Yakutia and international scientific cooperation on Arctic studies. The end of 20th - beginning of 21st century

The article deals with the issues of participation of Yakutia in the international scientific cooperation in the Arctic during the last decade of the 20th and the first years of the 21st century. The author describes the history of realization of the international initiatives for studying social and cultural transformations and challenges of life of Arctic Indigenous Peoples, studying natural phenomena and processes, as well as environmental protection in the Yakutia’s Arctic and their main results on the basis of a set of archival documents, English- and French-language materials. The author called the most important factors that determine the extent of joint research of Russian scientists and their foreign colleagues, identified the key participants (scientists from Great Britain, Germany, Canada, Russia, Finland, France and Japan), forms (collection of field data, its processing and laboratory analysis; provision of academic institutions of Yakutia, their research base, provision of special equipment for foreign partners; coordination of research and the exchange of the data obtained; organization of conferences and workshops; organization of protected areas; publication of research results), and mechanisms (organization of special structures to intensify and coordinate research; association of research through a unified methodology; elaboration of international programs and projects, taking into account the potential of the involved parties - financing, tools and staff) of international scientific cooperation development.