A Transboundary Network of Protected Areas for the Conservation of the Far Eastern Leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis)

Abstract

The last Far Eastern leopards survived at the junction of the Southwest of Primorsky Krai in Russia and the Laoyeling-Dalongling in Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces in China. By the year 2000, there were only 30–35 individuals living in an area of approximately 3000 km². Thanks to conservation efforts, this endangered subspecies has moved away from the edge of extinction, with more than 150 individuals living in an area over 14,000 km² in 2022. Reliable protection of key habitats has played a crucial role in this success. Over the past 25 years, the transboundary network of protected areas dedicated to the conservation of the Far Eastern leopard has increased 12 times, from 1532 km² to 18,961 km², covering 12,636 km², or 90 percent of its current range. The latest step was the proclamation in 2024 of the Sino-Russian transboundary protected area “Land of Big Cats”. This includes the Kedrovaya Pad Nature Reserve, the Land of the Leopard National Park with a buffer zone in Russia (3694 km²), and the Northeast Tiger Leopard National Park in China (14,612 km²). According to our estimates, this will ensure the long-term preservation of 17,239 km² of suitable habitats, which will allow for the maintenance of a potential population of at least 300 Far Eastern leopards.

Keywords

Land of the Leopard National Park / Northeast China Tiger Leopard National Park / Sino-Russian transboundary protected area “Land of Big Cats”

Acknowledgments

We thank the WWF and the many international foundations that have supported our 25-year efforts to create a network of protected areas sufficient for the restoration and long-term survival of the Far Eastern leopard. The creation of the Land of the Leopard National Park was almost impossible without the direct involvement of Sergei Ivanov (Head of the Presidential Administration of Russia), Yuriy Trutnev (Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation) and Vladimir Miklushevsky (Governor of Primorsky province).

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, Y.D.; Methodology, Y.D. and E.E.; Formal Analysis, Y.D.; Data Curation, Y.D. and E.E.; Writing, Y.D.; Visualization, E.E.

Ethics Statement

Not applicable.

Informed Consent Statement

Not applicable.

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author.

Funding

This work was funded by FSBIS Pacific Geographical Institute, using grant from Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation No. 075-15-2023-584; and contracts with FSBI Land of the Leopard No. 7A, 27 June 2022 under the framework of ESCAP project “Transboundary cooperation on the conservation of Amur tigers, Amur leopards and Snow leopards in North-East Asia”.

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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