MOSCOW, October 25. /TASS/. Experts of the Russian Academy of Sciences' Siberian Branch in December will present data on animal species new to Siberia and polar regions, which they registered during the biodiversity studies around mining and processing enterprises, Nornickel's Vice President on Ecology and Industrial Security Stanislav Seleznev told TASS on Monday.
"I won't reveal all the details, but during the expedition, the experts have made a few discoveries," he said. "They have registered the species, which earlier we thought untypical for those places. Experts of the Russian Academy of Scientists are happy about some of the results."
The studies' results will be published before end of the year, he added.
"Thus, we hope to see a comprehensive assessment of the territory in terms of the ecology and we hope to compare the results with reference data to see whether the condition is regular or whether the ecosystem has degraded," he said. "Noteworthy, in addition to the field studies much work has been done in archives."
The basic biodiversity survey continues the work, which the Norilsk Nickel Company (Nornickel) and the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Siberian Branch began in 2020. Since the Great Norilsk Expedition this work has extended into another three regions. The survey’s purpose is to identify Nornickel’s impact zones and to assess biodiversity in areas of Nornickel’s operations. The research results will be used in building out a corporate biodiversity management system and biodiversity monitoring and conservation programs.