Sometime during the first hours of the journey, our mobiles phones received messages welcoming us to China. A reminder of how close we are to another gigantic country, a totally different world. Moving along the border of Russian and China gives you a sense of being very small, but at the same time, of being present in the world.
Our new friends in WWF Vladivostok explained how they are working with their sister WWF organisation in China. They work to protect the same forest, the same trees and the same animals from each side of the border of the Amur-Heilong river basin.
They are facing two versions of the same challenge so WWF Vladivostok organises joint training with its Chinese counter part, and members of WWF Vladivostok learn Chinese. Olga Sass from Vladivostok WWF explained,
"we have joint aims, to protect the remaining forest and wildlife in our region. Only by learning from each other and working together can we achieve these joint aims.
This model of cross-border teamwork might serve as an inspiration to our leaders at the United Nations Climate Change conference in Copenhagen!