Bonn/Astana,
18 June 2013 - A Saiga Resource Centre (SRC) has
been launched today in Astana, Kazakhstan, to provide an
online forum both for experts involved in Saiga antelope
conservation as well as for the interested public. The website
will serve as an international coordination mechanism for
the implementation of the Saiga
MOU, as required by the Medium-term International
Work Programme under the MOU.

The website has been developed by the Saiga
Conservation Alliance (SCA) and the Association for the
Conservation of the Biodiversity of Kazakhstan (ACBK), the
two technical coordinators of the Saiga MOU, with support
and funding from CMS and Switzerland. The website was launched
and discussed during a technical meeting of the Saiga MOU
community on 18 June 2013 in Astana, Kazakhstan

The SRC is designed as an information and
communication platform including all relevant information
regarding the endangered Saiga Antelope, its history, biology,
geographical range and related conservation policy. The
Centre comprises a comprehensive database of literature,
images and videos for use by the Saiga conservation community,
as well as a Specialist Resource Section, which includes
a comprehensive database of Saiga experts and projects related
to Saiga conservation. Government officials, NGOs, experts
as well as interested individuals involved in Saiga conservation
will have access to this section and be able to add their
own expertise and projects as well as access information
about other activities and experts.

The main objective of the website is to
share information on the progress towards implementing the
CMS Saiga MOU, and to invite Saiga Range States as well
as States that consume or trade in Saiga products, to provide
information and experience concerning activities in the
framework of the MOU. It aims at facilitating reporting
of activities related to Saiga conservation and how those
contribute to the implementation of the Medium-term Work
Programme 2010-2015, which Signatories adopted at their
last meeting in 2010.

While participants at the Astana meeting
spent the afternoon discussing the coordination mechanism,
in the morning they focused on options for mitigating the
negative impacts of current fence and railway infrastructure
operations in Kazakhstan on Saiga populations. Participants
learned of concrete recommendations for Saiga-friendly design
of the fence along the border between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan,
as well as ways to mitigate negative impacts of a railway
through Saiga habitat. These were contained in a report
initiated by CMS, the Frankfurt Zoological Society and Flora
and Fauna International. The report will soon be available
for the general public.

Terrestrial species that undertake long
distance movements are particularly vulnerable to linear
barriers. Mitigating the impact of obstacles to migration
in order to maintain the links among ecological networks
is essential to the species conservation, and required by
CMS Resolution 10.3.

Saiga
Resource Centre

The
Medium-term International Work Programme

To create a profile and access the Specialist
section, please contact [email protected]