O. Yu. Bykova and Natalia Zherebtsova
Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences
109017 Moscow, Staromonetny pereulok, 29
RUSSIA
TEL: 238-91-21
FAX: 230-20-90
Russia is a northern country. More than half of its territory is composed of taiga and tundra landscapes on plains and in mountainous regions. Thenorthern forests and swamps are a basic stabilizing factor for air in thenorthern hemisphere since they consume a great quantity of carbon dioxide andthus support a favorable ecological composition of the atmosphere. Moreover,the northern regions by virtue of their sparse settlement remain as yet anatural reservoir of wild nature, including rare and disappearing species ofanimals and plants.
On the one hand, the northern regions of Russia possess enormous natural resource potential, including various fuel, mineral, and biological resources, and in recent decades have undergone active industrial expansion.
The influence of contemporary powerful technology on the extremely vulnerable northern landscapes, which possess a low potential for self-regeneration andself-cleansing, is leading to the rapid destruction of the naturalenvironment, undermining the resource base for the traditional uses of natureby the indigenous peoples of the North (fishing, hunting, reindeer breeding),destroying the habitat of protected species of animals, and diminishing thebiological diversity of the planet.
With the goal of an ecological evaluation of the current status of nature andits influence on the person and economic activity, the Institute of Geographyof the Russian Academy of Sciences has created an ecological atlas of northern territories. The atlas sets down directions for mapping ecological situationsusing the method of expert geographic evaluation. Its scale is 1:4,000,000.
For the most parts, expert analysis has resolved the problem of localizing the ecological problems extant in these regions, for example: atmospheric pollution, pollution and depletion of water, degradation of forests, diversion of pastures, the destruction of the habitat of game and rare animals, etc.
The atlas was created for five regional documents, each of which is provided with two maps: natural-landscape differentiation and ecological conditions, including areas distinguished by a combination of ecological problems (identified by expert method) and data regarding known pollution, as well as particularly protected natural territories and ecologically dangerous objects of influence.
Translated by Barbara Welling Hall
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