MOSCOW, November 10. /TASS/. Authorities of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District will allocate in 2018 for scientific research more than 80 million rubles ($1.3 million), which is by 13 million more than financing for the current year, the local department on science and innovations said on Friday, referring to the department’s head, Alexei Titovsky.
"In 2018, the Arctic region will allocate 83 million rubles for scientific research," the department said. "The plan for scientific works includes the ecology monitoring, geo-cryological studies, examining state of the environment, as well as various researches of the indigenous peoples of the North, ancient and medieval history of the region."
The department said, for example, the local scientists will conduct a geo-botanical survey of the reindeer pastures in the District’s tundra zone.
"In 2017, for the first time since the mid 1980s, a big team of scientists studied reindeer pastures in the Yamal and Taz districts. They have pointed to vast areas of exhausted pastures, especially on the Gydan Peninsula. The scientists are about to finish processing the collected data and will present conclusions in Salekhard in December," the department said.
While speaking about results of work in the current year, the department’s head noted great job in social and economic research of the North’s indigenous peoples who continue the traditional way of life. "During an expedition, Yamal’s researchers covered more than 1,500 kilometers across the tundra as they collected valuable information about the social well-being and life factors of reindeer herders’ families."
One of the key tasks the district is facing is centralization and coordination of scientific research, the department’s head said. "A huge number of the Academic institutes, universities and sectorial scientific organizations conduct research, without coordinating their plans. Thus, we face double research and extra costs. This is why we suggest using our region as an example of making a unified plan for scientific research and expeditions, in order to prepare common approaches to the Arctic studies," the press service quoted the department’s head as saying.