VLADIVOSTOK, September 6. /TASS/. The Norilsk Nickel Company (Nornickel) in 2022-2023 will allocate 50 million rubles ($803,500) for efforts to conserve the gyrfalcon population in Russia, the company’s Vice President Andrey Grachev told reporters at the Eastern Economic Forum after signing an agreement with Russia’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology.
Gyrfalcon is the largest falcon. Over recent 20 years, its population has decreased in Russia by almost three times due to poaching. Presently, the approximate number of gyrfalcons in Russia is estimated at 3.5-5 thousand breeding pairs.
"Of course, we could not ignore such an important topic as the gyrfalcon population conservation. It is the largest falcon bird in the family and the most affected," the vice president said adding the company would allocate 50 million rubles for the program. Russia’s Deputy Minister of Natural Resources Dmitry Tetenkin said the agreement’s term would be 2022-2023.
The high-ranking official stressed the importance of agreements aimed at biodiversity conservation. "This agreement proves once again the conceptual approach of the company and of the ministry," he said. "We are working on co-financing of scientific approaches to issues related to gyrfalcons, and it is very important since from separate events in the past we proceed now to scientific methods."
The parties to the agreement will organize research areas on the Yamal and on the Kamchatka, where the biggest group of birds lives. Nornickel’s representative told reporters the company had been active in biodiversity conservation programs, including projects to protect lesser white-fronted goose which lives on the Taimyr Peninsula, and to conserve the Arctic bear population.
Organized by the Roscongress Foundation, the Seventh Eastern Economic Forum will be running from September 5 to September 8 in Vladivostok. TASS is the event’s general information partner and its official photohost agency.
This year, the theme of the forum is: "On the Path to a Multipolar World."