Mapping Russia's protected area system

I am engaged in mapping: manually adding all protected natural areas of Russia to our interactive map. This includes not only federal protected areas but also all regional and local fragments. These are reserves, wildlife sanctuaries, and national parks. I have currently compiled a list of 2,546 regional objects, and I need to clarify the boundaries for each and attempt to map them as accurately as possible. Essentially, we are creating our own independent layer, which will later be integrated with the Territories of Full Ecological Tranquility (TFET).

Here's what I've encountered: it turns out that all existing maps of protected areas and reserves are fragmented, incomplete, or have licensing restrictions (we cannot simply transfer and use them in our work). So, we will do everything ourselves, manually. I have now gathered various sources, from independent organizations to data from the Ministry of Natural Resources and regional agencies.

The situation is similar worldwide, but I want to achieve maximum accuracy specifically for Russia. We will strive for the transformation of the protected area system in our country. So far, everything is going as needed! However, it is a very difficult and lengthy task.

I might be able to finish by January if I continue working at the current pace. Possibly a bit longer, as other tasks are also overwhelming, making it hard to accomplish everything at once.

For our map, we need to consolidate a vast amount of data, unify fragmented information, verify all contours, and display them on an interactive map. In the end, we will have an independent map that allows us to see all protected natural areas on the scale of Russia and the world, to understand how fragmented the protected area system is.

Later, we will process all this and overlay the boundaries of the future protected area system—our TFET. This means connecting fragments of wild nature into global biological conglomerates. For each project, we will prepare comprehensive documents, scientific justifications, proposals to governments, and public initiatives. Practical work on the ground will be needed, expeditions, and I am also currently seeking funding for an international project to attract millions of people worldwide to our cause.

Ambitious. Just the way we love it, comrades!