Eurasia

With rugged and wild landscapes that range from jagged snow-capped mountains to vast flat grassy plains, and from the ancient fruit-and-nut forests of Central Asia to the dry montado woodlands of the Mediterranean basin, Eurasia is a place of incomparable and unique beauty.

The region’s marine environment also varies greatly, the cold waters of the North Atlantic to the west contrasting with the warmer waters of the Mediterranean Sea.

Despite the region being home to many iconic species including the snow leopard and the critically endangered saiga antelope and Iberian lynx, Eurasia’s important biodiversity is often sadly overlooked.

As you might expect from a region so vast and diverse, the health of Eurasian ecosystems – and the threats they face – vary greatly.

In more developed countries, many natural resources such as forests and fisheries have already been greatly depleted, while the ongoing expansion of cities, infrastructure and agriculture is shrinking the remaining natural ecosystems into ever smaller and more fragmented patches.

Elsewhere, poverty – particularly in rural areas – is driving overexploitation of resources as well as conflicts between livestock keepers and large carnivores. Economic development and globalisation, while providing welcome opportunities for prosperity, also bring with them additional pressures for our natural world.

Even in remote wilderness areas, universal pressures such as oil and mineral exploration, illegal wildlife trade, overfishing, logging, climate change and disease outbreaks pose major threats for wildlife and ecosystems.

Fauna & Flora International is active across Eurasia, with projects spanning the region from the UK and Portugal in the west all the way to Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan in the east.

Our work ranges from supporting communities and partners in Scotland and Turkey in sustainably managing their seas, to championing the conservation of Central Asia’s unique fruit-and-nut forests, to species-focused projects that aim to tackle the threats faced by imperilled species such as Iberian lynx and saiga antelope. The latter also includes projects aimed at addressing illegal wildlife trade in Georgia, Armenia and Kazakhstan.