Silver Taiga representative and at the same time the member of the Working Group of Model River Mezen Project Valentina Semyashkina had a meeting with the local population of Udora region of Komi. The local population represented the agricultural cooperative “AgroUdora”. The head of the cooperative Alexander Morozov and the head of the local fishery inspection Alexey Lenkov also participated in the meeting.
Silver Taiga representatives Przemyslaw Majewski (Director) and Valentina Semyashkina (Local Communities Project Manager) had a meeting with the representatives of AgroUdora Cooperative (Udora region of Komi) – population of Glotovo village – one of the oldest Komi settlements located along Mezen River. The meeting was held under Model River Mezen Project.
The aim of the meeting was to discuss the goals and current activities of the project and to involve the local population into the project as it should be the key project participant.
Last summer the Silver Taiga Foundation jointly with the Federal Public Agency “Komi Basin Authority for Fisheries and Conservation of Aquatic Biological Resources” (FPA “KOMIRYBVOD”) and the agencies of the fishery inspection; with the participation of the researchers from Poland and from the Institute of Biology, Komi Scientific Center, Ural Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences as well as the representative of the local community “Udorachi” organized two research expeditions under the project “Sustainable management of the fish resources: Model River Mezen”.
This year Komi Regional Non-Profit Foundation “Silver Taiga” started implementation of the “Fish resources and local population – Model River Mezen” project. The objective of the project is restoration of fish resources with their further sustainable management. It’s clear from the title of the project that the river Mezen flowing through the Udora region has been chosen as a “model” one and the local population – residents of the Udora region – are going to become the key participants of the new project.
The project has been developed by a special working group organized by Silver Taiga Foundation. It consists of the representatives of the administration and the population of the Udora region, Ministry of Natural Resources and Ministry of Agriculture of the Komi Republic, Institute of Biology of the Komi Scientific Center, Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and Fish Resource Agency of the Komi Republic “KomiRybVod”.
Representatives of Silver Taiga Foundation and Udora region of Komi agree that they should cooperate with the Arkhangelsk oblast of Russia to realize Model River Project properly. The aim of the Project is to show how to manage fish resources sustainably by the example of the Mizen River.
This was the issue for discussion during the regular Forest dialogue organized by Silver Taiga Foundation in Syktyvkar on April 4-5, 2011. The results of the Forest Village Project were presented to the participants of the dialogue and the Project perspectives were defined as well.
The dialogue was attended by the representatives of the local population, science, NGOs, local self-government. The participants discussed the urgent rural problems, possible ways out of the crisis and conditions of the further development of the village. The Forest Village Project has been realized during three years aiming at searching of possibilities to improve the economic situation of the village in market conditions and to develop cooperation in rural communities. Advantages and disadvantages of the Project were also defined during the dialogue.
The 3d Global Forum of Model Forests was held on March 21-26, 2011 in Burgos, Spain. The Forum was combined with International Symposium on Ecosystem and Landscape-Level Approaches to Sustainability (see www.globalforum2011.net).
Representatives of Forest Village project from Ust-Kulom and Priluzje regions have visited the neighbouring Lensky region of the Arkhangelsk oblast, where they practically got acquainted with the operation of the rural TPSAs – territorial public self-administration bodies.
For the first time participants of the Forest Village project learned about the territorial public self-administration actively developing in the rural regions of the neighbouring Arkhangelsk oblast at the conference “TPSA as the basis for local growth”, which took place in Koryazhma in autumn of the last year. The head of the Voldino settlement Irina Andriyevskaya from the Ust-Kulom region and Nikolai Anufriyev from Izhma took part in this conference carried out on the initiative of Silver Taiga Foundation. The target of this trip was to develop the recommendations of the Forests Dialogue, which was held in October 2009 in Syktyvkar and was devoted to the local self-government problems. At that time the participants of the Dialogue mentioned that such promising and necessary form of administration as territorial public self-administration (TPSA) isn’t used in the Komi Republic at all.
About thirty participants from different regions of the Komi Republic took part in the workshop “Rural tourism and territory development: proposals, problems, and the first experience”, which was held on the 18th of March in Syktyvkar.
The workshop was organized by Silver Taiga Foundation jointly with the regional public movement “Indigenous women of the Komi Republic” for the villagers who decided to try hand in the rural tours organization, to share the first experience in the new activity. They also got the chance to define some general problems of the rural tourism and to carry out a joint search for the ways forward. Alongside with the villagers and the workshop organizers the meeting was attended by the representatives of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of the Komi Republic, and interregional public movement “Komi voytyr”.
The participants of the workshop became convinced that many residents of the Komi rural regions are ready to suggest interesting and various tours for the townspeople and guests of the republic already today. These tours range from the simple rest in the village to the informative nature, local lore and ethnocultural tours, as well as event tourism …
Three workshops on the topic “Introduction to the voluntary forest certification” have been conducted in January – February by the specialists of Silver Taiga Foundation for managers and engineers of the enterprises – certification groups’ members on the territory of Sysola and Kazhim forestry units, and also for the employees of the forestry units involved in the certification.