Amur-Heilong
The Amur river (also called the Heilong) is the longest undammed river in the eastern hemisphere. It journeys 4,425km, starting in Mongolia, and forms the border between north-eastern China and the Russian Far East.
Surrounding the Amur river is a watershed of over 1,500,000 sq km – around three times the size of Spain. An extremely rich freshwater ecosystem, the Amur-Heilong watershed covers vast areas of grasslands and forests.
The Amur’s mixed coniferous-broadleaf forests are some of the most biologically diverse temperate forests in the world. They are one of the last places the world’s largest cat, the Amur tiger, and the world’s rarest cat, the Amur leopard, can be found.
The region is also home to musk deer, brown bears and flocks of Oriental white stork and red-crowned crane. Its rich diversity of flora includes wild ginseng, long treasured for its medicinal uses.
Threats
The region is still largely unaltered and harbours vast areas of intact habitats. However, times are changing and the Amur-Heilong and its inhabitants face serious threats.
Prey depletion, loss of habitat, and poaching for use in traditional Asian medicine and pelts have driven the Amur tiger and leopard to near extinction.
The Amur leopard, is listed as critically endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species. With fewer than 35 left in the wild, it is considered the world’s most endangered cat.
The Amur tiger is also listed as critically endangered, it is now only found in the Sikhote-Alin mountain range in the Primorsky and Khabarovsky provinces in Russia, and in small pockets in the border area of China and North Korea.
Solutions
WWF is working with governments and partners to achieve lasting conservation of the Amur-Heilong region and the species it supports through our Amur-Heilong programme.
The programme’s objectives are to reduce poaching, curb unsustainable and illegal logging in critical habitats and protect key prey species.
Working with TRAFFIC (the wildlife trade monitoring network), we are providing training and education to the public and customs agencies on combating the illegal trade of wildlife products. Anti-poaching patrols are also being strengthened and increased.
A prey recovery programme has been set up to test the effectiveness of various methods of keeping prey abundant. Ideas tested have included supplementing the food of prey animals such as deer and wild boar during hard winters; vaccinating wild boar against disease; and educating wildlife managers and hunters. The programme has helped to significantly increase the population of both deer and wild boar.
WWF is also working to establish protected areas and corridors for leopards and tigers so that they have a secure place to live and breed and can move between suitable habitats.
Unsustainable legal and illegal logging practices are being tackled with the help of WWF’s Global Forest & Trade Network. The network works globally and locally to facilitate trade between companies committed to responsible forestry practices.
The increasing international demand for energy has prompted plans to dam the Amur-Heilong River. WWF and other NGOs are working with local, national and international governments to urge adoption of a proposal for hydropower energy development that strikes a sustainable balance between the needs of humans and the region’s ecological integrity.