Traditional nature management as a way to prevent the loss of wildlife species in a changing environment

Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 29, Staromonetny lane, Moscow, 119017, Russia

^* Corresponding author: a.s.nekrich@igras.ru

Abstract

Wildlife species of tundra and sub-arctic boreal regions are facing an immediate threat to its existence owning to environmental changes. This paper highlights how traditional nature management in northwestern Russia and northeastern Canada is able to reduce threats to the environment, focusing on vulnerability of biodiversity to changing climatic conditions. The goal of this study is to identify key areas of wildlife species loss during a changing climate by exploring the ability of traditional nature management to support environmentally sustainable habitats for the existence of the most typical biomes of tundra and sub-arctic boreal landscapes. The differentiating biodiversity method was used to determinate presence of rare species as a criterion of non-disturbed areas. This research is based on statistical data on biodiversity dynamics, meteorological data, reports on environmental conditions, cartographic materials, satellite images collected from open sources, and fieldworks. The author indicates non-disturbed sites in terms of biological resources protection in the studied regions. Obtained results confirm that on territories where traditional nature management is carried out, the reduction of biodiversity is much lower than on areas located in equal environmental conditions.