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| courtesy: US National Park Service |
In Validvostok at the APEC summit this September, Russia and the United States reached an unprecedented agreement. They will formally link the proposed four million acre Beringia National Park in Chukotka with the Bering Land Bridge National and Cape Krusenstern National Monument in Alaska totalling 3.2 million acres. Under the transnational boundary agreement kinship ties, cultural traditions, subsistence lifestyles and languages of indigenous people on both sides of the Bering Strait will be preserved as well as conserving indigenous wildlife. The idea was first discussed in 1990 by President Mikhail Gorbachev and President George H.W. Bush, but after the demise of the Soviet Union no further progress was made towards a transnational reserve. The plan was reactivated by the current US administration and President Dmitry Medvedev. At their meeting in Deauville, France on the occasion of the G-8 conference in 2011, Presidents Obama and Medvedev issued a joint statement saying they would increase interaction between national agencies responsible for protecting natural resources in the region and facilitate the movement of native peoples between the two nations.
As late as 12,000 years ago when sea levels were lower, Beringia, as the area is known by geologists, was the bridge used by natives, plants, and animals to cross into the Americas from Asia. Remains of Beringia still exist on both side of the Bering Strait. Humans and wildlife share a common ancestry and depend on the same environment. Establishment of a transnational reserve by the United States and Russia recognizes this indelible natural link. Secretaries Clinton and Lavrov were also able to sign an agreement to enhance cooperation of activities in Antarctica. For the first time the two countries will jointly conduct the inspection of foreign facilities in Antarctica.
