The main tree species in the Siberian taiga are larch, Scots pine, fir, spruce, Siberian pine and birch. Lightning is more a frequent cause of wildfires in northern Siberia with anthropogenic activity causing wildfires further south, however central and eastern Siberia have been more affected overall by wildfires. They decrease soil quality (organic matter, structure,…
Category: environment
Power, law and sustainability amongst indigenous socioecological communities in Russia and Thailand
The researchers define an indigenous socioecological system as: a linked system of “people and nature” [1] that encompasses the interactions between Indigenous peoples and their local surrounding environment [2,3]. It includes naturalresources such as water, land, and wildlife, which these people depend on. This alsoencompasses the spiritual and cultural aspects attached to these resources. Sakapaji,…
Climate concerns of Russian businesses
In October 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed an updated version of a climate doctrine for Russia, 2023 version (RU), 2009 version (EN), which will be reviewed as part of development of a future state policy.1 In November, a group of researchers from four Russian universities published their analysis of the mission statements of the…
Hot air in Kamchatka
Volcanoes, the Earth’s natural drama queens, have been getting chattier of late, especially in Kamchatka. The peninsula has 30 volcanoes and is one of the most volcanically active regions in the world. Klyuchevskoy has had a lot to say this week.. Unsurprisingly Russian volcanologists were already on the case, monitoring ash emissions, temperatures and explosive…
Highway to decomposed organic matter – heavy metals in Central Siberian forests
Mining and potential toxic elements (PTE) causing soil contamination is an internationally researched issue due to the transfer and resilience of the metallic elements in the soil affecting ecosystem health. Metals move from mining dump sites either as airborne elements or through plant root structures into the soil. The researchers studied the Vilyui plain on…
Highway to bottom sediment – heavy metals in the Russian Far East waters
Heavy metal pollution in Peter the Great Bay and Lake Khanka affects both biological organisms and accumulating in bottom sediments (BS) of both freshwater and seawater. Russian chemists ecided to find out more about the impact on the surrounding ecology by analysing each heavy metal phase, how it appears, what it does and where it…
Eco patriotism and political values in Russia
Russian environmental psychology is not well known. The researchers wanted to understand how Russians relate to nature and whether that affects their environmental behaviour. They also investigated a mix of post-Soviet political, psychological, sociological views and affect on behaviour. Previous research in Russia and Kazakhstan found a relationship between environmental concern predicting pro-environmental behaviour, but…
BRICS and global climate governance
[Ed. The article was authored by Turkish researchers but is relevant to discussion of climate change sciences in Russia] They wanted to understand more about the developing role of BRICS during international negotiations and dialogues. BRICS nations have recently developed some policy convergence around climate change based on their economies, emissions and resources. For example,…
Predicting carbon friendly and investment friendly climates in Russia
Between 1990 and 2019, Russia had halved its GHG emissions, with 2019 emissions at 2.1 GtCO2e with carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted during energy consumption representing the bulk, alongside methane CH4 from oil and gas infrastructure, waste and nitrous oxide (NO) from agriculture. As previously mentioned, Russia’s energy mix includes natural gas, nuclear, some coal, oil…
Exploring the ‘carbon polygon’ of Ladoga
Sustainable soil management (SSM) initiatives review organic matter in soil and carbon sequestration to understand how best to mitigate carbon and methane emissions, improving mitigation of climate change. In Russia, the government established a ‘Carbon Polygons’ project assessing and monitoring carbon in different ecosystems and biomes, especially boreal forest regions. The researchers wanted to assess…
Russian Climate Research 