THE REGIONAL RED DATA BOOK: SCIENTIFIC AND ORGANIZATIONAL PROBLEMS (CASE OF THE RED DATA BOOK OF THE REPUBLIC OF BURYATIA)

Current deficiencies upon the regional Red Data Books producing have been considered. Especially, floristic, taxonomic, population-biology issues, as well as shortcomings in legislative regulation of Red Data Books prepara- tion are among them. The floristic issues are represented by findings and novelties in the flora composition discov- ered by both modern field studies and the herbaria stores revision. As a result, inclusion/exclusion of species in- to/from the Red Lists, or changing the protection status of a species can appear. The taxonomic aspects are repre- sented by the new species description, and taxonomic revision of known taxa. Obtaining the new data on the popula- tion status is an important criterion among the population-biology issues to assess rare and endangered species. In addition, concerns connected with the exhaustive use of resource plants, and the complications due to presence of an R-type component as part of the life strategy of the species are also emphasized. Special attention is paid to the insuf- ficiency of the existing regulatory framework when creating lists of regionally rare and endangered species, as well as those subject to protection throughout the whole Russia. In particular, the absence of the mechanism for such pro- cedure was noted, as well as the need for closer cooperation between biologists performing the assessment and selec- tion of species for protection at the federal level with biologists in the regions. Other legislative problems include: 1) the lack of uniform federal requirements for the procedure for maintaining regional Red Data Books; 2) various failures of legislation in terms of economic activities that cause damages of habitats of rare and endangered plant species, deterioration of their populations; 3) the lack of legislation providing the baseline for monitoring of popula- tions of rare and endangered plant species and, accordingly, the lack of stable financial support for such monitoring; 4) a crucial problem is the unacceptable practice of selecting organizations for the preparation of regional Red Data Books through the auctions, which leads to significant disorganization of work and, as a result, reduces or creates a risk of reducing the quality of the content of Red Data Books. It is noted that the existing regulatory and legislative shortcomings are the reasons for the formation of a shortage of scientific information about biological species subject to protection, which can lead to inaccurate estimates of the parameters of their populations and, as a result, generates risks of deterioration of their condition, up to the corresponding loss of biological diversity.