The regions Red Book will be published in 2010

In 2010, Irkutsk Region plans to publish the officially approved Red Book of the region. Funds for its preparation will be provided in the regional budget, and private organizations may also be involved. Scientists note that the Angara region remains the only Russian region without a full Red Book, and the new document will for the first time combine information not only on plants, but also on fungi, lichens and other rare species. The publication will be based on the list of hundreds of rare and endangered organisms of the region approved in 2009.

The officially approved Red Data Book of the Irkutsk Region is planned to be published in 2010. This was announced by the Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Irkutsk Region, Olga Gaykova, at an expanded meeting of the commission for the protection of rare and endangered plants, animals, and other organisms in the territory of the Irkutsk Region.
According to her, the funds necessary for this will be provided for in the regional budget for 2010. Olga Gaykova also noted that money for publishing the Red Data Book of the Irkutsk Region may be raised not only from the regional treasury, but also from private organizations.
“The Irkutsk Region is the only constituent entity of the Russian Federation that does not have a full-fledged Red Data Book,” noted Associate Professor of the Department of Botany and Genetics at Irkutsk State University Alexander Petrov. He explained that in 2001 only the Red Data Book of Plants was published in the Angara region, which included only 168 species of vascular plants. “Therefore, as a priority, it is necessary to create a document that would include sections on fungi, lichens, etc.,” the scientist emphasized.
At the same time, in 2009 a list of rare and endangered species of plants, animals, and other organisms inhabiting or growing in the Irkutsk Region was approved, which will be taken into account when creating the Red Data Book. It includes 167 species of vascular plants, 60 lichens, 43 species of bryophytes, 25 fungi, 68 birds, 26 invertebrates, 17 mammals, 12 fish, and two amphibians and reptiles.