Protocol to the Agreement on Cooperation on Persian leopard recruitment, conservation and monitoring in the Republic of South Ossetia has been signed with the assistance of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of South Ossetia on April 13, 2018 in Tskhinval.
Bala Bestauty, the Chairman of the Committee of the Republic of South Ossetia for Geology, Ecology and the Use of Natural Resources, and Anna Yachmennikova, senior researcher of A. N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Science, signed the Protocol. The Agreement itself has been signed earlier by Chairman Bestauty and Vyacheslav Rozhnov, the Director of A. N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
The Agreement provides for bilateral cooperation between the Republic of South Ossetia and the Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences in finding information and monitoring the ecological aspects of recruitment of Persian leopard in the territory of South Ossetia.
The program is implemented by the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation in cooperation with the Sochi National Park, Caucasian Nature Biosphere Reserve, the Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow Zoo, the Autonomous Non-Commercial Organization (ANO) Center for Nature of Caucasus and WWF Russia, with support from the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) and the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA). The program is under personal control of the Chairman of the Russian Geographical Society Board of Trustees Vladimir Putin, the President of the Russian Federation.
Alongside with the Agreement the Republic of South Ossetia participates in implementation of the Program of A. N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the RAS and RusHydro for the Persian Leopard Reintroduction in Ossetia.
April 13, 2018, Tskhinval