation programme at the level of the entire site but at least one of the federal component reserves has such a programme (Kronotskiy Strict Nature Reserve, 2012b). Education and interpretation programs were also included in the UNDP/GEF project “Demonstrating sustainable conservation of biological diversity in four protected areas of Russia’s Kamchatka Oblast”. These have apparently not contributed to reduction of unsustainable natural resource use inside the site.

There are tourism routes and four visitor centres in the parts of Kamchatka Nature Park and another one in the Valley of the Geysers in Kronotskiy Strict Nature Reserve, but there still is no overall tourism strategy, functional ecotourism system (IUCN Consultation, 2012), approach to explaining the values of the site, or integrated tourism management strategy, which were recommended by the 2007 IUCN/WHC monitoring mission (UNESCO, 2012). In the two federal component parts a Plan of educational tourism for the years 2015-2016 was developed and implemented in the Kronotsky Reserve and the South Kamchatka Sanctuary. At the present time there are 12 tourist routes in Kronotsky Reserve (3 water routes, 9 walking tours incl. 1 multi-day tour). In South Kamchatka Sanctuary Sanctuary there are 10 tourist routes (2 water routes, 8 walking tours). Excursions and recreational activities on the territories of the 4 nature park component parts are conducted within the boundaries of the determined recreational areas. There are 25 tourist routes. According to the results of the monitoring no negative irreversible changes of natural landscapes and their components in the areas of recreational activity were found (State Party of the Russian Federation, 2016).
Increasing visitor pressure on the World Heritage site requires an improvement of suitable infrastructure outside the site and effective efforts for the visitor management inside the component parts, to avoid a “wild development” by private tourism companies (IUCN Consultation, 2017). Available data on the number of tourists in the property are not reliable. The figures probably contain only the number of tourists flying in with helicopters. The 2019 reactive monitoring mission recommended to develop, in parallel to management plans, a Tourism Development Master plan based on actual figures and projections, setting clear thresholds of the carrying capacity of the site in its entirety and of its individual components (UNESCO/IUCN, 2019).

There is no monitoring of the state of the natural values of the site (UNESCO, 2012). A simple monitoring system for a few key species was established for 4 component sites as part of the UNDP/GEF biodiversity project (Mosolov, 2008). Meanwhile several activities for monitoring of key mammal species (e.g. wild reindeer, marmot, snow sheep, grey whale) have started. Nevertheless, the data on snow sheep is deficient and the recent data on wild reindeer accumulated by the Kronotsky reserve shows that the populations is dramatically decreasing. Further, a monitoring of impacts from tourism would help to define the carrying capacity of certain areas within the site (IUCN Consultation, 2020).

A range of research projects on ecosystems and species in cooperation with academic institutions have been conducted at Kronotskiy Strict Nature Reserve and South Kamchatka State Sanctuary (Kronotskiy State Nature Reserve, 2012c). Further research activities have been started and first results are available, e.g. about marking activities of brown bear (Seryodkin, 2014) and geyser activities in Kronotsky Reserve (Kiryuklin, 2016). Series of scientific studies are carried out, but obviously not systematically implemented in the management plans.