Results of the All-Russian Scientific and Practical Conference “Yenisey Arctic”

Russia’s active involvement in the research and development of the Arctic, as well as its chairmanship of the Arctic Council from 2021–2023, has encouraged many stakeholders to cooperate both internationally and within the country.

The events should help to popularize and generate interest in Arctic issues among various segments of the population, especially young people.

However, more attention should be paid to serious research that can not only highlight the problems of the Arctic territories, but also bring real developments in solving complex socioeconomic problems of sustainable development of the Arctic [1, Ivachev I.V., Petrov V.O.].

A special role in this process is assigned to research institutes and universities.

It is no coincidence that the leading Siberian University, which has been addressing the Arctic issues in its eastern section for a long time, was chosen as the venue for a large-scale event — the All-Russian scientific and practical conference “Yenisey Arctic”.

This review presents the results of the conference held on November 24, 2022 at the Siberian State University named after Academician M. F. Reshetnev (Krasnoyarsk) by the Institute of Management and International Business, the Institute of Advanced Production Technologies with the support of the Regional Science Foundation.

^∗ © Kazantseva N.V., 2023

This work is licensed under a CC BY-SA License

Fig. 1. Siberian State University of Science and Technology named after Academician M. F. Reshetnev.

Event concept

The conference touched upon a wide range of issues of socio-economic development of the Yenisey water area of the Arctic. Scientists and specialists working in the fields of ecology, history, ethnography, anthropology, programming and design of underwater robots for the Arctic zones, as well as teachers, undergraduates, graduate students, university and technical school students, and schoolchildren were invited to participate.

The partners were the Regional Science Foundation, representatives of the executive authorities of the Krasnoyarsk Krai, regional and capital universities.

The conference concept reflected the following key areas:

• •    environmental and innovative development of the Yenisey Arctic;

• •    strategy for environmental safety of the Arctic zones of the Russian Federation and Krasnoyarsk Krai;

• •    prevention and elimination of environmental damage;

• •    environmental monitoring of the territories of the Yenisey Arctic;

• •    environmental safety and waste management in the Arctic;

• •    scientific and technological development of the Yenisey Arctic, opportunities for the development of an Arctic energy technology hub;

• •    development and application of remote-controlled robotic systems and unmanned underwater vehicles in the Yenisey Arctic, geographic information systems;

• •    Russian developments that increase the energy efficiency and safety of studying the polar region;

• •    technological, design and engineering solutions for the construction, reconstruction and operation of facilities in the Arctic zones of the Krasnoyarsk Krai and other territories of the Russian Federation;

• •    life support systems in the Far North;

• •    innovative technologies in construction for the Arctic zones of the Krasnoyarsk Krai and other territories of the Russian Federation;

• •    environmental and social features of the development of housing and communal services and industrial enterprises in the Arctic;

• •    priority projects for the development of mineral resources of land and water areas of the Arctic zone and the development of supporting transport infrastructure;

• •    implementation of innovative and scientific projects for the development of the Arctic territories of the Krasnoyarsk Krai;

• •    modern labor market in the Arctic zones of the Krasnoyarsk Krai and other territories of the Russian Federation;

• •    development of Arctic tourism in the Krasnoyarsk Krai;

• •    directions for attracting investments in the development of projects in the Yenisey Arctic;

• •    opportunities for public-private partnership in the development of economic activity in the Arctic zones of the Krasnoyarsk Krai and other territories of the Russian Federation;

• •    development of the Arctic waters of the Yenisey: present and past;

• •    strategic development of the Arctic zones of the Russian Federation and the Krasnoyarsk Krai.

Event program

The conference program included various formats of events, such as a plenary session, offline and online work in two sections, open lectures, and a discussion platform.

• I.    The plenary session was opened by the university leadership and representatives of the regional administration. The speeches of the other participants touched on current issues of the development of the Arctic territories, their significance, the Yenisey meridional corridor in the context of the development of the northern and Arctic territories of Russia, the characteristics of tourism resources of the northern territories of the Krasnoyarsk Krai, and eco-tourism in the Arctic.

• II.    Section 1. Strategic aspects of socio-economic development of the Arctic territories of the Russian Federation.

The work at the section mainly covered those 19 directions that were stated in the conference program and related to determining priorities for the development of research, preparing projects in significant areas of the economy, social sphere for the macro-region of Yenisey Siberia and the Arctic territories of the Krasnoyarsk Krai.

• III.    Section 2. Issues of ensuring environmental safety in the Arctic zone.

The main trend of work at this section was the determination of priorities for the development of research in the field of ecology. The discussion mainly focused on technological aspects and issues of environmental safety, elimination of environmental damage, environmental monitoring of the territories of the Yenisey Arctic and others.

• IV.    Open lectures: “Prospects for the development of Arctic tourism and support for indigenous minorities in the Krasnoyarsk Krai”, “Directions for the development of state social policy in

the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation”, “Modern problems of the development of the Arctic territories of the Russian Federation”.

The lectures were held at the University Boiling Point and were accessible to a wide range of listeners.

• V.    Discussion platform and competition of student works.

This part of the work was designed for a long period with completion in March of next year and covered mainly a youth audience. The tone of the discussion was set by the report at the plenary meeting “The role of the youth government of the Krasnoyarsk Krai in the formation of youth projects”, which was delivered by the Chairman of the Youth Expert Council (Youth Government of the Krasnoyarsk Krai) under the Governor of the Krasnoyarsk Krai.

The program was quite diverse, took place at various venues of the university campus and covered the theoretical and practical aspects of Arctic issues with a clearly expressed regional bias.

Main results of the event

The significance and prospects of the event were appreciated by many conference participants, including the author, who took part in it with a report on the problems of Arctic tourism developing [2, Kazantseva N.V.].

More than 150 people took part in numerous events online and offline, representing mainly the Krasnoyarsk Krai, as well as other Siberian universities. Specialists and scientists from St. Petersburg and Moscow took an active part. Students from China and Vietnam presented reports in English.

Fig. 2. Discussion of reports and debates in the conference hall.

The plenary reports set the tone for further discussions. The welcoming speech of the heads of the university and the regional administration noted the importance and complexity of the tasks facing the development of the Siberian Arctic, in particular, the Yenisey Arctic. The length of the Arctic territory of Russia does not allow talking about the homogeneity of these problems.

Leading scientists from Moscow and St. Petersburg, noting the high level of regional developments carried out by the university as a driver of economic development of Siberia, introducing breakthrough production technologies into educational and scientific-innovative activities, confirmed the importance of the university’s technological and natural science research, which is necessary in the development of the Arctic.

The conference participants paid much attention to the environmental problems of Arctic development. The following reports were devoted to this topic: “Elimination of objects of accumulated environmental damage in the Arctic: oil-contaminated lands”; “Strategic issues of ensuring environmental safety of the Arctic zones of the Krasnoyarsk Krai”; “Some aspects of technosphere risks in matters of environmental safety of the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation”; “Ecological and innovative development of the Yenisey Arctic” and others.

Development of the Arctic is impossible without organizing a life support system and transport accessibility. The following reports by Siberian scientists aroused great interest: “Characteristics of modern life support systems in the northern territories of Russia”; “Life support systems in the Far North”; “Issues of state participation in the modernization of Arctic airports”; “Development of the transport system in the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation” and others.

A significant social orientation of the problems under consideration should be noted. Reports on topics such as “Directions for the development of state social policy in the Arctic zone”; “Health-saving technologies for maintaining active labor activity of the population in the development of the Yenisey Arctic” and others confirm this.

In modern geopolitical conditions, Russian regions have to largely rely on their own resources in their strategic development [3, Kazantseva N.V.]. The reduction in the areas of international cooperation and foreign investment makes practical developments in the Arctic zone particularly relevant. Therefore, the conference participants were interested to learn from the reports “Drivers for the development of creative projects in the Russian north”; “Problems in implementing the strategically important project “Arctic LNG-2”; “Zenit LLC development project in the markets of the northern territories of the Krasnoyarsk Krai” on the implementation of specific projects in the development of the Arctic zone of the Krasnoyarsk Krai.

The development of domestic tourism, natural resources and the cultural heritage of the Arctic are topics that will also attract researchers, as has also been shown by work at various venues where similar problems were considered. The Putorana Plateau, the main Yenisey Arctic attraction, along with the Great Kureyskiy Waterfall and the Red Stones Gorge, fascinated many people even in video format at the presentation.

Main conclusions

Reflecting on the main results of the event, the participants of the All-Russian scientific and practical conference “Yenisey Arctic” could conclude the following.

The goal set by the organizers to study a wide range of issues related to the development of interregional scientific cooperation, creating a platform for the exchange of current results of scientific activity on the problems of the Yenisey Arctic, was achieved. Participants highly appreciated the organizational level and content of the scientific forum.

The main result, according to many conference participants, is the establishment of communication ties through cooperation with leading enterprises, innovative structures, the academic scientific community, leading Russian and foreign partner universities, which is not always achieved when organizing conferences with a narrow focus. The scope of topics discussed at this conference is so wide and interesting to scientists and practitioners that not only internal organizational communications are created at the university between technical and humanitarian areas of study and research, but also external ones [4, Ivashova V., Nadtochiy Y., Anaev M ., Kazantseva N., Rozanova E.]. The participation of state and municipal structures confirms this.

The assessment of the event by the youth who participated in the conference is important. According to students at the university, it was important for them to hear the opinions of scientists from other universities, to get acquainted with Arctic development projects, in particular, with projects aimed at protecting the Arctic ecosystem. Many young people were interested in the topic of the conference and expressed a desire to continue research work and make a presentation at the next conference.

Special mention should be made of the support of the event by the Regional Science Foundation. The presence of such a fund indicates significant attention to scientific research conducted in a large educational and scientific center in Eastern Siberia. The Regional Science Foundation was also an active participant in the Krasnoyarsk Economic Forum (KEF-2023), where cooperation agreements were signed, in particular, with the St. Petersburg Science Foundation to achieve the objectives of the Decade of Science and Technology, which was announced by the President of Russia 1. This agreement is about involving talented, promising youth in the scientific field, stimulating researchers and developers to solve the most important problems in the development of society and the country. The joint work of the funds will be related to the provision of consulting, organizational and information services, as well as financial support to scientists and enterprises that create and implement scientific and scientific-technical projects, including in the Yenisey Arctic.