Toyota Russia Supports WWF

For the past ten years, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has held a small grant competition for specially protected natural areas in Russia. Each year WWF selects a new theme and invites national parks and reserves to submit details of projects they would like to implement. An expert committee selects the parks and reserves that will receive assistance. The topic for the 2008 competition was “Effective Visitor Centres: New Approaches and Original Solutions.”

The WWF Expert committee chose the top-ten parks from all applicants and then Toyota Motor Russia (TMR) was invited to select three projects to support. In April 2008, TMR approved projects from parks in the regions where TMR dealers are represented. The parks were Samarskaya Luka National Park in Samara, Stolby Reserve in Krasnoyarsk, and Bashkiria National Park in Bashkortostan.

The projects were implemented in April - November 2008. In Samarskaya Luka National Park, a mobile visitor centre was constructed on a pontoon and moored in one of the lakes that are a feature of the park. The pontoon will also be used during mass events in the park. In Stolby Reserve, TMR assistance was used to create lawn areas where visitors can relax and learn more about the reserve. Office equipment such as tables, screens and projectors were also purchased to assist with visitor education.

In Bashkiria National Park the funding was utilised to create a small ethnographic museum in the park’s new visitor centre.

In 2009 TMR became one of the main partners of the WWF programme.