MOSCOW, March 21. /TASS/. The implementation cost of a comprehensive five-year program to monitor polar bear at the Bear Islands State Nature Reserve in Yakutia's north is estimated at 138 million rubles ($1.5 million), said the Lena Pillars National Park's Director Arkady Semenov, managing the nature reserve.
"Under the program we will determine the polar bear's population affiliation on the territory of the reserve. For example, right now we do not know to which population belong the polar bears living on the Bear Islands Archipelago, we do not know their habitats and movements. <...> The total cost of the program implementation from 2024 to 2028 is estimated at 138 million rubles," he told the Polar Bear Universe international conference.
Under the comprehensive program, specialists will estimate the population, will study the seasonal distribution of animals, will identify key habitats within the reserve and in the surrounding areas. "We also will be able to assess the population's health and the impact of the Northern Sea Route on animals. The reserve is unique because there bears live in a natural environment - there is not a single settlement or military base there. In this sense, the Bear Islands may become a key location to study polar bears," he added.
The reserve unites the Kolyma River delta, the Indigiro-Kolyma lowland tundra landscapes and the Bear Islands Archipelago with the adjacent waters of the East Siberian Sea. The Bear Islands Archipelago is one of the main places in Yakutia where polar bears have ancestral dens.
The Polar Bear Universe 7th international conference runs on March 19-21 at the Skolkovo Innovation Center in Moscow and in Chukotka's Anadyr. Following the conference, the country plans to create a permanent international expert platform on Arctic biological diversity. TASS is the conference's general news agency.