Victor Demchenko

The protection of biological and landscape diversity in basins of small rivers of the Northern Azov Sea region by establishing protected areas of local importance, developing recommendations for improving the environmental situation, making complaints about the violation of environmental legislation, as well as devising proposals for site conservation and improving the level of environmental education through educational activities.

• to carry out research expeditions along small rivers in the Northern Azov Sea region;
• to prepare rationales for the establishment of reserves of local importance;
• to develop recommendations to improve the environmental situation in the basins of small rivers;
• to identify violations of environmental law in the basins of small rivers and, where necessary, to make complaints to the local and oblast authorities requesting them to solve the problems;
• to publish seven booklets: “Small rivers of the Northern Azov Sea region”, “Ecological problems of small rivers of the Northern Azov Sea region”, “Legal protection of small rivers”; “The most important nature-reserve sites on small rivers of the Northern Azov Sea region”, “Rare and Red Data Book species in the basins of small rivers of the Northern Azov Sea region” and “Protection and management of small rivers”, and to disseminate the information among the local population and the schools of the region;
• to draw the attention of the population to the importance of protecting unique areas in the basins of small rivers by publishing information about them in the mass media.

Zaporizka Oblast

Before the project started, preparatory coordination work was undertaken with the State Department of the Environment and Natural Resources in Zaporizka Oblast (Division of Protected Areas and Ecological Network) in order to identify the areas that should be protected; 12 potential areas were identified. Field surveys were conducted at these sites in order to establish protected areas of local importance.

The main goals of the field surveys were as follows:

- to assess the state of potential protected areas;

- to identify the present ecological state of small rivers;

- to identify violations of environmental legislation.

Two 10-day field surveys were conducted in Kuybyshevsky, Berdyansky, Primorsky, Chernihivsky, Tokmaktsky, Pryazovsky and Yakimivsky Rayons. The surveys were organised in order to identify the mouth, middle reaches and sources of rivers. The field team, which included a hydrologist, botanist, ichthyologist, hydrobiologist and herpetologist, studied the following areas:

• sources of the Rivers Obitochna, Molochna, Kiltichiya and Berda;
• middle reaches of the Small and Large Utlyuk, Tashchenak, Molochna, Domuzla, Korsak, Lozovatka, Obitochna and Berda;
• mouths of the Small and Large Utlyuk, Tashchenak, Molochna, Domuzla, Korsak, Lozovatka and Obitochna; and
• most of the river tributaries.

The results of the field surveys showed that seven areas should be protected and used wisely through the establishment of protected areas. Scientific rationales were produced for each of them in order to establish them as protected areas of local importance:

- "Source of the River Berda", "Volova Gully", "Steppe Slopes of Tykhy Ravine" protected landscape areas and "Steppes near the River Gruzenka" protected botanical area in Kuibyshevsky Rayon;

- "Steppes of Saltychsky Granite Open Pit" and "Source of the River Molochna (Tokmak)" protected landscape areas in Chernihiv Rayon;

- "Steppes Bordering the River Tashchenak" protected botanical area of local importance in Melitopolsky Rayon.

In order to reinforce the project results and ensure that activities aimed at establishing the protected areas took place, co-operation was started with the State Department of the Environment and Natural Resources in Zaporizka Oblast, Melitopol Interregional Ecological Inspection, the Oblast Department of Land Resources, rayon administrations and village councils.

Seven booklets of the type "A Small River Flows…" were published and distributed.

Booklets were produced on the following topics:

1. “Small Rivers of the Northern Azov Sea Region”,

2. “Ecological Problems of Small Rivers in the Northern Azov Sea Region”,

3. “Legal Protection of Small Rivers (environmental law)”,

4. “The Most Valuable Protected Areas and River Sites in the Northern Azov Sea Region”,

5. “Rare and Red Data Book Plants of Small River Basins in the Northern Azov Sea Region”,

6. “Rare and Red Data Book Animals of Small River Basins in the Northern Azov Sea Region”,

7. “The Protection and Management of Small Rivers (basin approach)”.

Five hundred copies of each booklet were distributed to the local population during field surveys, city schoolchildren, members of groups in the Eco-naturalists' Centre, university students and NGOs. Some of the booklets were distributed among the population of the villages where it was planned to plant trees near small rivers.

Violations of environmental legislation were identified

Field surveys in small river basins permitted the identification of violations of environmental legislation. The most typical violations were:

• non-compliance with legislation relating to the width of protected riverbanks;
• pollution of areas near rivers and forest belts with household rubbish;
• illegal felling of field-protection and water-protection forest belts;
• non-compliance with legislation relating to protected areas of local importance;
• illegal building of dikes and other hydrotechnical constructions;
• poaching;
• illegal introduction and acclimatisation of some fish species.

Descriptions of the violations were put together to make a package of documents that was sent to the State Department of the Environment and Natural Resources in Zaporizka Oblast as an activity carried out as part of the work to describe the current ecological status of small rivers in the Northern Azov Sea Region.

The planting of trees and bushes was organised in areas near rivers

In accordance with the recommendations of the State Department of the Environment and Natural Resources in Zaporizka Oblast, trees were planted in Stepanivka and Olexandrivka villages, Pryazovsky Rayon; 500 trees of different species were planted in two groups. In order to guarantee that the trees were cared for, agreements were signed with the relevant village councils and commercial bodies conducting economic activities on land within the jurisdiction of the village councils.

Materials were produced for the mass media

The results of the project results were publicised via the dissemination of press releases to the local media. In total, six press releases were prepared and distributed:

• “Man-made Ponds: Are They Good or Bad?”;
• “New Protected Areas in Our Region”;
• “Ways of Conserving Biodiversity in the Small River Basins of the Northern Azov Sea Region”;
• “Rivers of the Northern Azov Sea Region as Centres for the Conservation of Plant Diversity”;
• “Experience in Environmental Activities of the Melitopol NGO, “Tavriiska Aid for Protected Areas”.