The Trans-Siberian Train rolling West

We left Vladivostok yesterday and are heading off to the Lake Baikal!(Train to Copenhagen)

Alexis Smirnov- Head of Forest Program :
"China’s burgeoning economy with its incessant hunger for resources is the final destination for the Russian forests. A hunger fed by the world-wide demand for cheap goods. Along with the forest goes the remaining habitat of the Amur tiger and the Amur Leopard, and the life-style of the indigenous Ainu.Until recently the story of the Amur Tiger was one of conservation success. In 1950 there were just fifty or so tigers left in the wild. WWF worked with the local authorities to establish reserves and anti-poaching patrols and the numbers grew until by 2000 there were around 450 tigers – one of the world’s largest remaining populations of tiger.

But since then logging has destroyed the tiger’s habitat. Tree’s like the Korean Pine Nut whose nutritious seeds feed boar and other Tiger prey animals have fallen victim to the chainsaw. Now the only area of pristine forest is that around the headwaters of the Amur.