In February 2014, Chinese scientists visited the Sikhote-Alin region of Russia as part of a cooperation agreement between the Sikhote-Alin State Nature Biosphere Reserve and the Changbaishan National Nature Reserve of China. The training session was organised with the assistance of the Siberian Tiger Centre, an autonomous non-profit organisation.

A spokesperson of the Sikhote-Alin Reserve said that these visits are vital mutual cooperation, which focuses on assistance to the Chinese reserve in studying the Amur tiger habitat and creating conditions for reviving the tiger population in Changbaishan.

“It is gratifying that cooperation between our reserves is not limited to paperwork,” said Dmitry Gorshkov, PhD in Biology and director of the Sikhote-Alin reserve. “In the short period since the signing of the agreement, the sides have held several theoretical and onsite training sessions to improve the professional skills of both the Chinese and Russian colleagues. We have discussed the possibility of organising joint winter recording sessions, the collection and processing of data, and also the practical implementation of the results of these joint efforts.”

During their visit to the Russian reserve, the Chinese colleagues took part in a winter recording session. The experience they acquired in Russia will help them to conduct similar research back in China. For many of them, it was their first visit to the Amur tiger areal where they could photograph a tiger trail and examine their Russian colleagues’ methods of protecting the Amur tiger.

Meanwhile, another group of Chinese experts, including Professor Chen Jianwei, Beijing Forestry University, Vice President of the China Wildlife Conservation Association, and Xie Yan from the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Zoology, visited the Udege National Park with which the Sikhote-Alin Reserve signed a cooperation agreement in November 2013. They examined the reserve and park’s infrastructure and nature landmarks, and discussed possible cooperation in developing educational tourism in the two reserves.

“The tourist potential of the reserve and the park is huge,” said Professor Chen Jianwei at the end of the visit. “We focused on the Amur tiger, but it is not the only attraction of these two protected areas. The number of tourists visiting them can increase if the proper conditions are created. We are ready for cooperation in this area. We are also grateful to the personnel of the Sikhote-Alin reserve for their assistance in our research and for the knowledge we have acquired about the Amur tiger ecology.”

“Russian-Chinese cooperation in preserving the Amur tiger is crucial for restoring its population,” said Sergei Aramilev, director of the Primorye branch of the Siberian Tiger Centre. “Nature has no borders, and predators have no passports, so we cannot stop tigers from crossing the Russian-Chinese border. The restoration of the Amur tiger population in China would create a reserve so that tigers living in China could be used to increase the genetic diversity of the Amur tiger, which is important for small populations.”