Cross-Border Conservation Boosts Wildlife Recovery

Joint conservation efforts between China and Russia are helping endangered wildlife recover, with growing populations of Siberian tigers and leopards, healthier migratory bird habitats and ongoing restoration of salmon populations.

“The shift from single-species protection to comprehensive ecosystem restoration, and from seasonal joint actions to regular collaborative governance, provides a vivid model for global cross-border ecological governance,” said Jiang Ming, Director and Researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology.

The two countries have expanded cooperation through transboundary protected areas, joint patrols and shared monitoring systems across forests, wetlands and rivers along their border. Since 2021, wild Siberian tiger and leopard populations recorded in the Hunchun area have doubled, reaching about 70 tigers and 80 leopards. The protected corridor now covers nearly 17,000 square kilometres, supporting wildlife movement and breeding. Conservation work has also restored around 5,000 hectares of forests, grasslands and wetlands, benefiting more than 200 migratory bird species each year. In addition, over 4.7 million salmon fry have been released into the Tumen River basin since 2007, helping strengthen fish populations and support long-term ecosystem health across Northeast Asia.