The Geographer: 175 Years of Geography at the RGS (Winter 2020)

The

Geographer Winter 2020

The newsletter of

the Royal Scottish Geographical Society

Russia

175 Years of Geography at the RGS/ • Evenings with Jeremy Bowen and Michael Palin • 90-Minute Climate Solutions Course • Tiger Conservation • Kamchatka, the Kremlin and the Kola Peninsula • Scythian Mounds and Underwater Secrets • The Hype and Hope of Hydrogen • Bears, Time Bombs and Belarus • Reader Offer: Skyseed

“Having orbited the Earth in a spaceship, I saw how beautiful our planet is. Let’s preserve and enhance this beauty, not destroy it.”

Yuri A Gagarin, first human in space

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The

Geographer

Russia

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t’s amazing to me that it is December already, but after such a difficult year for so many of us, I hope we can look forward to Christmas and beyond with some measure of optimism. The renewed hope that the US will re-join the Paris Climate Agreement ahead of the next UN Climate COP, the hope of a vaccine, and even the Scotland men’s football team qualifying for their first major tournament in 22 years. Much has happened this year, both societally and for us here at RSGS, and we want to take this opportunity to thank all of our supporters throughout 2020 for your continued backing and encouragement. It means a lot to us that we’ve had so much positive feedback to our efforts to keep informing, inspiring, influencing and entertaining throughout 2020. And with the Climate COP in Glasgow next November, 2021 is building up to be a busy one too.

This year, 2020, was also the year that the Russian Geographical Society turned 175 years old. They are the fifth oldest in the world, after the French in Paris, German in Berlin, London-based RGS-IBG, and Mexican Geographical Societies, and we used the occasion to celebrate with them to jointly produce this magazine.

It is a bumper issue, full of beautiful images and fascinating articles about aspects of Russia that are sometimes lost behind the political headlines, revealing some stunning nature reserves, some critical wildlife protection schemes, and remarkable archaeological projects. We are grateful for their help with this magazine, especially Elena Remizova, who has been the main contact point for us in RGS/РГО.

To add to your festive cheer, we have added some extra events (online still, unfortunately) and so please look out for these. They begin with An Evening with Jeremy Bowen, an outstanding BBC journalist who will be receiving our Mungo Park Medal on 16th December. In January we are delighted to be able to host An Evening with Michael Palin for an online talk and Q&A. And at the beginning of March we will be hosting An Evening with Jonathon Porritt, a leading environmentalist and author. There is a small charge for each of these extra events, but hopefully they’ll make somebody’s Christmas.

In many senses, I feel there is more to look forward to than there has been for a while. On behalf of all the staff and Board of RSGS, can I wish you all a very enjoyable and peaceful festive period.

Mike Robinson, Chief Executive, RSGS

RSGS, Lord John Murray House, 15-19 North Port, Perth, PH1 5LU tel: 01738 455050 email: enquiries@rsgs.org www.rsgs.org

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Charity registered in Scotland no SC015599 The views expressed in this newsletter are not necessarily those of the RSGS. Cover image: Path to the dragon. © Evgeniy Dubynin Masthead image: Teddy bear. © Alexander Romanov

RSGS: a better way to see the world

Voices for a Living Planet This year’s Living Planet Report includes Voices for a Living Planet, a collection of essays from global thought leaders on how to build a healthy and resilient world for people and nature.

The lead essay is written by Sir David Attenborough, who says, “The Anthropocene could be the moment we achieve a balance with the rest of the natural world and become stewards of our planet. Doing so will require systemic shifts in how we produce food, create energy, manage our oceans and use materials.

But above all it will require a change in perspective. A change from viewing nature as something that’s optional or ‘nice to have’ to the single greatest ally we have in restoring balance to our world. The time for pure national interests has passed, internationalism has to be our approach, and in doing so bring about a greater equality between what nations take from the world and what they give back. The wealthier nations have taken a lot and the time has now come to give.”

Universal climate solutions in 90 minutes In response to demand, we have now created a new version of our Climate Solutions programme, which takes only 90 minutes. This ‘accelerator’ course is designed to give a basic introduction to climate change and climate solutions, and is aimed at people who may have a general interest or who may be asked to implement solutions, but who don’t need the deeper knowledge offered by the full programme. We are already in discussion with a number of organisations about making the course available for all of their staff. We are also working with the University of Edinburgh on a student-specific version for release in March 2021.

See www.rsgs.org/climate-solutions for details.

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Tackling global challenges The Elders, a group of independent global leaders working together for peace and human rights, have congratulated US President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on their election victory. The Elders hope that the incoming administration, as well as seeking to unite a divided country, will seize the opportunity to renew America’s commitment to the multilateral system at a time when US leadership is urgently needed.

Mary Robinson, Chair of The Elders, former President of Ireland, and RSGS Livingstone Medallist, said, “The world is at a critical juncture and the new US administration will have an opportunity to demonstrate the best of American participation and leadership. We need to restore cooperation and compassion as the necessary guides of world affairs, from climate action and nuclear non-proliferation to gender equality and respecting the rights of migrants and refugees. President-elect Biden faces a formidable challenge and The Elders offer him our support in the months and years ahead.”

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Celebrating Russian Geography We have been delighted to make contact with colleagues in the Russian Geographical Society in their 175th anniversary year. One look at the map of Russia shows what an immense task they have in studying and promoting their geographical, cultural and natural heritage, and we have enjoyed learning more about this amazing country. We were particularly pleased to have found a friend in Elena Remizova PhD MBA, who coordinated much of the content of this magazine.

Elena said, “My position in RGS is the Coordinator of International Activity. It means that every month I pass though several international projects. To work on the issue of The Geographer magazine was very interesting and unique. We very much appreciate this project especially in the year of RGS’s 175th anniversary.

We look forward to further cooperation between our Societies, and wish to the RSGS other interesting projects in the year 2021!”

Do check out the Russian Geographical Society’s website, rgo.ru, for a wealth of fascinating stories and stunning images.

Perth sustainability conference In two parts across November and December, we held a major online conference focusing on the future of Perth, helping raise the city’s ambition to become the most sustainable small city in Europe, and working out how this vision could be achieved.

With nearly 400 delegates, the conference included inspiring keynotes from leading minds in European sustainability: Bo Asmus Kjeldgaard, the former Mayor of Copenhagen responsible for the transformation of the Danish capital; Professor Carlos Moreno, originator of the ‘15 Minute City’; and Sophie Howe, the world’s first Future Generations Commissioner, based in Wales. Thought-provoking workshops were held by leaders from ten different European cities, including Ghent in Belgium, Lahti in Finland, and Frederikshavn in Denmark.

The conference was led by members of the newly-formed Perth City Leadership Forum, of which our Chief Executive Mike Robinson is the Chair. We look forward to seeing how this conference influences action and delivery in the coming months. Several short videos from this event can be viewed at www.rsgs.org/videos or on our YouTube channel.

An Evening with Jeremy Bowen

On Wednesday 16th December, BBC Middle East Editor Jeremy Bowen will speak for the RSGS in a special, 16th one-off online event, followed by a live Q&A and December medal presentation. Tickets are available via the RSGS website.

Jeremy is a multi-award-winning journalist with a vast knowledge and experience of the Middle East. Among other things he has helped the BBC win an Emmy for his coverage of the 2006 war between Israel and Lebanon; he has won first prize at the Bayeux War Correspondent Awards for a Panorama film on the Gaza War of 2009; and since these conflicts, he has been active in covering the 2011 Arab Spring in Egypt and Libya, and the ongoing situation in Syria.

In his talk, Jeremy will share riveting anecdotes from a life reporting on the front line, with insight from dictators, fanatics and fundamentalists, as well as ordinary people caught up in their dangerous exploits. Expect Jeremy to cast a welcome light onto some of the most complex areas of the world.

Tickets for this special event are only £5 for RSGS members, students and U18s, and £8 for others.

Book your place through www.rsgs.org/events.

online event

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Hydrogen flight

Global Biodiversity Outlook

In September, Airbus revealed three concepts, codenamed ‘ZEROe’, for the world’s first zero-emission commercial aircraft which could enter service by 2035. “The transition to hydrogen, as the primary power source for these concept planes, will require decisive action from the entire aviation ecosystem. Together with the support from government and Airbus ZEROe Blended Wing Body Concept. industrial partners we can rise up to this challenge to scale-up renewable energy and hydrogen for the sustainable future of the aviation industry,” said Guillaume Faury, Airbus CEO.

The fifth edition of the Global Biodiversity Outlook (GBO-5, www.cbd.int/gbo5) outlined eight major transitions needed to slow, then halt nature’s accelerating decline. The interdependent transition areas are land and forests; freshwater; fisheries and oceans; sustainable agriculture; food systems; cities and infrastructure; climate action; One Health. Each of these areas involves recognizing the value of biodiversity, and enhancing or restoring the functionality of the ecosystems on which all aspects of human activity depend, and at the same time recognizing and reducing the negative impacts of human activity on biodiversity.

Flow Country

To tackle these challenges, airports will require significant hydrogen transport and refuelling infrastructure to meet the needs of day-to-day operations. Support from governments will be key to meet these ambitious objectives with increased funding for research and technology, digitalisation, and mechanisms that encourage the use of sustainable fuels and the renewal of aircraft fleets to allow airlines to retire older, less environmentally-friendly aircraft earlier.

GeoQuizzical

take part!

In October and November, we were excited to host our first two online geography quizzes, with questions on hazards and happenings, countries and customs, and a place-based picture round. We plan to run a GeoQuizzical event on the second Monday of each month for the foreseeable future, so please sign up and join in the fun – it’s a chance to test yourself and to lighten the dark evenings. The next quiz is on Monday 14th December, and entry costs £2.74 (including Eventbrite fee). See www.rsgs.org/events for dates and booking details. Our thanks to volunteers Ian Selmes, Alastair McConnell and Peter Cave for their help in providing questions for these events.

A Helping Hand for Schools Thank you so much to everyone who has donated so far to our recent appeal for funds to help us create a series of educational resources for secondary school Nat5 and Higher levels. We have been overwhelmed by your generosity, and are delighted to say that we have now raised over £23,000! This is wonderful news.

We have already begun work on developing these resources, although we are having to manage the changing COVID-19 restrictions. We hope to have the first of these available by Christmas, restrictions allowing.

© Mike Robinson

Conservationists hope that about 1,400km2 of pristine peatland in the north of Scotland will take a significant step closer to becoming the first peatland globally to win world heritage site status. The UK government will soon confirm whether it will ask UNESCO to add the Flow Country to an exclusive list that includes the Grand Canyon and the Great Barrier Reef. It is already on the UK’s ‘tentative’ list as a candidate world heritage site, but for climate scientists and UK ministers, the Flow Country’s candidacy could have a profound impact on the global fight to combat climate change.

Escaping the ‘Era of Pandemics’ A major new report from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES, ipbes. net/pandemics) has warned about the need to transform the global approach to dealing with infectious diseases.

COVID-19 is at least the sixth global health pandemic since the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918, and although it has its origins in microbes carried by animals, like all pandemics its emergence has been entirely driven by human activities. It is estimated that another 1.7 million currently ‘undiscovered’ viruses exist in mammals and birds, of which up to 827,000 could have the ability to infect people.

“The same human activities that drive climate change and biodiversity loss also drive pandemic risk through their impacts on our environment. Changes in the way we use land; the expansion and intensification of agriculture; and unsustainable trade, production and consumption disrupt nature and increase contact between wildlife, livestock, pathogens and people.

This is the path to pandemics,” said Dr Peter Daszak, President of EcoHealth Alliance and Chair of the IPBES workshop that produced the report.

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start the course today

We are pleased to report that 250 people have signed up to participate in our Climate Solutions programme since March, when it became widely available. Some of these have already successfully completed the course, and are now implementing climate-positive practices in their places of work. See www.rsgs.org/climate-solutions for more information about how to come on board.

Blog spot The stock of articles on our blog (www.rsgs.org/blogs/rsgs-blog) has continued to grow, with new commentary on current geographical issues and more stories from our collections.

Recent additions include a hope that governments and society will build back better after the COVID-19 pandemic; personal reflections on the consequences of the pandemic for tackling poverty and the prospects for building a fairer, more sustainable planet; a plea for a new approach in secondary school teaching; a commemoration of the 90th anniversary of the evacuation of St Kilda; and a fuller version of Tom Baxter’s article about hydrogen power (see page 32).

University Medal Caroline Kienast von Einem was awarded this year’s RSGS University Medal for Heriot-Watt University.

We wish her all the very best for her doctoral studies at the University of Cambridge.

Climate Emergency Summit In November, we held another of our highly effective Climate Emergency Summits, this time on the universal subject of food. A group of policy experts and practitioners discussed a broad range of ideas and issues, including food miles, food security and biodiversity. A report is being compiled and will be submitted to government and hosted on our website at www.rsgs.org/informing-policy when complete.

Funding boost for Biosphere The Galloway and Southern Ayrshire Biosphere will receive £1.9m over the next five years, from South of Scotland Enterprise.

Joan Mitchell, who chairs the Biosphere Partnership Board, said, “We are hugely excited at the opportunities it creates for us to grow the team, broaden the range of partners we work with and the initiatives we can help deliver.” Natural Environment Minister Mairi Gougeon added, “As we build a green recovery from COVID-19, this funding will help promote biodiversity, boost jobs, bring investment and increase sustainable tourism in an already popular area.”

An Evening with Michael Palin We are delighted to be hosting an evening with Sir Michael Palin, RSGS Livingstone Medallist, at an online event on Monday 18th January.

Tickets for this event will be made available on our website.

We expect the evening to consist of a pre-recorded film presentation by the speaker, followed by a live Q&A. We look forward to seeing you there.

18th

January

online event © John Swannell

Climate Solutions takes off

Tickets for this special event are only £5 for RSGS members, students and U18s, and £8 for others. Book your place through www.rsgs.org/events.

Inspiring People

join us online!

Although, due to restrictions, we are unable to host our usual public talks in venues across Scotland, we have been able to set up a weekly Inspiring People talk through Zoom, allowing our members and supporters to take advantage of one event each Wednesday evening, since the start of our talks programme season in September. We are delighted that these events have been so warmly received, with audiences of 300-400 for each talk, and keen participation in the live Q&A sessions.

We had hoped to bring you some face-to-face events for the second half of our Inspiring People programme, but with frequent changes in government policy on public and private gatherings, and no certainty on the situation, we have had to move all of this season’s remaining talks until March 2021 online too.

Talks are planned for 7.30pm every Wednesday from 6th January through to 17th March.

6th January Mike Robinson, RSGS Chief Executive, James Croll’s Bicentenary 13th January Mark Carwardine, zoologist, Never, Ever, Ever Write a Field Guide 20th January Stephen Venables, mountaineer, Unclimbed Summits in Antarctica 27th January Luke & Hazel Robertson, RSGS Explorers-in-Residence, Reflections on Ice: Journeys from Antarctica to the Arctic 3rd February Tara Shine, environmentalist, From Individual Action to Global Movements: Saving Our Planet 10th February Lizzie Daly, TV presenter, Adventures in Wildlife Conservation 17th February Professor David Humphreys, OU environmental policy expert, Climate and COVID-19 Crises 24th February Professor Stephen Peake, OU climate and energy scientist, Travels with Energy Goggles 3rd March Bruce Gittings FRSGS, geographer, Chile: A Land of Surprises 10th March Sal Montgomery, kayaker, Kayaking in Bhutan 17th March Professor Iain Stewart, RSGS President, Tomorrow’s Cities: Reshaping the Future of Urban Disaster Risk We are still confirming some of these talks, but details are correct at the time of going to print. Please keep an eye on our social media and e-newsletters for further updates. Everyone is welcome, and we hope you can join us. Please visit www.rsgs.org/events for details and to book your place (required for entry to the online platform). Tickets are free for RSGS members, students and U18s, and only £5 for guests.

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Future farming In early November, the interim report of the Farming for a 1.5°C Future inquiry, co-chaired by our Chief Executive Mike Robinson, and previous NFUS President Nigel Miller, was published. The report, involving a wide range of scientists, policy experts and farmers, sets out key principles for Scottish agricultural transformation. It states that everyone and every sector must deliver on Scotland’s climate change ambition to be net zero by 2045, at the latest, and to support nature’s recovery.

Farming, uniquely, has the opportunity not just to improve its own performance by reducing emissions, but to impact positively on wider societal emissions through good soil and land management, by locking up carbon in trees and soil, and by supporting ecosystems.

Commenting on the report, Mike Robinson said, “These targets are challenging but necessary, and it is essential that the industry responds properly – not just for the future of agriculture, but for all of our futures. We hope these inquiry findings help set out how this critical sector can thrive and develop, and help build the sustainable future we all want and need.”

The key principles of the inquiry team’s findings are as follows.

emissions should be set, with decreasing targets with an aim of at least 30% reduction by 2045 compared to today.

8 Better nitrogen management is key in tackling excess nitrogen which is producing greenhouse gases, harming ecosystems and costing farmers money. Nitrogen use efficiency must be more heavily weighted in determining both crop requirements and application strategies.

9 Integrating renewable energy with developing technologies to reduce fossil fuel use needs to be supported by rural infrastructure improvements in energy and communications such as broadband and mobile data coverage.

1 Everyone needs to play their part, including all farmers, land managers and rural businesses, agricultural suppliers and buyers. Scottish farmers have the opportunity to be the champions and not the victims of climate change. As an industry, agriculture needs to be ambitious in its aims to meet net-zero milestones.

10 Rural policy, including subsidies, advice and regulation need urgent reform to prioritise (re)building biodiversity, alongside targeting greenhouse gas reductions and sequestration, taking account of regional habitat priorities. Better soil carbon management will drive biological activity creating a foundation for biodiversity above ground, supporting climate and biodiversity targets.

2 This wholescale change should be supported with the creation of a Transformation Steering Group, with highlevel representation from across government departments, key stakeholders, including working farmers, and scientists.

11 A whole farm approach should be adopted to provide a realistic pathway for change and to incentivise the adoption of best practice in production systems, soil carbon management, land use and renewable energy technology.

3 A new approach to knowledge sharing and technical support is a key priority.

12 The change pathway should provide positive system options for all farmers, crofters and land managers and safeguard rural communities and the food economy.

4 Identifying and enthusing industry leaders, influencers, and innovators coupled with a communication strategy to reach all farmers will speed up change.

5 There needs to be political and technical clarity about what is expected of Scotland’s agricultural land and businesses outside of agriculture’s own need to reach net zero.

6 Emissions should be reduced through improving agricultural and carbon efficiency with better soil management at its core, coupled with national capping and on-farm reduction targets for each of the three key greenhouse gases.

7 An immediate ceiling on agricultural biogenic methane

13 Innovative approaches to multifunctional land use such as agroforestry will add value across a range of priorities.

14 Land use change and sequestration should reflect soil type, topography and both production and biodiversity priorities for the farmer, the locality and for Scotland.

Regional Land Use Partnerships will have a core role to play in ensuring this. As such their membership must reflect the local community including land managers, farmers and crofters, and have roots in community activities.

15 We need adoption, practical demonstrations, and pilots established as soon as possible to test and explore each of these key principles.

Farming for a 1.5°C Future Inquiry Team Nigel Miller (Co-Chair), past President of NFUS, Chair of Ruminant Health Scotland; Mike Robinson (Co-Chair), Chief Executive of RSGS; Dr Andrew Barbour, hill farmer, Acting Chair of Deer Working Group; John Smith, dairy farmer, past Chair of NFUS’s Legal Committee, Chair of NFUS’s Milk Committee; Phil Sleigh, pig farmer, board of Scottish Pig Producers, board of Quality Meat Scotland; Russel Brown, arable farmer, Chairman of Scottish Potato Co-op; Robert Fleming, young cattle farmer, Simplification Taskforce for Scottish Government for CAP reform, Nuffield Scholar; Dr Sheila George, Food and Environment Policy Officer at WWF Scotland; Dr Deborah Long, Chief Officer of Scottish Environment LINK; Prof Dave Reay, Director of Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Innovation, farmer; Prof Geoff Simm, Director of Global Academy of Agriculture and Food Security at University of Edinburgh; Prof Sarah Skerrat, Director of Programmes at Royal Society of Edinburgh, previously Professor of Rural Society and Policy Director at SRUC; Steven Thomson, Senior Agricultural Economist at SRUC; Pete Ritchie, founder of Nourish Scotland, Whitmuir Organics; Keesje Avis, clerk of Farming for a 1.5°C Future inquiry; Ruth Taylor, Climate Change Policy Officer at NFU Scotland.

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Mollie Hughes At 26, adventurer Mollie Hughes became the youngest woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest from both the north and south sides. Just two years later, in January 2020, she became the youngest woman in the world to ski solo from the coast of Antarctica to the South Pole. Tales From the Top and Bottom of the World is her record-breaking story.

join us online

At 7.30pm on Wednesday 9th December, Mollie will join us online for an Inspiring People event: a short film and presentation prepared

by Mollie, followed by an interactive Q&A. Tickets are free for RSGS 9th members, students and December U18s, and only £5 for guests. Please visit www.rsgs.org/events for details and to book your place (required for entry to the online platform).

An Evening with Jonathon Porritt Sir Jonathon 1st Porritt, March Co-Founder of Forum for the Future and former Director of Friends of the Earth, is a ‘veteran campaigner’ and eminent writer, broadcaster and commentator on sustainable development.

On Monday 1st March 2021 we are pleased © www.jonathonporritt.com to have Jonathan joining us for a special online event, with the opportunity for live questions and answers.

online event

Tickets for this special event are only £5 for RSGS members, students and U18s, and £8 for others. Book your place through www.rsgs.org/events.

Ice Age bear in Russian Arctic

Festival of Politics

Well-preserved remains of an Ice Age-era bear have been found by reindeer herders on Bolshoy Lyakhovsky Island in north-eastern Russia. The animal was revealed by the melting permafrost, and is thought to be a species of brown bear that lived 22,000 to 39,500 years ago. It will be studied at the North-Eastern Federal University (NEFU) in Yakutsk, known for its research into woolly mammoths and other prehistoric species.

What should Scotland aim for with the COP26 in Glasgow next year? This was just one of the questions a panel of experts, including our Chief Executive Mike Robinson, debated on Friday 20th November in a special event as part of the Scottish Parliament’s Festival of Politics 2020. But it wasn’t just climate change on the table: other events in the festival covered political issues such as Brexit and the US election. We were delighted to be a partner in this programme of activities which, year on year, brings engaging political discussions to life for audiences across the country.

Dr Lena Grigorieva, a palaeontologist at NEFU, said the bear was “the first and only find of its kind. It is completely preserved, with all internal organs in place, even including its nose. Previously, only skulls and bones were found. This find is of great importance for the whole world.”

SOS for nature Nature is being destroyed by humans at a rate never seen before. WWF’s Living Planet Report 2020 (www.wwf.org.uk/ sites/default/files/2020-09/LPR20_Full_report.pdf) reveals that population sizes of mammals, birds, fish, amphibians and reptiles have fallen an average of 68% globally since 1970.

Intensive agriculture, deforestation, the conversion of wild spaces into farmland, and over-fishing are among the main causes of nature loss.

The report states that we can only turn things around if ambitious conservation efforts to protect our wildlife are combined with urgent action to stop habitat loss and deforestation: changing our farming and the way we produce our food; tackling food waste and moving to healthier diets; and working to restore damaged habitats and landscapes. WWF Chief Executive Tanya Steele said, “Only by putting the environment at the heart of our decision making can we build a safe and resilient future for nature, people and our planet.”

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Russia and Scotland: linked though Geography Russian Geographical Society (RGS/

, rgo.ru)

The history of scientific ties between Scottish and Russian geography scientists began almost from the moment of establishment of the Russian Geographical Society (RGS/ ) – that is, 175 years ago.

In 1846, the year after the creation of the Society, several outstanding world-known scientists were elected as Honorary : there were not only founders of Members of the RGS/ modern geographical science like Karl Ritter and Alexander von Humboldt, but also the Scottish geologist Sir Roderick Impey Murchison, one of the founders of the Royal Geographical Society in London, which he headed for many years.

Murchison’s contribution to science is difficult to overestimate: it was he who distinguished several new geological periods in the history of the Earth. In the UK, during the study of Palaeozoic deposits, he identified a new geological period, which had lasted about 25 million years. The scientist called it ‘Silurian’, after the name of the Celtic tribe ‘Silur’, which lived in the territory of modern Wales and England until the first century BC. Murchison believed that organic life appeared on our planet during this geological era.

Murchison’s second discovery of a geological period was associated with Russia. In 1840 and 1841, the scientist took part in expeditions to Russia, organized with the support of the Corps of Mining Engineers, with the approval of Emperor Nicholas I who was interested in discovering new coal deposits. Murchison investigated the Moscow and Donetsk coal basins, the Volga region and the Urals. Studying the Perm Territory, he identified a new geological period in the history of the Earth, which he named ‘Permian’ after the Russian region.

Also during the expedition, Murchison managed to establish the age of the Ural Mountains and draw up the first geological map of the area. He published the expedition results in 1845 in the monograph The Geology of Russia in Europe and the Ural Mountains. Nicholas I praised this work, and Murchison was admitted to the Imperial St Petersburg Academy of Sciences.

In addition, for his merits to science and contribution to the study of Russia, he was made an Honorary Member of the Russian Geographical Society.

In 1860, Alexander Keith Johnston, a well-known Scottish cartographer, geographer, and one of the founders of the Scottish Meteorological Society, was elected a corresponding . He founded the publishing house member of the RGS/ W & A K Johnston, which specialized in atlases and maps. The provided Johnston with cartographic materials.

RGS/ Another Scottish scientist whose merits were noted by the Society is Professor of Physics Baron Kelvin, William Thomson. For a long time he was President of the Royal Society of London. In 1897, upon his election as honorary member of the St Petersburg Academy of Sciences, Baron Kelvin became a corresponding . member of the RGS/ In 1898, the list of corresponding members of the Society was supplemented by the outstanding Scottish hydrologist and founding father of modern oceanography, Sir John Murray [President of RSGS]. He was elected an Honorary

Member of the Russian Geographical Society, and in 1903, for his outstanding contribution to the development of oceanography, he was awarded the medal of the RGS/ named after Count Fyodor Litke.

“The list of corresponding members of the Society was supplemented by the outstanding Scottish hydrologist and founding father of modern oceanography, Sir John Murray.”

This list would hardly be complete without noting a person who played a particularly important role in the development of scientific and friendly relations between the two countries.

Julius Shokalsky was an outstanding Russian and Soviet geographer, founder of Russian oceanography science, meteorologist, hydrologist and cartographer. He devoted , which he headed for almost half a century to the RGS/ 15 years, starting in 1917. Shokalsky did much to develop international ties, and represented the Society at conferences around the world. Thanks to him, polar explorers Amundsen, Nansen and Charcot came to Russia, and delivered speeches at the Imperial Geographical Society.

Shokalsky first visited Scotland in 1908. During that trip, he became acquainted with the work of the Edinburgh Geographical Institute and became friends with its director and cartographer, RSGS founder John George Bartholomew.

During the visit to the oceanographic laboratory, he was struck by an extremely rich collection of samples of seabed soils.

A year later, the scientist sent away a part of the exhibits for the oceanographic office at the Maritime Academy in St Petersburg.

In the early 1920s, on his first foreign trip after the end of the Civil War in Russia, Shokalsky visited Edinburgh again.

During that trip, he devoted a lot of time to studying the achievements of the Cartographic Institute of Bartholomew, which successfully continued to work under the guidance of the founder’s son, John Bartholomew. All four days in the city, Shokalsky spent with the family of the cartographer.

Later, when he compiled a list of geographical institutions that deserve special attention, he noted the Cartographic Institute as outstanding in its scientific dignity and technical excellence.

Julius Shokalsky maintained close relations with the Scottish Geographical Society, and often discussed with its members findings and researches on hydrography and oceanography.

Long-term postal correspondence has been preserved in the deposits of the Scientific Archive of the Russian Geographical Society, which is located at the Society’s headquarters in St Petersburg. Shokalsky’s materials and articles were published in the Scottish Geographical Magazine every year from 1908 to 1940, with a little break in 1919-21. In 1931 Shokalsky was awarded the Research Medal of the RSGS. The Scientific was regularly supplemented by Library of the RGS/ publications of the Scottish Meteorological Society, the RSGS, and the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

Today the Scientific Depositary of the Russian Geographical Society keeps not only historical evidence of the ScottishRussian connections, but also the base for the development of scientific and educational cooperation in the future.

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Giants of the ocean: Sir John Murray and Professor Julius Mikhailovich Shokalsky Jo Woolf FRSGS, RSGS Writer-in-Residence Born in 1841, Sir John Murray was a polymath; his studies included medicine, zoology, geology and physics. In 1872, he was invited by Sir Charles Wyville Thomson, Professor of Natural History at Edinburgh University, to join the Challenger Expedition as a naturalist. Over the next four years, Murray travelled nearly 70,000 miles, before being appointed Chief Assistant at the Challenger Office in Edinburgh on their return. In 1884, he established the Marine Laboratory at Granton, the first of its kind in Britain. By this time, he was collaborating with a rich network of international contacts, and had developed a strong interest in polar exploration.

At first glance, Murray must have been a formidable character, with piercing blue eyes beneath bristling eyebrows.

His friends, however, loved him for his kindness, honesty and common sense. In Founders of Oceanography and their Work (1923), Sir William A Herdman observed, “He was absolutely free from all guile and humbug of any kind, and had no sympathy with intrigue or vacillation.” Murray was President of RSGS from 1898 to 1904 and received the RSGS Livingstone Medal in 1910, amongst many other accolades.

acknowledging the opinion of his “good friend, Sir J Murray.”

He also expressed his great honour at being elected an Honorary Corresponding Member of RSGS. Another passion which Shokalsky shared with Murray was the exploration of the Arctic regions, and he published three papers on this topic in the Scottish Geographical Magazine. In 1931 he was the first ever recipient of the RSGS Research Medal “for his valuable contribution to Oceanographical and Topographical Research.” Two Russian place-names preserve his memory: Shokalsky Strait in Severnaya Zemlya, and Shokalsky Island in the Kara Sea.

“Shokalsky met some delegates from RSGS and they struck up a lifelong friendship.”

Among Murray’s many friends was the Russian oceanographer Julius Mikhailovich Shokalsky. Shokalsky was born in 1856 in St Petersburg; he entered the Naval Academy in St Petersburg and graduated as an Ensign in 1877. After spending two years as Chief of the Section for Maritime Meteorology in the Central Physical Observatory of St Petersburg, he was invited to become Professor of Mathematics, Navigation, Hydrography, Oceanography and Meteorology at the Naval School, a post which he occupied for 25 years.

While Sir John Murray was recognised in Europe as the ‘father of oceanography’, Shokalsky was Murray’s Russian equivalent. An article published by the Russian Geographical Society in October 2018 celebrates his outstanding work as a geographer, meteorologist, hydrologist and cartographer, and describes him as the “founder of the national Oceanography.”

He explored Lake Ladoga, the Vychegda and Tavda Rivers, the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea; he spent much of his life teaching but also compiled and edited several atlases, and composed over 1,300 scientific works. Like Murray, he had a special interest in limnology: in 1905, one of his monographs for the Great Russian Encyclopaedia was entitled A Note on the Study of the Lakes from the Point of View of Physical Geography.

Shokalsky was a leading figure in the Russian Geographical Society. In 1882 he was appointed President of the Section of Physical Geography, and he rose to become President of the Society. In 1908, at the Ninth International Geographical Congress in Geneva, he met some delegates from RSGS (Major Lachlan Forbes, RSGS Secretary, and John George Bartholomew, the Society’s co-founder) and they struck up a lifelong friendship. Shokalsky mentions both of them with great fondness in his letters which are preserved in RSGS archives: “The pleasant memory of [Geneva] is due to the good and friendly companions whom I had during this time,” and “Now if I am a month without news from Mr J Bartholomew, something is missing for me.”

Over the next few years, Shokalsky communicated regularly with RSGS. He consulted RSGS about the official definitions of the terms ‘oceanography’ and ‘hydrography’,

Sir John Murray.

Professor Julius Mikhailovich Shokalsky.

FURTHER READING

Agassiz G R (1917) Sir John Murray 1841-1914 (Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Vol 52) Herdman Sir William A (1923) Founders of Oceanography and their Work Perrier Georges (1940) Obituary Notice on Jules Mikhailovitch Schokalsky (Reports of the Academy of Science, Paris, May 1940)

© Desmond Dugan

8 Winter 2020

Natural Reserve Network of Russia: how it was created and developed Russian Geographical Society (RGS/

, rgo.ru)

An eighth of Russia is occupied by special protected natural areas. These include natural reserves, national and natural parks, botanical gardens and wildlife preserves, spreading from the Arctic coast to the subtropical zone. There are almost 300 large protected areas of federal importance and about 11,000 smaller regional protected areas in Russia today.

The history of reserve management and studies in Russia began more than 100 years ago with the direct involvement of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society (IRGS). The Permanent Environmental Commission of IRGS was created in 1912. Dozens of expeditions were organized by the initiative of the Commission in the next few years to study areas which required protection. Research took place at the Volga Delta, at the Northern Urals, in the Pechora Taiga, in Kamchatka, in Baikal region, and in the Sayan Mountains.

The chairman of the Commission, Veniamin Semenov-TyanShansky, collected studies, and the report On typical territories where it is necessary to organize reserved areas on the model of American national parks was published on 2nd October 1917.

This document laid the basis for the development of the network of natural reserves throughout Russia.

By that time, the first Russian natural reserve, Barguzinsky, had already been founded on the north-eastern coast of Lake Baikal. The Russian government set it up on 11th January 1917, to save the sable. The fur of this animal – durable and beautiful – was a kind of currency for a long time. It was paid as a duty, and the income from the export of sable fur to Western Europe formed the budget basis of the Grand Duchy of Moscow for several centuries – and after, of the united Russian state. For example, in the 16th century, hunters killed at least 85,000 sables per year. As a result, by the beginning of the 20th century, the sable had almost disappeared. About 30 individuals remained in the Barguzinsky Valley, where the natural reserve was created.

Work on the creation of natural reserves was continued even during the country’s hard times. Thus, in 1923, almost immediately after many years of civil war, the Voronezh Reserve was created. The goal was to preserve an almost destroyed beaver population. An experimental beaver nursery, the first in the world, was opened there in 1932. It was the place where young beavers were born in captivity for the first time. The reserve sent the first batch of eight animals

Polar bear promenade. © Vitaly Drovchenko

to the Lapland Reserve in 1934. This was the first case of reintroduction of beavers in the Soviet Union. Beavers born in the nursery helped restore the population of this animal in many regions of Russia, and also abroad, from Germany to Mongolia.

The opening of the first Arctic reserve, Wrangel Island, in 1976 was a significant event. The natural reserve occupies two islands, Wrangel Island and Herald Island, which are situated close to the coast of Chukotka, and the area of water around them. Arctic foxes, the world’s largest rookery of Pacific walruses, and the only large permanent colony of snow geese in Eurasia, are under protection here.

The archipelago is also called the ‘maternity hospital’ of polar bears. About 300-500 pregnant bears pass the winter on the islands annually. On Herald Island there are up to 12 dens per square kilometre – more than anywhere else in the Arctic. This planet’s largest terrestrial predator could face total extinction due to global warming. In Russia, much is being done to study and preserve this species. Part of the scientific programmes is funded by grants provided by the Russian Geographical Society.

“Dozens of expeditions were organized to study areas which required protection.”

The study and preservation of rare species and the development of a network of special protected natural areas has again become in the one of the priorities in the activities of the RGS/ , last decade. In particular, with the support of the RGS/ two national parks were created in Primorsky Territory: Land of the Leopard (2012), and Bikin (2015). They play a critical role in preserving populations of the Siberian tiger and the Amur leopard.

Land of the Leopard is considered the only place in Russia where four wild cats can be found at once: Amur leopard, Siberian tiger, Eurasian lynx, and Amur leopard cat.

Expanding the special protected areas in the modern world is more important than ever. The growth of population and urbanization has led to many environmental problems. The number of territories untouched by humans are decreasing.

And this is recognized in Russia. About 20 more large special protected natural areas are planned for creation in the country by the end of 2024.

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Amur leopard, Land of the Leopard National Park. © Nikolai Zinoviev

Flying above the ground; snow geese on Wrangel Island. © Vasily Baranyuk

Ocean storm, Baikal, Chivyrkuisky Bay, Barguzinsky Nature Reserve. © Evgeny Domanov

10 Winter 2020

Looking back to Belarus Kate Signorini, Depute Director, The Open University in Scotland

I’ve been watching the recent protests in Belarus against the country’s president Alexander Lukashenko with keen interest.

As part of my undergraduate degree (Russian and English) in the late 1980s, I spent time in both the Soviet Union and Bulgaria for my year abroad. I was a student in Minsk in the second half of 1988; a year before the fall of the Berlin Wall and three years before the subsequent dissolution of the Soviet Union itself. Back in 1988, there were visible shoots of revolt across Eastern Europe but it was pretty desultory in Belarus. There was a general sense of keeping close to Russia and not wanting to rock the boat. On the public holiday to celebrate the Great October Socialist Revolution in Minsk, we heard rumours of a counter gathering of people opposed to the Soviet regime. As curious westerners we tried to seek out these revolutionaries, but we either got our directions to the park in question muddled or they had all headed back to their warm apartments before we got there.

In the late 80s, AIDS was the major global public health crisis. As students, we were considered a particularly dissolute high-risk group and were required to have an AIDS test before we could be issued with a visa for the Soviet Union. On arrival in Belarus, we were told that our ‘western’ certificates were unacceptable, and we had to have a second test. A few months later when I moved to continue my studies in Bulgaria, the authorities there didn’t trust either the British or the Soviet certificates and, exhibiting a pleasure in bureaucracy that I had become very accustomed to by this point, they required a third test.

The Chernobyl disaster had taken place two years previously and Belarus had been badly affected, with 70% of the radioactive contamination falling on the country. Belarus still struggles with the legacy of Chernobyl, with contaminated land of no commercial value and extreme levels of social deprivation in some areas. In 1988 there was very little information or advice available to either us as international students or indeed to the Belorussians themselves about avoiding risk in terms of drinking water or what foods to Image by Egor Shitikov from Pixabay.

avoid. Belarus has a long history of suffering; it lost over a quarter of its population under German occupation during the Second World War. We visited a village (one of more than 400) where the entire population had been murdered and buildings burnt down. In the place of each house a symbolic chimney had been built with a bell that struck every 30 seconds. The painful memories of the war are felt strongly and instilled into each new generation.

My time in the Soviet Union coincided with the end of Gorbachev’s anti-alcohol campaign – the ‘dry law’. As westerners we had access to alcohol via the foreign currency shops ‘Beryozki’ but with our very small monthly stipend we found ourselves, like the Belorussians, resorting to the black market for supplies. Despite the good intentions of reducing alcoholism and anti-social behaviour, Gorbachev has since admitted that this campaign was a mistake, and I think most of us who were there can vouch for its lack of success!

“Belarus still struggles with the legacy of Chernobyl.”

Our ability to move around the Soviet Union was restricted and we could only travel on organised excursions, but these were still glorious adventures to places such as St Petersburg, Moscow, Vilnius and Lvov. The long train journeys were an experience in their own right; being woken in the morning with a glass of black tea from a silver samovar, one in each carriage. We had a ‘minder’ throughout our time in Minsk and on these excursions. He was one of the Belorussian students with whom we shared our dormitories, but stood out from the others with his leather jacket which no one else would have been able to afford. He was a lovely guy and we’ve ended up being good friends; he now lives in Switzerland working in finance.

So, I look at the protests in Belarus and I wish the people on the streets courage and resolve. It was the people who made my time there so special, not the politics, and they deserve a brighter future.

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Wonder and reflection in the Russian Arctic Jonathan Campion, writer and traveller (jonathancampion.com)

I arrived in the Arctic in the middle of winter on an impulse.

My only question was, “If I leave Moscow after work on Thursday, what is the most distant place in Russia I can wake up in on Saturday?” The answer, the train timetables decided, was Kandalaksha, on the Kola Peninsula in the country’s far north-west.

The 40-hour, 1,600-kilometre journey north was a tasting menu for Russia’s many landscapes. After crawling through Moscow’s sinister outer edges, the train passed dacha villages, then rattled across the plains south of St Petersburg.

By the second evening we were up in the lakes of Karelia.

That night I was jarred awake in the pitch black by the sound of heavy pine branches scratching the carriage; we had reached the Arctic taiga.

It was still dark when I clambered onto the icy platform at Kandalaksha. In a room at the empty Hotel Belomorye, watching the dark purple sky lighten over the town and forest beyond, I realised: I didn’t have a plan.

Getting here was the plan.

Kandalaksha’s only landmark is an abandoned Soviet-era aluminium smelter. In January the Kola Peninsula, part of Murmansk region, is close to the polar nights: at 67°09′N there are only four hours of daylight each day.

It was 20 degrees below freezing. I trudged around the town aimlessly until the sun set again.

That night I felt the pine forest calling. In the morning I found a path that led to a bridge over a snowed-over river. There I stepped into the taiga that stretches unbroken for 6,000 kilometres across the whole of northern Russia.

The air in the forest was exquisitely pure; it made me feel strong and euphoric. The deep white snow crunched beautifully under my boots. I wasn’t alone: after a while I came across a tree stump that had been dressed, totem-like, in an old lady’s shawl and spectacles. Later a man in Russian military uniform ran out of a watchtower with a rifle trained at my chest, until I called out an apology and turned back.

Every so often I caught sight of a person weaving through the trees on cross-country skis.

One careless turn and I was completely lost. Somehow I didn’t panic; my brain was running on taiga air. I found my way out of the forest and back to the town before dark, orienting myself by the position of the low sun.

The next day I found a community of wooden huts on the shores of the White Sea. In summer ships sail from here higher into the Arctic Circle – into the Barents and Kara Seas. I pictured myself on a map of the world, and my heart raced...

“The air in the forest was exquisitely pure; it made me feel strong and euphoric.”

And yet. Four years on, how much of Kandalaksha was in front of my eyes, and how much of it was in my head?

Looking back, I had fixated on Kandalaksha’s location – ‘the Arctic Circle’; ‘Russia’s Far North’; ‘a thousand miles from Moscow…’ – as the reason for my journey. But did these labels make the experience more extreme?

The place is extremely remote, for sure; but this was no Arctic expedition. As bitterly cold as it was, it felt a little warmer than it had been in Moscow.

When my navigational skills helped me escape from the depths of the taiga, I came out at the top of a children’s toboggan slope. In the evenings I ordered sushi from a bar near my hotel.

Nor can I pretend to have discovered an unknown part of Russia. Two years before I turned up on the Kola Peninsula – I know now – the Andrey Zvyagintsev film Leviathan won awards for its portrayal of life in Teriberka, a town closer to Murmansk. I also didn’t know, when I took my self-indulgent long weekend, that the year before I came to Kandalaksha the Hotel Belomorye had housed hundreds of migrants from Africa and the Middle East, trying to cross Russia’s border into Finland. The man in the forest with a rifle makes sense now.

What has stayed with me – what matters – is not where Kandalaksha is, but how it felt: my boots on the deep snow and the taiga in my lungs. I would go anywhere to experience that again.

12 Winter 2020

Kronotsky Reserve: life on volcanoes among bears Russian Geographical Society (RGS/

, rgo.ru)

Kronotsky State Natural Biosphere Reserve, located in the Far East on the Kamchatka Peninsula, is one of the oldest and most famous reserves in Russia. It was founded in 1934; its landmark, the Valley of Geysers, was discovered in 1941 by geomorphologist Tatiana Ustinova and her guide Anisifor Krupenin. Kamchatka Valley is one of the largest geothermal fields on our planet. There are few similar sites: Yellowstone Park in the USA, the Icelandic Høykadalur Valley, Waiotapu in New Zealand, and the Chilean El Tatio Valley.

There are other wonders of nature in the reserve: eight active volcanoes, of which the highest is Kronotsky Volcano (3,528m); the caldera of Uzon volcano, a bowl-shaped basin with an area of more than 100km2 formed 40,000 years ago; five thermal fields. In the southern part of the peninsula is Kuril Lake, with the largest spawning ground of the sockeye on the Asian continent, and the largest protected population of brown bears in the world – about a thousand individuals.

When I first found myself in Kamchatka, I seemed to set foot on pristine land. I saw a unique environment, unchanged for a thousand years. White people reached these regions for the first time only 300 years ago.

The plane journey feels like travelling by time machine. One moment – and you are in the past, where humans have not yet have destroyed the harmony with wildlife. Kamchatka is a huge territory, commensurate with the area of Italy. But it is almost unsettled: 95% of the population lives in the southeast of the peninsula. I have seen many beautiful places on Earth, but when I first found myself in Kamchatka in 2005, I realized that I had not seen anything more beautiful in my life. You can talk about it only in superlatives.

Kamchatka is the main reason why I have stopped travelling. I have found everything here: in terms of beauty, emotions and real life.

“Kamchatka has a super concentration of miracles.”

Kamchatka has a super concentration of miracles.

Here I watched a volcanic eruption. I remember how the snow blackened in one moment. Once I saw 136

Since 1984, the reserve has been included in the World Network of Biosphere Reserves, and since 1996 in the UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site ‘Kamchatka Volcanoes’. Working in such a unique place seems like a dream – is it? We asked Igor Shpilenok, naturalist photographer, winner of BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year, and founder and director of Bryansk Forest Reserve, who worked for a decade in Kronotsky Reserve, and whose sons have headed the reserve since 2009.

Aggressive negotiation, Kamchatka. © Ekaterina Vasyagina

Kronotsky Reserve. © Sergei Krasnoshekov

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bears in half a day. This happened in the south of the peninsula, in the South Kamchatka Federal Wildlife Preserve.

It is located on the same latitude as Berlin and Brussels, but paradoxically there is almost no summer here.

I learned that the wind is so strong that you can be carried away in a moment. And this is not a figure of speech. On my first arrival, I found myself on the extreme southern point of the peninsula, Cape Lopatka. I was surprised by a cable pulled between the houses. It turns out that it is there to grab during strong winds. And at the cape, wind speed can reach 50m/sec. It is a completely different world. Everything here is so unusual and interesting. I came here for two weeks, and I stayed for almost ten years.

The Kronotsky Peninsula is the most snowy place in Russia. Here, on a small territory, volcanoes are situated side by side with glaciers, which are located almost at sea level, at an altitude of 300-400m. In the Kronotsky Reserve there is also an ocean coast 200km long. Once I watched a bear meet a whale – the largest representatives of the land and ocean.

The bear was very surprised when a giant carcass appeared in front of him.

I vividly remember my first working day in the reserve. I was immediately given the role of an inspector in the Valley of Geysers. You can only get there by helicopter.

I was dropped off between the Valley and Uzon on a flat place; there was nothing nearby at all. They said that the hut was somewhere under the snow, and gave me a shovel to dig. Indeed, the house where I was supposed to live was under a five-metre layer of snow.

I worked for many years in the Valley of Geysers. I met the worst catastrophe that almost destroyed this miracle of nature. In June 2007, a landslide came down to the Valley right before my eyes and buried half of the geysers underneath it.

Kamchatka is a rare place where bears and other animals are not afraid of humans. And for me, as a photographer, this is a unique opportunity.

Animals just don’t pay attention to you, so the photographer does not need to hide at all. But, of course, you need to be careful, because a bear can attack you at any moment. This happened to me once a year on average.

Many people think that since the inspector has a weapon, he is safe. But he is not. You still need to be able to use weapons, and it will not always save you. There were sad cases when the most experienced employees of the reserve, who spent their entire lives among the bears, let their vigilance slip and died under the paws of a predator.

Among all Russian reserves, Kronotsky has one of the highest number of fatalities among employees. And it’s not even about bears. The weather changes very quickly here.

Sometimes the wind rises to 40m/sec and, if you do not quickly bury yourself in the snow, you can be easily carried away by the wind. There are cases when people were covered Life amongst geysers. © Vladimir Omelin

14 Winter 2020

by an avalanche. To work in Kamchatka, you need to have good survival skills. Well, and, of course, fighting poachers doesn’t make our job any safer.

When I began to work on the territory of the South Kamchatka Federal Wildlife Preserve, there was rabid commercial poaching. Scammers harvested caviar by the ton, and killed bears for the sake of their bile, which was sold to China for traditional medicine. A month of such illegal work fed poachers for a year. Therefore, the scale of the problem here was frightening. Security agencies covered the criminals.

And this situation was difficult to change.

However, we were lucky to build a new powerful team, which included experienced investigators from other reserves. We specifically invited reliable people from the outside, because the locals had something to lose. When the fight against poaching began, my brother Dmitry filmed it and sent videos to the media and posted on the Internet. It produced a largescale public reaction. Even the governor got the information from the news on federal channels. Everyone quickly realized that they should stay away from the South Kamchatka Federal Wildlife Preserve. Now there are practically no poachers on its territory. But it was difficult – they threatened me and my family.

In general, nature is what unites all of us. It’s kind of our national idea. But a single person will not be able to change something significantly. We must join forces in the struggle for wildlife conservation and environmental education.

That’s why I picked up the camera and started blogging.

Frankly, I do not like to shoot – cameras are heavy, and they cost a fortune. But for me, this is some kind of intensifier of what I want to say. When I began to write about Kronotsky on my blog, I wanted people to love this area in this way.

After all, watching the lives of bears and other animals of the reserve, people began to empathize with Kamchatka’s nature.

I want the same popular support to appear in the reserve management and studies in the rest of the country. Then the state may give us more attention. After all, the less wildlife exists, the more valuable it is.

Valley of Geysers. © Sergei Semenov

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“Once I saw 136 bears in half a day.”

Autumn on Uzon. © Dmitry Moisinko

Paradise Corner. © Anna Elisyeva

Time to behold. © Ekaterina Vasyagina

16 Winter 2020

Russia’s climate policy and attitudes towards climate change Angelina Davydova, environmental and climate journalist

Climate change has become a more important and urgent issue for Russia recently; however, actual climate actions are still lagging behind.

For a long time, climate change has been seen as a topic of little importance in Russia. From climate scepticism in scientific circles to political statements that “global warming is good for Russia because we will spend less on fur coats” and jokes about an opportunity to grow bananas in the taiga forests – the climate agenda has never been fiercely fought against in Russia, but rather ignored for a long time.

A turning point in the political agenda came around the time of the Copenhagen climate summit in December 2009, when Russian president at the time Dmitry Medvedev came to speak about climate risks for Russia, while also signing a Climate Doctrine, a document laying a basis for all further climate regulation for the country.

in Russia has also led to a very unambitious draft legislation on ‘carbon regulation’, which only introduces carbon reporting for companies and allows for ‘climate projects’ (such as investment projects aimed at emission reduction and increase of absorption by forests and other ecosystems) to be carried out (and emission reduction units to be issued), but does not mention any other forms of price on carbon, such as a carbon tax or a cap-and-trade system. Largely, this approach has been put forward and lobbied by large businesses opposing any strict form of carbon regulation in Russia, claiming it will only produce a financial and administrative burden on the country economy, especially in the difficult times of post-Covid-19 recovery. At the same time, a group of environmentalists and researchers (among them, from Greenpeace Russia, Russian Friends of the Earth, Climate Action Network Eastern Europe, Caucasus, Central Asia, Higher School of Economics, etc) have created and presented a plan and a scenario for Russia’s green recovery, calling it ‘The Green Route’. A first national climate adaptation plan has been approved in early 2020, also lacking concrete actions at the moment.

“Climate change is getting more interest and attention among the general public in the country.”

In the next few years, climate change gradually gained more importance within Russian political, business and public agendas. A set of legislation launching carbon reporting for companies and regions as well as a model of carbon regulation in the country has been discussed intensively over the last few years. At the same time, Russia has been observing more negative consequences of climate change: drastic forest fires in Siberia in the summer of 2019, summer heat in the Arctic in 2020, regular floods in the Far East of the country, melting permafrost, and more extreme weather events even in the capital, Moscow.

In September 2019 Russia officially joined the Paris Agreement. Since then the country has worked out its first draft long-term low-carbon development strategy, which many experts consider unambitious (the full decarbonization is not foreseen until the late 21st century and none of the scenarios suggest a sharp decrease in emissions).

These climate targets are largely based on already adopted official development strategies, including the Energy Strategy 2035, the General Scheme for the Location of Electricity Facilities until 2035, plans and programmes in the coal, gas and oil industries. All of them provide for an increase in the production, transportation, storage and combustion of fossil energy resources, and therefore an increase in greenhouse gas emissions.

Alternative scenarios of low-carbon development and decarbonization of the economy were developed by a number of research centres using complex economic and mathematical models. A comparative analysis of these scenarios was carried out by the Centre for Energy Efficiency (CENEF). A set of scenarios was identified in which greenhouse gas emissions in the country could decrease in the future until 2050, while many researchers predicted an increase in greenhouse gas emissions, since a significant factor holding back the decarbonization of the Russian economy is the high share of fossil fuels in the energy balance. Model calculations by the RANEPA research group and the Higher School of Economics on the Deep Decarbonization Pathways Project showed that a decrease in CO2 emissions in the energy production and consumption sector is possible by 90-95% of the 2010 level by 2050.

A discussion on introduction of a possible price on carbon

In early November Russia officially approved its first Nationally Determined Contributions for the Paris Agreement, to reduce emissions by 30% (of 1990 levels) by 2030, including LULUCF (absorption of CO2 by forests and other ecosystems). However, current levels of Russia’s greenhouse gas emissions are already around 29% below the 1990 levels (mainly due to the sharp fall in emissions in the 90s due to the fall of the Soviet Union and subsequent economic downturn) if no forest role is being taking into account, and around 50% from the 1990 levels if forest sequestration is being counted in. That means actual plans of emission growth, not reduction, which provoked a wave of criticism both from within Russia and abroad. However, two factors here are very important. First, Russia’s emissions are not likely to grow at such pace; even in the years of robust economic growth in the 2000s, the country’s greenhouse gas emissions have not been growing more than 1% a year.

Secondly, Russian forests’ role is also due to decline in the next half a century, mainly due to the changing age structure, forest fires and unsustainable forestry policies (unless a more sustainable and environmentally friendly forestry management system and forest fires prevention and fighting system are introduced).

At the moment, the climate agenda in Russia is being driven by two major factors. First, realization of the climate risks in the country, which continue to increase year after year.

According to the Roshydromet report, On specifics of the climate on the territory of the Russian Federation in 2019, the average growth rate of the average annual air temperature in Russia in 1976-2019 was 0.47°C per every ten years. This is more than two-and-a-half times the rate of increase in global temperature over the same period (0.18°C per every ten years), and more than one-and-a-half times the average rate of warming of surface air over the Earth’s land (0.28°C per every ten years; estimates according to the Hadley Centre and the University of East Anglia). The temperature of the North Polar Region grew at the fastest rate: the average annual temperature rose here 0.81°C per every ten years, ie 2.43°C over 30 years.

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The obvious indicators of warming are the rapid decrease in the ice cover of the Arctic, the increasing thawing of permafrost, and a decrease in the duration of the snow cover.

Since the mid-1990s in Russia, the number and intensity (including destructiveness) of hazardous phenomena are also on the rise, causing significant damage to the economy and the population. The annual damage from dangerous hydrometeorological phenomena and unfavourable weather conditions in Russia is estimated to be 30-60 billion Roubles (between €330 million and €660 million) a year, Russian Ministry of Environment said in a number of their statements.

The second driving factor is the plan of an introduction of the carbon border adjustment mechanism in the EU as part of the European Green Deal package. So far, the specific realization of the mechanism and all further details are unclear, but they are already causing concern for Russian business, since exports from the Russian Federation are one of the most carbon-intensive in the world. According to KPMG’s and BCG’s estimates, Russian exporting companies’ losses in the event of the introduction of the mechanism could amount to €4-6 billion per year. Estimates of the Institute of Economic Forecasting of the Russian Academy of Sciences say that the losses of exporters could amount to €2.8–3.6 billion per year at a price level per emission unit of €20–25 per ton of CO2 equivalent. Russian businesses seem to be rather worried about the issues and have already started unofficial consultations with the EU on the matter. At the same time, an association of large businesses in Russia (Russian Union of Entrepreneurs and Industrialists) have already sent their position to the EU, saying that the proposed mechanism is “an unjustified decision due to increased risk of exporters’ discrimination contradicting international agreements.”

Still, the good news is that climate change is getting more interest and attention among the general public in the country. In recent polls (ROMIR 2020) the topic of the climate crisis has become much more of a concern for the inhabitants of Russia due to the growth of environmental protest campaigns, the influence of eco-trends, as well as the increased importance of responsible and conscious consumption.

The ROMIR study says that 66% of respondents (also about 1,500 residents of various regions of Russia) believe that climate change is “a real threat right now,” 90% agree that climate change is a “real problem,” 86% believe that “Russia will suffer losses from climate change.” In addition, 80% of those surveyed say they are “already experiencing the negative impact of climate change” and 69% associate it with human activities.

In many international ratings (IPSOS 2019), the attitude of Russians to the problem of the climate crisis is also becoming more serious and generally corresponds to global trends; however, the climate problem is not always included in the top ‘green’ priorities in Russia. Russians increasingly recognize the existence of the problem of climate change, notice its negative consequences, and agree with the role of the anthropogenic factor in climate change. However, so far many local environmental problems are still more urgent for residents of Russian regions. In addition, the willingness to take concrete actions – to reduce energy consumption, switch to ‘green’ mobility options, support renewable energy sources – is not yet too high, mainly for financial reasons and due to the general level of socio-economic development.

Still more young people in Russia are becoming increasingly interested and worried about climate change and are willing to engage in climate activism, so that there is even Russia’s Fridays for Future movement. The topic is also getting more media and social media attention, with Russian scientists and science or climate journalists giving public lectures and comments about the causes and consequences of climate change, trying to communicate the topic for a wider audience in the country.

Image by czu_czu_PL from Pixabay.

18 Winter 2020

Prince Peter Kropotkin (1842-1921): anarchist geographer Kenneth Maclean FRSGS, RSGS Collections Team

In 1871, after extensive exploration and significant geological and geomorphological field studies in Siberia and Finland, Prince Peter Kropotkin regretfully declined a long-cherished post as Secretary of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society (IRGS) in St Petersburg. As he explained, “what right had I to these higher joys [his geographical research] when all round me was nothing but misery and struggle for a mouldy bit of bread.” Confirmation that his environmental observations never permitted him to ignore the hardships of the Russian peasantry; increasingly, thereafter, his interests involved promoting social change through his anarchist version of socialism.

Education and Siberian exploration Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin, descendant of one of Russia’s oldest aristocratic families, was born in the ‘Old Equerries’ Quarter’ in Moscow in 1842. His upbringing alternated between the family mansion in Moscow and his father’s extensive country estate. He received his early education from French, German and Russian tutors, and, aged 15, was enrolled at an elite military college where he studied mathematics and scientific subjects, including geography and cartography. In 1863, he deliberately enlisted in a Siberian-based regiment: the Mounted Cossacks of the Amur. Such a move allowed him to explore areas of little-known, imperfectly-mapped Eastern Siberia, notably the upper Amur Valley and Western Sayan Mountains.

Anarchist and émigré In spite of the lure of studying physical landscapes, Kropotkin’s belief in the communal ability of people to organise their lives free from repressive socio-political structures broadened his geographical consciousness.

Although rooted in dislike of serfdom and Russian living conditions, a key catalyst was a visit to the Swiss Jura, where Kropotkin was impressed by communities of anarchist watchmakers. Their “equalitarian relations [and] independence of thought” appealed; consequently, “my views upon socialism were settled. I was an anarchist.” Inevitably dissident agitation led to imprisonment in Russia and France, and banishment from Switzerland. Ultimately he settled in Britain, initially in Edinburgh, where he met Patrick Geddes, who sympathised with Kropotkin’s ideas of natural evolution and cooperation.

“His environmental observations never permitted him to ignore the hardships of the Russian peasantry.”

Leaving the army in 1867, he entered St Petersburg University where he advanced his geographical studies, promoted the work of the IRGS as Secretary of its physical geography department, and conducted further fieldwork in Siberia and Finland. As he informed an 1886 Scottish Geographical Society meeting, he traversed over 50,000 miles, sometimes provisioned for up to three months at a time, across mountains and extensive tablelands, with the added difficulties of a “short summer, thinly spread population and a predominance of marshy land.” His physical observations in Siberia underpinned his suggestion that the main structural lines of Russian Asia ran neither east and west nor north and south, as suggested

by Humboldt; rather they spanned north-east to south-west. For Kropotkin, this finding was the key achievement of his physical geographic research.

But for 40 years, London was Kropotkin’s home. There he met John Scott Keltie, subeditor of Nature, later secretary of the Royal Geographical Society. Keltie encouraged Kropotkin to write on a range of topics. As well as promoting geography and interpreting his evolving homeland, he penned tenets of his anarchist faith as in his Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution (1902). Essentially, it counterpointed Darwinian notions of conflict and competition in nature; instead, Kropotkin emphasised his beliefs in cooperation and mutual support in organic evolution and society.

Another alternative perspective was demonstrated in his 1885 classic article, What Geography Ought to Be. Written in prison, it was an inspirational riposte to the rote learning, textbook-centred, imperially-oriented, racist nature of much contemporary geographical education.

Kropotkin suggested geography’s tasks were: to “interest the child in the great phenomena of nature, to awaken the desire of knowing and explaining them”; to “teach us, from our earliest childhood, that we are all brethren”; to dissipate “the prejudices in which we are reared with regard to the socalled lower races.” Excellent aims, but too radical for too many in that imperial era.

Kropotkin returned to Russia in 1917 after the October Revolution, failed to see his anarchist ideals in any way realised, and died, disillusioned, in 1921. Fifty years later, certain Anglo-American geographers argued for a new, socially-relevant radical geography; arguably, their focus of research was a continuation of earlier commitment by anarchist geographers such as Peter Kropotkin and his advocacy of social concern.

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The Moscow Kremlin in 1662 Chris Fleet FRSGS, Map Curator, National Library of Scotland

This stunning, detailed bird’s-eye view or map of the Moscow Kremlin can be read at a number of levels. A ‘kremlin’ is a ‘fortress within a city’, and the Moscow Kremlin is the bestknown of the Russian kremlins. With its strategic, defensible position at the junction of two rivers, the Moskva (on the left) and the Neglinnaya (on the right), the Kremlin became the royal, religious, and secular heart of the city. The map looks toward the south-west, with what is today Red Square and St Basil’s Cathedral in the lower foreground. Thirty-two different locations within the Kremlin are numerically identified, including bridges, buildings, and gates in the walls. Although the complex has undergone substantial change over the centuries, many of these structures can still be seen today.

But a Russian familiar with Moscow at the time may have found much that disagreed with reality on the ground. For a start, this reflected Moscow over half a century earlier. The Dutch engraver Hessel Gerritz (c1571-1632) had obtained his information from Fyodor Borisovich Godunov who had died in 1605. Several substantial buildings were constructed in the following 50 years, including the 11-domed Upper Saviour Cathedral, the Armorial Gate, the Terem Palace, the

Amusement Palace and the Patriarch’s Palace, all missing from the map. The dedication to Alexei Mikhailovich (162976) did not match the actual title used by the Tzar at that time. Even the word Kremlin was relatively new and unusual at the start of the 17th century. The previously used forms were Кромъ (Krom), Кремникъ (Kremnik), or Кремленикъ (Kremlenik), and the word Kremlenagrad did not enter the Russian language until the 19th century.

“The map can be best understood as reflecting Dutch cartographic and geographic perceptions of Russian territory.”

The map can be best understood as reflecting Dutch cartographic and geographic perceptions of Russian territory, with its inclusion in Joan Blaeu’s magnificent 11-volume world atlas. This was the most expensive book money could buy when published, including 594 maps and 3,368 pages of text. Blaeu exploited his position as chief cartographer to the Dutch East India Company to gather information from far and wide, aiming to eclipse his chief publishing rival, Hondius-Janssonius. The Moscow plates were intended to serve this purpose, adding bulk and exoticism to the work. The extensive use of Cyrillic lettering in the title, in the names of the cardinal points on the compass, and in the two rivers can be interpreted in this light. In colouring, style and ornamentation, it is very much a Dutch vision for an audience outside of Russia.

КРЕМЛЕНА ГРАД.

Kremlenagrad, Castellum urbis Moskuae, from Joan Blaeu’s Theatrum Orbis Terrarum sive Atlas Maior, Vol 1 (1662). Image courtesy of the National Library of Scotland. View online at maps.nls. uk/view/104187404.

20 Winter 2020

Wild Russia

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1. Baikal ice cave, the village of Uzury, Olkhonsky district, Irkutsk region. © Anastasia Ryakovskaya. 2. Faces of the North, Longotyegan River Valley, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous district. © Vladimir Kushnarev. 3. Moscow courtyard. © Georgy Shpikalov. 4. Red piano, Murmansk. © Nikolai Zholnin. 5. Kultuchnoye Lake, a lost oasis of wildlife, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. © Alexey Perelygin. 6. Fox, Ilmensky Reserve, Chelyabinsk region. © Oleg Bogdanov. 7. Summer meadow songs, Tyumen district, Tyumen region. © Vladilen Zubarev. 8. Autumn Lake Tumanly-Kel, Karachay-Cherkess Republic. © Fedor Lashkov. 9. Settlement, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous district. © Vladimir Alekseev. 10. In pre-sunset light, Lake Imandra, Apatity, Murmansk region. © Oleg Semenkevich. 11. Morning games, Voronezh region. © Eugeniy Melnikov. 12. In a low key, Lake Kurilskoye, Kronotsky Reserve, Kamchatka Territory. © Vladimir Kushnarev. 13. Teddy bear, Yamal-Nenets Autonomous district, Tazovsky Peninsula. © Alexander Romanov.

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Territorial growth of the Russian Empire and founding the Imperial Russian Geographical Society Kenneth Maclean FRSGS, RSGS Collections Team From its historical core region centred on Moscow, Russia expanded in stages from the late 15th century to create a vast continental empire. By the 16th century Russia had penetrated the tundra to reach the Arctic coast; in the 17th century it thrust beyond the Urals and across Siberia through the cold coniferous forests to reach the Pacific; in the 18th century the Baltic and the Black Seas; and in the 19th century the southern deserts and rim of high mountain ranges in the heartlands of Asia.

Associated with such territorial expansion, frontier history and incorporation of non-Slavic ethnic groups was a long, varied and distinguished history of geographical work. Dating especially from the patronage of Tsar Peter the Great and his modernising reign (1682-1725), map making, geographical expeditions and the detection and assessment of organic and mineral resources were encouraged, resulting in the first national atlas.

Comparable geographical research continued and intensified with the founding of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society (IRGS) in 1845. With its headquarters at St Petersburg, it was acknowledged as one of the most successful of all Russian learned societies before the Revolution. Four departments were established, covering physical geography, mathematical geography, ethnography and statistics. Regional branches with their own lectures, publications and research agendas were set up in Siberia and the Caucasus as territorial expansion of Russia was consolidated.

But the IRGS should be seen not only as a means of uncovering and diffusing geographical information throughout the Empire. For many of its liberal-minded members, the Society served as a protagonist

“Arguably, the content of Russian geography reflected its extensive natural regions, its predominantly rural nature and diversity of ethnic and linguistic groups, and geopolitical interests.”

for improving the lot of Russian peasantry, with investigations into problems such as customary law and the organisation of landed property. Major figures including Peter Petrovich Semёnov (1827-1914) and Peter Kropotkin (1842-1921), who carried out extensive exploration and scientific work in the terra incognita of Siberia, were painfully aware of conditions of their fathers’ serfs, and consequently supported their emancipation, finally granted in 1861 by Tsar Alexander II. By the 1880s, advances in Russian geography compared favourably with its contemporaries. Arguably, the content of Russian geography reflected its extensive natural regions, its predominantly rural nature and diversity of ethnic and linguistic groups, and geopolitical interests. In the case of the latter, geographical expeditions in Siberia, as in the Amur valley, and Central Asia were prompted as much by Russian national identity and international rivalry as scientific endeavour.

Nonetheless, Russian geographical achievements were significant. As exemplars, physical geographers such as V V Dokauchaev (1846-1903) pioneered his theories of zonal soil formation in the podzolic taiga and the black earths of the steppe, while A I Voeykov’s (1842-1916) work on heat and moisture balance contributed to his classic 1884 Climates of the World. On the human side, D N Anuchin established geography as a major university study in Moscow and developed studies in anthropogeography and anthropology.

Overall, thanks to such scholars and the IRGS, geography was a well-established subject by the time of the Bolshevik Revolution.

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Silence of kings: what the Scythian mounds tell us Russian Geographical Society (RGS/

, rgo.ru)

Tyva is a distant Siberian region on the border with Mongolia.

From Kyzyl, the capital of this republic, to Moscow is almost 5,000km. This is the place where one of the centres for the study of Scythian culture is situated.

Scythians is a common name for a group of Iranian-speaking nomadic peoples. They existed from about the eighth century BC to the fourth century AD. It is considered that the Scythian culture in Siberia originated in the first millennium BC in the territory of modern Altai and Tyva. Based on the names of Scythian gods and kings, scientists concluded that the Scythians spoke a language of Iranian origin. The first who gave the most complete description of the Scythians was Herodotus, in his History (c440 BC).

Despite the large area of habitation, the Scythians did not leave behind cities or written evidence. Everything that is known on this mysterious people today is because of archaeological excavations, and a significant part of the artefacts were found in the territory of modern Russia. All significant archaeological expeditions of the last decade have taken place with the support of the RGS/ .

In 1830, the Scythian tsars mound KulOba was accidentally discovered near Kerch in Crimea. It is dated from the fourth century BC, and was the first burial of the Scythian nobility to be studied.

Thanks to these excavations, the world first saw what the Scythians, previously known only from books, looked like.

One of the most famous Scythian burials was discovered in Altai; these are the Pazyryk mounds. Vasily Radlov, Russian ethnographer and archaeologist, began the excavations here back in the 1860s, and the credit for discovery of Pazyryk culture, who were Scythians of Altai, belongs to him. The tomb of the Pazyryk nobility was found here in 1929; and in 1949, the world’s oldest pile carpet was discovered, woven between the sixth and second centuries BC. On display in the Hermitage Museum, it clearly shows images of horses, people, fallow deer and griffins. Mummified bodies were also found in the Pazyryk mounds, preserved by the permafrost.

The largest power plant in Russia, the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric station, is located on the Yenisei River, on the border of the Republic of Khakassia and the Krasnoyarsk Territory. Construction began in 1963, and large-scale archaeological works were undertaken in parallel, since 1965, and continue to this day. Excavations can be carried out only from May to July, during the seasonal drop in reservoir water levels. A huge number of archaeological monuments are stored under the artificial lake: from the oldest sites of primitive man to medieval settlements.

The current president of the RGS/ , Sergey Shoigu, took part in these excavations in his school days, and RGS/ has consequently supported a permanent expedition here of the Institute of the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Science (IHMC RAS) since 2016.

There are a huge number of artefacts. The ever-expanding collection of petroglyphs – cave drawings of pre-Scythian times – has high value. Around 200 pieces are already found. “Interesting genre scenes were depicted on the rocks: two men sacrifice a bull, a procession of animals, a battle between two archers for a wild boar. There are family

sketches: a man, a woman, a child,” says Marina Kilunovskaya, the expedition leader, senior researcher of the Institute, who has been involved in these excavations since the 1980s.

“Everything that is known on this mysterious people today is because of archaeological excavations.”

Another place with numerous Scythian mounds of the ninth to eighth centuries BC is situated in the ‘Valley of the Kings’ in the north of Tyva. In the 1970s, inside the mound Arzhan-1, archaeologists discovered burials of people and around 160 horses.

Railway construction was planned in 2011 not far from the Valley of the Kings. A large-scale project with more than $1 billion budget could destroy over 70 archaeological sites.

To save these valuable scientific artefacts, at the initiative of the RGS/ and the IHMC RAS, large-scale excavations were organized from 2011 to 2015, while the construction of the highway was put on hold. During the five years, over 500 leading Russian and foreign archaeological scientists and more than 2,500 volunteers from 50 countries took part in this expedition.

Excavations of the biggest mound of the Valley of the Kings – Tunnug – began in 2018 with the support of the RGS/ .

This mound was discovered in 1971, but due to its inaccessibility it avoided even partial plundering. Studies of the undisturbed burial complex of the highest social layer of the oldest steppe nomads immediately gave sensational results.

Until now, Arzhan-1 was considered the oldest mound, but radiocarbon analysis of the Tunnug suggested it might be the oldest Scythian burial known to science. We may find sources of the Scythian culture here, according to Timur Sadykov, scientific director of the expedition.

Tunnug’s research confirmed once again that the mounds of the Tyvan Valley of the Kings are much older than the Black Sea Scythian mounds. This gave reason for scientists to suppose that the Scythian era began here and spread to the Black Sea region later.

The diameter of the Tunnug mound is 140m, which exceeds the size of other burials. Archaeologists are moving from the periphery to the centre of the mound. They have already discovered that the burials on the periphery are not specific to a single era, as was expected, but relate not only to the Scythian period but also to later times, up to the Middle Ages.

According to scientists, the most valuable artefacts await them, closer to the centre of the mound. But they will not get there until next year; the 2020 field season was cancelled due to the COVID epidemic.

Images: Tunnug 2019. © Alexei Mikhailov | RGS

24 Winter 2020

Discovering underwater secrets Centre for Underwater Research, Russian Geographical Society

The Centre for Underwater Research of the Russian Geographical Society unites historians, archaeologists, divers, oceanographers and many other specialists passionate about the common goal of lifting the veil of mystery which surrounds the events of maritime history.

The Centre’s activities are aimed at preserving and popularizing the cultural and military-historical heritage of Russia. During expeditions, artefacts which have lain at a sea depth for a hundred years are searched, examined, lifted, preserved, restored and subsequently transferred to the country’s museum collections. Specialists of the Centre constantly conduct testing and implementation of innovative methods.

The Centre was created in 2014 and is located in St Petersburg. It pays great attention to the exploration of the Gulf of Finland. Many years ago, this part of the Baltic was a busy transport artery, and the main trade routes passed by the Hogland and Moschniy (‘Powerful’) Islands. Wars were constantly fought for control of this territory and for access to the Baltic Sea. The Islands became a key point of control over the Baltic in the Great Patriotic War. The Gulf of Finland still holds the memory of these events; researchers can tell a lot about sunken ships, vessels and traces of naval battles.

Due to its composition, the water of the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland has natural conservation properties. Low temperature, low degree of sunlight transmission, low salt saturation, all serve to increase the preservation of materials.

Among the unique finds of the Centre here are objects made of wood, fabric, leather and paper – up to several hundred years old. Previously considered to be lost, several objects were found, as well as the exact location of the Gangut battle on 7th August 1714, the first major victory of the Russian fleet in the Northern War with Sweden.

Expedition to the Outer Islands of the Gulf of Finland: T-12 is a delayed environmental disaster In 2020, an expedition worked on Hogland Island for the fourth time. It was the deepest expedition of the Centre – excavations are carried out at a depth of up to 60m. This year, experts investigated the T-12 tanker, which went down in the autumn of 1941. This is a 100m ship built in Lübeck (Germany) in 1938.

The death of the tanker is associated with one of the most tragic pages in the history of World War II. The tanker T-12 participated in the Tallinn transition – the relocation of the fleet from Tallinn to Kronstadt. The ship transported fighters of the 10th Rifle Corps and engineers of the Tallinn Naval Base, 300 people in total. On 29th August 1941, the ship was hit by German aircraft and sank.

The Centre’s specialists conduct not only historical surveys.

The tanker was transporting oil, which is now leaking from the broken hull and rising to the surface from a depth of 64m. And, since the bow of the ship rises above the destroyed stern, it may break in the near future and cause an environmental disaster. This year the Centre’s specialists conducted a complete photo and video recording of the object for further work to localize the leakage of oil.

Contraband by Archangel Raphael In 2014 the Centre began an archaeological study of the Lübeck merchant ship of the late 17th century, the Archangel Raphael, which sank in the Björkezund Strait of the Gulf of Finland. Immediately was discovered a ‘terrible’ secret: the ship was transporting bales with horns, skins and barrels of lard from Russia to Germany – illegally.

Among the finds are well-preserved artefacts telling important details of the life of ‘old sea dogs’ of the early 18th century: woollen stockings with interesting ornaments, two-finger mittens, identical boots for the right and left legs, a hat with a silk bow and trimmed edges. In these things we see not only fashion, but also how life was 300 years ago. In total, more than 250 artefacts were raised to the surface: clothing and personal belongings of the crew, dishes, a working and measuring instrument, part of the illegal cargo, food supplies.

One of the amazing finds is the Psalter of the Prophet and King David in German, dated 1692. All 500 pages of the book were well-kept, and a leather cover with wooden inserts was preserved – an incredible case in underwater archaeology.

Mainly the cover required restoration; it was possible to recreate the second fastener, which was lost before the book appeared on the seabed.

All raised and restored artefacts were presented at the exhibition Contraband. Three centuries under water. Since 2017, the exhibition has been traveling through venues in Russia and abroad.

‘Kitchenware ship’: English ketch of the 17th century The English two-masted ketch of the mid-1860s to late1870s was discovered by hydro-acoustic means in 2017 at a depth of 60m. A vessel about 19m long, it rises 2.0-2.4m above the seabed. It is very well preserved and represents a rare complex site of archaeological heritage. Specialists of the Centre made almost a hundred descents to the object, captured amazing images, and cleared about 10m2 of the deck; in a century and a half the sediments had reached 30cm thick!

The ship received the nickname ‘Kitchenware ship’ because of its general cargo: huge boxes with a variety of utensils, packed in hay – multi-coloured glass vessels for spices in a wooden stand, figured sauce-boats, saucers, a butter dish, vases for flowers, tea services, a container for eggs in a chicken-form. Two light-green bubbles with preserved inscriptions from the German ‘Royal Mixture’ – miracle medicines for all diseases – were found among the team’s

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personal belongings; and a navigational box with a set of tools that were used to find a way across the sea a century and a half ago. All these artefacts are currently in the conservation workshop of the Centre.

The ship Armenia: one of the largest tragedies in maritime history In March 2020, off the coast of Crimea, using sonar, the hull of a sunken ship was discovered, which matched the characteristics of the ship Armenia, one of the hospital ships that evacuated civilians from Crimea on 6th November 1941.

It had on board from 5,000 to 10,000 people; no one kept accurate estimates in the hurry of evacuation. Within a few hours of sailing, the ship was attacked by enemy aircraft and sank almost instantly; in four minutes, only a few could escape.

For a detailed survey of the object, located 15 nautical miles from the coast at a depth of 1,500m, a Russian-made uninhabited underwater vehicle was used. “Superstructures and decks have clear and terrifying traces of destruction; timber railings and other vertical elements are turned outwards. Most likely, these are the consequences of explosions from aircraft bombs,” said Sergey Fokin, executive director of the Centre.

Scientists managed to find the surviving stand of the ship’s bell, and next to it the bell itself. The inscription Armenia is clearly visible on it. This finding put an end to years of searching. Signs were found on the ship, confirming that sinking was really swift: some of the portholes were not broken, but wholly pressed inwards. This means that, by the time the ship fell to a great depth, air pockets still remained inside the vessel.

A memorial service was held above the wreck, with a wreath lowered and three volleys of mourning salute made. At the initiative of the Centre, a web portal was created to accumulate all information related to the fate of the ship: the Centre’s specialists, historians, shipbuilders and relatives of the victims now collect the information to obtain a picture of the tragedy. The goal of the portal is to end speculation and misinformation, and bring to the relatives, professional audience and the public the true story of the death of the ship Armenia.

“The Gulf of Finland still holds the memory of these events; researchers can tell a lot about sunken ships, vessels and traces of naval battles.”

26 Winter 2020

Guatemala’s locally managed forests under threat from tourism project Jocelyn Timperley, climate and science journalist The forest concessions model in Guatemala’s Maya Biosphere Reserve has become renowned as a success story of sustainably managed forests by local communities. But a proposed US-funded tourism project threatens to harm this success story, say local community leaders and experts who have studied the area.

From the mid-1990s onwards, nine areas in the reserve were designated on 25-year contracts to local community associations.

The groups are permitted to carry out some economic activities, including logging, under the condition that the forested areas are managed sustainably. The model has seen far lower deforestation rates than the surrounding forest, bringing benefits for local people as well as nature in this biodiversity-rich area of the world.

With all concessions coming up for renewal between 2019 and 2024, there had been concern that this renewal could not be approved, forcing the communities out of the forest.

However, Carmelita, the first of the concessions up for renewal, was granted a new contract back in December 2019, which the groups celebrated as a sign other renewals would likely follow.

Days later, however, what may end up being a bigger threat arrived. A Senate bill was proposed to the US Congress which aims to grant money to turn a part of the biosphere into a new protected ‘wilderness preserve’ which would cut into six of the concessions. “[The proposal] is actually at a deeper legal level than the process by which renewal takes place,” says Andrew Davis, director of forests and territorial governance at the Prisma Foundation. “So that could even dispossess the concessions that have been renewed.”

The bill would make $60m available for tourism and security in the El Mirador archaeological Maya site. It was introduced

by Jim Inhofe – the Republican senator who famously brought a snowball out on the US Senate floor as evidence against the existence of global warming – and has been sold as an antiimmigration and security initiative. But it is the brainchild of US archaeologist Richard Hansen, who has worked for decades in the area and argues the bill would better protect the forest from illegal cattle ranches and deforestation. The bill would open up the area to investment from private tourism developers, including hotels and restaurants.

If the scheme goes ahead, it would thwart the sustainable management system already in place, says Erick Cuellar, a representative of Guatemala’s Mayan Association of Forestry Communities of Peten (ACOFOP) communities, which groups 24 concession communities.

“In the case of Carmelita, it would place 80% of its territory under this new category, which is far more restrictive and would not allow the sustainable management of natural resources.”

Jennifer Devine, an assistant professor at Texas State University who has spent years studying the Guatemalan forest concession system, says the Senate bill

would effectively privatise what is currently the communitymanaged tourism run by the people living in the Maya Biosphere Reserve. “The concession system guarantees that the communities will be protagonists and beneficiaries of future tourism development rather than just low-skilled employees on privatised tourism concessions,” she says. Currently hikes to Mirador that leave from Carmelita, bar those that go by helicopter, are required to hire at least one community guide or hire the community tourism organization as a tour provider, she adds, but under the Senate Bill 3131 proposal these services would be privatised.

While vast amounts of land in the Maya Biosphere Reserve have been deforested, particularly by illegal cattle ranches, the areas managed by local communities have instead thrived. Deforestation is under 1%, while thousands of well-paid jobs have been created. “These concessions have conserved the forest, but it has also provided social benefits through investments in education and local healthcare centres,” says Cuellar. “We have also provided fresh fiscal income to the state.”

Concessions profit from sustainable logging and produce furniture from the wood that they harvest. They also sell non-timber products such as xate palm leaves and chicle, a latex-like sap used in natural chewing gum. Perhaps most importantly, the economic benefits of forestry are distributed widely. The model generates an average of $5.5 million a year, says Devine. That profit benefits more than 14,000 people directly and more than 70,000 people indirectly, while generating over 8,500 jobs a year.

Cuellar says technical capacities have also been created in the communities. Youths now monitor the forests with the help of drones and laptops, while elders keep precise track of their lands with compasses and measuring tapes, a change he attributes to the concession scheme.

Guatemala’s concessions model has provided a lauded example of how forests can be managed to benefit both people and the environment, even from a situation previously ridden by conflict and violence. Cuellar says his organisation is now working to defend this model from a new system which locals never asked for. “It’s incredible to hear, but the US Senate is discussing a bill that would give resources to this part of Guatemala, and no one has consulted the people living here whether we want it or not.”

“While vast amounts of land in the Maya Biosphere Reserve have been deforested, the areas managed by local communities have instead thrived.”

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Back to the roots: the indigenous peoples of Russia Russian Geographical Society (RGS/

, rgo.ru)

There are about 5,000 small communities of indigenous peoples in the world today. They amount to 370 million people. This is less than 5% of the world’s population. Small indigenous communities live in 90 countries, including in Russia. This article describes what kind of people they are, how they live and why it is important to maintain their identity.

Russia is a multinational country. More than 180 different peoples live on its vast territory. Each of them has their own unique cultural code and customs. But there is a separate group of people whose self-identity and traditions are threatened. These are small communities of indigenous peoples.

According to Russian legislation, indigenous peoples are a special group of inhabitants who live on the territories of traditional settlement of their ancestors and preserve traditional lifestyles and crafts. Peoples with a number of less than 50,000 inhabitants are considered small in Russia. It is increasingly difficult for them to maintain their identity in today’s world, especially in the context of globalization.

As per the latest census, there are 47 small communities of indigenous peoples in Russia, which include 313,000 inhabitants – and that is only about 0.2% of the total population of the country. The majority group among them are Nenets, counting around 45,000 representatives. The smallest ethnic groups are the Urum Greeks and the Yugs, according to the 2010 census.

Urum Greeks or Urums are Turkic-speaking Greeks. They came to the territory of the Crimean Khanate around the eighth century BC. And after the Russian-Turkish war in 1778, the Urums were relocated to the Azov province. About 55 Urums lived in Russia 20 years ago. According to the latest census there is now only one.

The endangered small communities of the Yuga or Yugen live in the Turukhansky district of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. Their language, Yug, belongs to the Yenisei language family and is considered dead. Over the past 20 years, the number of Yugs has decreased from 19, also down to one.

Another disappearing ethnic group is the Kereks, also known as Ankalgakku (‘seaside people’) or Arakykku. This northern people was first mentioned in the notes of Semyon Dezhnev during his expedition on Anadyr in 1655. Their habitat is the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. One of the main features of this people is low growth, which, as a rule, did not exceed one and a half metres. Kereks traditionally hunted deer and whales. It is believed that they came up with a way to harness dogs ‘in line’ one-by-one, having one or two in a row, as it is customary today. Previously, other nationalities harnessed dogs in a semicircle, which was less convenient. At the end of the 19th century, 600 Kereks lived in Russia. In 2002 there were eight people, and according to the 2010 census only four.

The causes of extinction of small indigenous communities are generally similar throughout the world. Most often,

Sunchaser. © Sergei Anisimov

they are associated with difficult living conditions.

Many indigenous peoples live in places with a harsh climate, which greatly reduces life expectancy. For example, most of the small indigenous communities of Russia live in the Arctic territories of the North of Siberia and the Far East. Many small indigenous communities also live away from large cities and settlements. This means that they simply do not have access to common medical services. All these factors, of course, affect their lives and do not facilitate maintaining their lifestyle and traditions.

“Most of the small indigenous communities of Russia live in the Arctic territories of the North of Siberia and the Far East.”

Nenets camp. © Peter Ushanov

Small communities of indigenous peoples are under special state protection in Russia. For the first time indigenous peoples and their protection were discussed in the Russian Empire at the beginning of the 19th century. Particularly, in 1822, the legislative act The Charter on the Management of Non-Slavs was issued, which determined the legal attitude of indigenous peoples. This document, for example, allowed aboriginal people to sell their products without duties. Also, the Charter protected the indigenous population from force majeure like natural disasters and epidemics.

In modern Russia, they are supported by various benefits, including tax remissions. They can retire on a pension five years earlier than others. And the state allows small indigenous communities to hunt or fish in specially protected natural areas. After all, hunting and fishing are the only source of livelihood for the majority of them.

Another important problem faced by indigenous peoples is the disappearance of language. Globalization is rapidly erasing from the face of the Earth the traditions that have existed for centuries. According to UNESCO, about 40% of the languages of the peoples of the world are threatened with destruction.

There are about 150 different languages in Russia. However, according to UNESCO, 136 languages are in danger. About 18 languages of small indigenous communities may be silent in the foreseeable future. UNESCO includes in them such languages as the Ter Saami, which is spoken by about ten people in the north of the Kola Peninsula, and Aleutian, which is used on the Commander Islands. The Votic language which is spoken by about 15 people, Orok language which is used by no more than 60 people, and Itelmen language whose native speakers are no more than 100 people, are also in danger.

Should language die, the people will disappear. And in order to prevent the silence of the voices of small indigenous communities, it is important to protect them.

28 Winter 2020

Predatory and defenceless Russian Geographical Society (RGS/

, rgo.ru)

Rare animal species protection is one of the priority areas of current activity for the Russian Geographical ). Since 2010, the organization Society (RGS/ provides grants for rare animal studies and reintroduction centres, and contributes to expansion of the system of national parks and reserves. Polar bear, manul, Amur leopard, walrus, irbis, lynx, beluga whale, Przhevalski’s horse – all are among the animals which protects. Recruitment to the Amur tiger the RGS/ population has become one of the largest and most . successful projects which involved RGS/ This cat has several names at once. Ussuri, Manchurian, Korean, Altai, Siberian and North Chinese tiger. But the accepted name is still the Amur tiger.

This animal is one of the largest land predators on our planet, as well as the northernmost and largest subspecies of the tiger. But at the same time, it is on the verge of extinction.

Relatively recently, the Amur tiger inhabited many parts of Russia. At the end of the 19th century, its population was 1,000 individuals. However, already at the beginning of the 20th century, this species was almost completely exterminated by humans. Thirty to 40 individuals remained on the territory of modern Russia in the middle of the 20th century. As well as uncontrolled hunting, another factor caused the decline of population: due to mass deforestation, the predator lost its natural habitat areas.

Tiger hunting was banned in USSR in 1947, and later the Amur tiger was included into the Red Book.

Such measures to preserve the tiger have produced results. The population has grown tenfold – up to 400 individuals – in 40 years. But population growth stopped in the 1990s: the Soviet Union collapsed, followed by a deep economic crisis. The last thing people thought about was endangered species. Cases of poaching have become more frequent in the Far East, due to the high demand for derivates of the Amur tiger in traditional Chinese medicine.

Measures to study and protect this rare species Star gate, Spokoynaya (Tranquil) Bay, Primorsky Territory. © Anton Komlev needed to be strengthened, and in 2010 the Russian Geographical Society joined the efforts of environmental individuals, and 95% of them live on Russian territory. organizations to save the animal. Using funds from an RGS/ “The fact that the tiger population has increased is to the grant, a rehabilitation centre for Amur tigers was opened merit of many organizations, and our Centre acts as the main in the village of Alekseevka, in Primorsky Territory. The driving and organizational force for the study and protection Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of of this species,” says Sergey Aramilev, general director of Sciences currently receives significant funds from the RGS/ the Amur Tiger Centre. “This was achieved thanks to the for the study of the tiger population. creation of an effective protection system of the tiger itself A landmark event took place in 2013: the Amur Tiger Centre was created under the auspices of the RGS/ . The Centre engages in the preservation and increase of the population, and the fight against poaching and the illegal tiger trade.

At the same time, the Foundation of Prince Albert II of Monaco – a member of the Board of Trustees of RGS – became a partner of WWF in Amur tiger preservation projects in Russia and China.

The efforts of RGS/ and its partners has produced results. Today the population of the Amur tiger exceeds 600

and its food base. In the territories of hunting areas and specially protected natural areas, which is about 90% of the tiger’s range, protection is provided by hunting inspectors.

In cases where a tragedy cannot be prevented, and a tiger dies and is taken out of the forest, then the police, border or custom services come into play, and we provide them with comprehensive support. More importantly, with our participation there was a tightening of the Russian criminal code in relation to crimes against especially valuable species, to which the tiger belongs. Our joint task is to make punishment for crimes against nature inevitable.”

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Growth of the population is a big victory, of course, but with the increase in the number of tigers, conflicts with humans arise, and there are fewer places where a predator can live.

The tiger needs a large area; up to 500km2 for females and up to 1,000km2 for males. Illegal deforestation and fires reduce the area of suitable habitat. No forest – no ungulates – no food base for tigers. An adult animal needs 10-35kg of meat per meal. In a year it eats 50 deer and other ungulates. If a predator does not receive the necessary food in the wild, it can attack livestock. And farmers can take a gun to protect themselves and their livestock.

The Amur Tiger Centre performs the difficult task of trying to ensure the peaceful coexistence of animals and people and, at the same time, to work on increasing the population of a rare and vulnerable species.

“Tiger hunting is prohibited everywhere. In hunting areas, there are strict rules on what animals can be hunted, but the tiger has to compete with hunters. If there are many ungulates, then there is no competition, since there is enough for tigers and people. Therefore, we support hunting farms that breed ungulates. A real hunter knows that the tiger does not harm nature, but inversely it creates a high number of ungulates because their reproduction increases in response to the presence of a predator,” explains Sergey Aramilev.

Another important mission is cooperation with other countries in order to preserve rare species. In particular, with neighbouring China. Sometimes Amur tigers enter the border territory, so it is important to provide them with protection there.

“Today the population of the Amur tiger exceeds 600 individuals, and 95% of them live on Russian territory.”

“Often tigers come to settlements because of curiosity, and retire as soon as specialists begin to scare them away. We catch sick, wounded or orphaned tigers and place them in a rehabilitation centre, for diagnosis and, if necessary, for treatment. Then they return to the wild,” says Sergey Aramilev. “Building conflict-free relations between man and tiger is a process of more than one decade. Harmony can be achieved, but it is much more difficult to maintain it.

For these purposes, conflict resolution teams were created and the tiger habitation area is covered by a system of compensation measures. The main goal is to reassure people that the state will be able to protect them quickly and compensate for losses. It is also important that the population living in the tiger range understand that the neighbourhood with a formidable predator is not only a huge responsibility, but also a great advantage, for example through environmental tourism. And thanks to the tiger, there is no wolf – which is more dangerous to livestock.”

In addition to local residents, the Amur Tiger Centre still faces the task of establishing relations with hunters. More than 180,000 hunters are registered in the tiger range; when they shoot ungulates, they take food from the Amur tiger. Security services work on the one hand to control the order and rules of legal hunting, and on the other to fight poachers, at the risk of their life.

“International cooperation is carried out in several directions at once. There is the protection of ‘animal travellers’; to this end, specially protected international transboundary natural areas are being created.

There is an exchange of information and ideas between the countries of the tiger range, and the Global Tiger Forum provides an international exchange of experience on tiger conservation,” says Sergey Aramilev. “There is also the coordination of scientific programmes. For example, thanks to the joint work of Russian and Chinese scientists, it was possible to manage a situation with the tigress Lazovka and her little cub. In early spring, the animals crossed the Amur river by ice into Chinese territory, and on the way back the ice melted and the family could not get to the other side.”

This story has a happy ending. The situation was carefully monitored by Russian and Chinese specialists. The tigress and the baby spent a week looking for a safe place to cross.

In the end, the animals crossed the river and returned home.

Lazovka is one of the first tigers to be released into the wild from the rehabilitation centre, after being rescued as an orphan. In 2018, after care and treatment, she was released in the Jewish Autonomous Region. And the next year, she became a mother for the first time. Such stories are the best for its many years of work to protect reward for RGS/ rare species.

Lazovka and her cub.

30 Winter 2020

Land use in Scotland: changes, challenges and solutions Roger Crofts FRSGS

You might be despondent having read the international outlook on the environment, and in particular the failure to meet many of the key targets reviewed in The Geographer issue on nature’s solutions (spring 2020). Of course, targets are vitally important, but they are not the be-all and endall. Action on the ground is equally important. I report now on a one-day conference at the end of October organised by the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management on Land Use in Scotland: Changes, Challenges and Solutions.

Cairngorms National Park, to facilitate the process by bringing the parties together, to ensure exchange of information and ideas, to agree a strategy and to deliver the necessary action. These approaches have been talked about for long enough, but as the speakers made clear they are now allowing transformational change on the ground to help address the twin crises. Regional Land Use Partnerships are clearly a way forward and the work being led by the Scottish Land Commission should help to realise them in practice around the country.

In 13 presentations we heard of many innovative and groundbreaking action projects around Scotland and of new ways of addressing the duality of the climate emergency and the biodiversity crisis, and at the same time providing economic and community benefits.

All of this activity raises questions about how we protect nature and whether the tried and tested methods of nature sites are the way forward with climate change and the concomitant effects on biodiversity in mind. And whether the concept of preservation was appropriate, rather than conservation within a changing natural and socio-economic climate. Emerging thinking suggests that we still need the protected sites and areas, but they need to be linked through networks and corridors into whole landscape approaches.

This is fully in tune with international thinking and action and shows that Scotland is playing a leading role. It also means that when we have better control on herbivore grazing, especially sheep and red deer, vegetation does expand to its natural limits, especially on our mountains. Albeit, it will sometimes need a helping hand using native seed sources.

Environmental benefit is now being built into many projects from the outset, such as the dualling of the A9 from Perth to Inverness led by Transport Scotland for the Scottish Government. Previous infrastructure projects such as wind farms are being radically improved with land restoration of soil and habitats resulting in biodiversity gain. This is occurring, for example, at the very large wind farm at Whitelee south of Glasgow by Scottish Power Renewables. Rivers which were canalised in the past and the floodplains drained for agriculture are being re-naturalised, by reinstating meanders and linking the river back to its floodplain and development of riparian woodland, as in the Eddleston in the Tweed catchment under the guiding hand of the Tweed Foundation. Small isolated patches of native woodland are being extended and connected through far-sighted strategic planning for the future at a number of locations. This is planned for the whole of the Cairngorms National Park and with a particular project, Cairngorms Connect, a multi-party project in Speyside, being the largest woodland restoration project in the UK. The same is happening in parts of the Tweed catchment led by Borders Council, for example on the Ettrick and Ale. Communities are also taking the lead in planning for land acquisition, as in the Langholm area.

“We heard of many innovative and groundbreaking action projects around Scotland.”

These and other projects exemplified during the day mean that new partnerships between land owners and managers, government bodies, the business sector and local communities have developed. These are combinations which in the past did not work together, but now are active in achieving change to land use with landscape and biodiversity gains and mitigation of climate change. They would not have happened without the use of trusted intermediaries, such as the Tweed Forum, the Southern Uplands Partnership, the Galloway and Southern Ayrshire Biosphere and the

A recurrent theme was the importance of gathering the appropriate data through establishing monitoring schemes and applying modern analytical tools and, most crucially, making sure that the information and its objective interpretation was used in the planning and management of the projects.

Summing up the conference, I flagged five take-home messages. First is a transformative approach with the future in mind with radically different funding of land management after Brexit, a dynamic approach to conserving nature, and building environmental values into all programmes and projects. Second, addressing the dual crises by restoring nature’s functions, and using environmentally-led design.

Third, having clear outcomes and targets by moving action up the spatial scape to whole landscapes and using the concepts of nature-based solutions and biodiversity net gain. Fourth, by changing mindsets through embedding new thinking, for example not afforestation but woodlands creation. And finally, engagement and empowerment of all communities of interest and allowing local approaches to operate.

In a warm-up talk to the conference (available online at www. youtube.com/watch?v=MJe0ZIXfL1A), I focused on upland land use, noted progress on legislation, policy and action on the ground and set out a five-point action plan.

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An interview with Donnie Campbell Jo Woolf FRSGS, RSGS Writer-in-Residence

In September, ultra-runner Donnie Campbell set a new world record for the fastest ever round of Scotland’s Munros: he completed all 282 in 31 days, 23 hours and two minutes.

He was entirely self-propelled, cycling and kayaking between sections and stopping only to eat and sleep. We spoke to him about his incredible achievement, and the inspiration behind his idea.

Could you tell us about your background, and how you got into running?

I grew up on Skye, and my first competitive sport was shinty. When I left school I spent three and a half years in the Marines, and served in Iraq in 2003. Then I went to university to study sports coaching and development. In 2009, a friend suggested entering a race on Islay and Jura – it was 150 miles over five days. I finished fourth, and really enjoyed it. That’s when my running career started, and I went on to represent the UK at the Trail Running World Championships in Portugal in 2016. I also enjoy different types of running adventures. I ran across the Namib Desert in 2015, and I’ve run up Mount Kenya and Mount Kilimanjaro – those were speed ascents, where you’re running up as fast as possible.

it by using my left side more and carrying trekking poles, but inevitably my left ankle flared up as a result. On Day 17 my left side was so bad that I was back to square one!

Which mountains were the most challenging?

That’s a hard question. The east and west pose different problems! The most technically challenging were the Cuillins, but I had perfect weather conditions so it was fairly straightforward.

Knoydart was one of the hardest sections. It’s really remote, so I had to carry all my stuff, and the weather was wet and windy. Mentally, the toughest time was around Day 17 when my left ankle went. I knew the middle section would be the hardest, but it seemed like I was making no progress whatsoever. All I could see ahead was 14 or 15 days of suffering.

It felt like Groundhog Day!

“I’d always wanted to climb all the Munros but never had the motivation to do the less inspiring ones!”

What inspired your Munro challenge?

I’d always wanted to climb all the Munros but never had the motivation to do the less inspiring ones! I come from the west coast, so I like mountains to be rugged and sharp! I needed to find the motivation, and last year I had the idea of trying for the fastest round. I wanted to be self-propelled, all around Scotland.

How did you plan the route?

I studied OS maps and looked at the route the previous record holder, Stephen Pyke, had taken. I started on Mull with Ben More, then kayaked across the Sound of Mull to Loch Aline.

From the Glenfinnan Munros I moved over to Glen Nevis and made my way east to the Cairngorms, before coming to Glen Shee, Blair Atholl, and the central belt. Then I started heading up the west coast and finished on Ben Hope, the most northerly Munro.

What about your backup team?

My wife Rachael was my main support. She drove the campervan where I slept, and she would drop bikes off for me or pick them up, so I could follow a more linear route and didn’t have to return to where I’d started. There was a lot of coordination involved, and other people provided support too.

I had company on 64 of the Munros. Some people cycled with me, and I had company every time I kayaked.

You had to climb Moruisg twice.

That was annoying! It was just lack of concentration. There’s a big cairn which you see as you come up onto the plateau, and you expect it to be the summit cairn, but the summit is actually 20 metres to the west. There was low cloud on my first ascent, and it was only when I got back down that I realised that I’d missed the summit.

Thankfully it’s not a big Munro and it was close to the road, so it only cost me an extra two hours to do it again!

Do you have a favourite region in Scotland where you go for climbing or running?

If the weather’s good, Skye, because of the technical challenges, but I like Lochaber and Torridon as well. The northwest of Scotland is great for running in the Munros.

What would you say to someone thinking of taking up mountain walking or running for the first time?

If they’re really new, my best advice would be to join a hill walking or mountaineering club, or Ramblers Scotland (if they’re Scotland-based). You’ll make new friends, so it has a good social aspect, and you’ll gain experience, because it can be a bit daunting going into the hills by yourself.

You were in pain some of the time, with your ankles.

On Day 7 the tibia tendon in my right ankle was inflamed – I had tendinopathy. I managed to get on top of that by icing it whenever possible, by using compression and elevation, and with anti-inflammatories. When I ran, I tried to manage Our thanks to Donnie for sharing his experiences with us. We wish him all the best with his new challenges. Donnie offers personal training and performance coaching specifically for runners: see www.getactiverunning.com.

32 Winter 2020

Net zero: is hydrogen over-hyped?

Tom Baxter, Visiting Professor of Chemical and Process Engineering, University of Strathclyde, and Honorary Senior Lecturer, Chemical Engineering, University of Aberdeen The EU recently produced a highly significant report addressing its strategy for delivering net zero carbon emissions by 2050 – Powering a climate-neutral economy: An EU Strategy for Energy System Integration. The strategy tackles greenhouse gas emissions by reducing the amount of energy consumed by buildings and industry, while converting many appliances that rely on fossil fuels to electrical alternatives – batteries and heat pumps. Hydrogen has a place in the EU strategy when energy efficiency and electrification are not feasible or cost effective.

A large number of organisations are touting the ‘hydrogen economy’ as key to net zero. This is typified by a recent Telegraph article: “The hydrogen revolution is a marvellous chance for Britain, if it does not throw away the prize.” Much of my 45year career in industry and academia has been spent studying energy efficiency and power production and supply. I believe that hydrogen has a limited role in decarbonisation, and that businesses with a vested interest in promoting hydrogen are doing so at the expense of British consumers.

Hydrogen has, on the face of it, much appeal. It provides carbonfree power and heat with a by-product of water. Hydrogen can also be delivered via the existing natural gas infrastructure and stored for use when renewable wind and solar is limited, thus acting as a buffer for daily and seasonal weather-power demand variations.

It is, though, important to recognise that hydrogen, unlike natural gas, does not exist in nature – it has to be manufactured, and that requires energy. Today hydrogen is made from fossil fuel reforming. The reforming process requires a significant amount of heat and power to convert the fossil fuel into hydrogen and CO2. To abate CO2 production, a carbon capture and storage system (CCS) is required.

A much-touted alternative to reforming is electrolysis; here, water is cleaved into its constituent parts, hydrogen and oxygen.

The cleaving process needs electrical power, and if the electrical energy comes from renewables then electrolysis delivers green, carbon-free hydrogen. However, electrolysis costs much more than reforming, so fossil-derived hydrogen with CCS will be the main route for hydrogen until electrolysis becomes cost competitive. That could be a decade or more according to the EU, and perhaps longer if natural gas prices remain low.

A key role proposed by the proponents of hydrogen is as a replacement of natural gas for domestic and industrial use.

The UK Government’s DUKES (Digest of UK Energy Statistics) database shows the UK’s natural gas users; these would be the candidates for a natural gas to hydrogen changeout.

It is clear that the largest gas user is the domestic household.

Not only that, a large portion of the natural gas used for electrical power generation is used by household electrical demand. Hence, households are the UK’s largest consumer of heat and power.

Therefore, if we approach the domestic household from an energy efficiency standpoint, making households carbon neutral would be a huge contribution to net zero.

There are no technical barriers to the carbon neutral household.

It requires a combination of insulation, heat pumps, solar panels, batteries, thermal storage, and controlled ventilation. The net zero house needs no hydrogen and requires little or no upgrades to gas or electricity grids because so little electricity needs to be supplied. In cold snaps the heat pump may need to be assisted from some electrical import. Conversely, there will be times when the net zero house can deliver energy back into the grid.

Of course, the net zero house costs money, but so does the

energy for hydrogen synthesis, the hydrogen synthesis plant, and hydrogen storage and distribution systems. The net zero house will outlive its owner, providing benefits for generations – a huge social and environmental positive.

“Hydrogen, unlike natural gas, does not exist in nature – it has to be manufactured, and that requires energy.”

The EU report repeatedly mentions the benefits of heat pumps. A heat pump requires around a quarter of the power compared to hydrogen or natural gas to heat a household, an office or a low temperature industrial process.

By deploying heat pumps there is a knock-on huge benefit: the power supply side is a quarter the size of that required for producing hydrogen. Conventional cost-benefit analysis for heat pumps rarely accounts for that. It is interesting that Centrica have recently come out in support of the heat pump on cost grounds.

The next largest UK gas consumer is electricity generation.

Reducing gas consumption and CO2 footprint here is clearly a role for energy efficiency and renewables: consume less power and generate electricity from carbon-free renewables – wind, solar, hydro, biofuels and geothermal. Why not use hydrogen to generate electricity using green hydrogen from electrolysis?

Like renewables that would be green electricity, but would using hydrogen in a power station make sense?

Firstly, it would be very energy inefficient as significant energy losses occur at each transition – electricity to hydrogen, and hydrogen back to electricity. So that runs counter to energy efficiency at the core of a net zero transition. Because of the additional transition step, it would also be more costly.

Furthermore, if hydrogen is synthesised from electrolysis it stands to reason that hydrogen per kilowatt hour will cost more than the electricity it was derived from. Move forward to a choice between hydrogen and electricity, where hydrogen costs more than electricity, and the heat pump, unlike today where electricity can cost four times as much as gas, becomes a very attractive option.

There are similar discrepancies with arguments for energy storage, industrial energy use, commercial and public buildings, energy use, and transport. Hydrogen can offer solutions for hard-to-abate parts of industry and the transport system. For the largest part of the power use side, electrification and energy efficiency look far more attractive.

My finding is out of step with the hydrogen economy being touted by many as key to net zero in the UK. Why might that be?

Perhaps the answer lies in the interests of big business. The UK All Parties Parliamentary Group (APPG) of MPs and business organisations recently produced How the UK’s hydrogen sector can help support the UK’s economic recovery. This report presents a very positive spin on hydrogen and its associated benefits.

However, since no other low-carbon alternatives are mentioned, the report lacks balance. It is also very biased towards use of hydrogen for domestic heating. Considering the report sponsors, it is not surprising that hydrogen is viewed very favourably. But is the vested interest of business best for UK consumers?

A fuller version of this article is available on the RSGS website.

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Electrify everything… and use clean, green hydrogen where it’s needed Barry Carruthers, Hydrogen Director, ScottishPower Climate change is the existential crisis facing us all – it’s easy to forget that when we start to debate technologies, costs and our lifestyle choices. But it’s important to remember that technologies are there to help us fight climate change, to improve health and well-being, and to offer solutions to a wide range of challenges. That is exactly why we do need to debate the use of more technology and innovation in our lives. And exactly why we need to embrace ‘electrification’ across our activities in our working lives, as well as across our personal choices.

The ‘electrification’ that I’m talking about makes use of technologies that allow us to stop burning fossil fuels and releasing CO2 (and other far more poisonous gases) into our air, and enable us to quickly move to a future with less air pollution, less respiratory illnesses, and, critically, a healthier planet. This means choosing to have our electricity generated by wind or solar; choosing to use an electric car, bike, etc; choosing to install electric heat pumps in the future instead of burning gas; and choosing to change our consumption habits to favour zero carbon alternatives. We all consume and we all have a degree of choice in what we eat, how we travel, what products we favour over others, and how we play a role in shaping our collective environment.

Low-cost electricity coming from onshore wind, offshore wind and solar PV projects is the zero carbon ‘green blood’, as it were, that runs through the veins of our lives. It allows us to use electricity in our cars, heating systems, laptops and light bulbs, whenever we need it, safe in the knowledge that no carbon dioxide was released in the process. But this flow of clean electricity creates even more potential solutions, beyond the electrons for our homes, businesses, schools and hospitals. We can combine this clean, green electricity with water, to create ‘green hydrogen’ – now it gets even more interesting.

which can be a large emitter of CO2 as a sector.

“Technologies are there to help us fight climate change.”

Of course, there are challenges in the production, distribution, storage and use of green hydrogen. It holds less energy by volume than natural gas (about a third per unit volume) and there are efficiency losses when we try to convert electricity and water into hydrogen through electrolysis (electrolysers have an efficiency of around 7080%). Hydrogen is also not simple to store in large quantities and on a large scale. We may need to use salt caverns in the future, for example. Distribution and transportation is far from straightforward as, although some applications can be through simple pipelines, we have to take account of high pressure vessels and low temperature requirements, amongst other things. It is entirely achievable, but not trivial.

Yet these problems are largely already solved technically, and so the challenge is knowing when to apply the right solution, reducing the costs of implementing these solutions, and making the choices easy for individuals, organisations, local authorities and government.

All this being said, we are in a climate emergency and therefore we need to use the zero carbon tools in our toolbox.

That is why low-cost renewable electricity is critical: for electrification, but also to address those needs where clean, green hydrogen is a better solution.

That then leaves us with the challenge of ensuring that we have an electricity infrastructure across the country that is capable of bringing vast quantities of clean electrons from windfarms and solar panels, to the heating systems, the vehicles, the homes and businesses, and the electrolysers for green hydrogen, so that we can all choose that zero carbon future that we desperately need.

Our decarbonisation challenges can, and will, be largely tackled through electrification, but it’s also true that there will be difficult-to-electrify areas of life, such as: • high temperature industrial processes; • steel industry; • agriculture and fertilisation (using ammonia for example); • refineries and petrochemicals; • food and drink processing, including distilleries; • heavy transport, including shipping, aviation, selected rail routes, selected bus routes, and refuse collection vehicles, for example.

These applications can benefit from the use of green hydrogen in helping to transition away from fossil fuels, and therefore decarbonise those organisations and sectors where electrification cannot address all of the challenges. A prime example is the project we are involved in on the south side of Glasgow, exploring the option of wind and solar energy providing electricity to an electrolyser and using the hydrogen produced to help refuel local authority vehicles, such as refuse collection vehicles. In Spain, our colleagues in Iberdrola are working to use solar PV and electrolysis to create green hydrogen for use in the production of fertilisers,

Barry Carruthers directs ScottishPower’s activities in hydrogen across the UK and Ireland, as part of a global Hydrogen division within the Iberdrola Group. This focuses on the production of green hydrogen as a complementary method of decarbonisation, alongside electrification solutions. He works as part of a global group that shares knowledge and opportunities across countries such as Spain, Portugal, Germany, Italy, USA, Mexico, Brazil, Australia and beyond.

34 Winter 2020

notes from the classroom

SAGT at 50 Erica Caldwell, SAGT President (1995-97) and Patron (2019-); Kenneth Maclean, Editor, SAGT Journal (1996-99)

SAGT’s emergence in 1970 was both timely and fortuitous.

It was a year set within a broader context of challenging educational and curricular change. From the mid-sixties to the early eighties, there were many issues for geography teachers, well dubbed by Gavin Smith in his 1981 Presidential address at SAGT’s annual conference as a “maelstrom of change.” His challenges included: the “comprehensive ethic; ROSLA [Raising of the School Leaving Age to 16]; new syllabi [Alternative ‘O’ Grade, Alternative Higher, and Certificate of Sixth Year Studies]; new promotion structures; the Pack, Warnock, Munn and Dunning Reports; computer technology, etc, etc... reflects a system almost desperately trying to adapt to changing societal demands.”

Given the absence of curricular advisors, SAGT has a critical role as a pressure group for the status of school geography. Liaison, notably with RSGS, has been significant given the relative decline in the number of SQA candidates in geography following the introduction of the Curriculum for Excellence and the related National Qualifications. Fifty years on, the need for SAGT is stronger than ever. In association with organisations such as the RSGS, it is the main voice for classroom geography teachers in Scotland, especially at a time of retrenchment and issues of the subject’s curricular status.

“The initial stimulus for SAGT came from fieldwork.”

The initial stimulus for SAGT came from fieldwork. April/May 1970 saw a mixed bag of biologists and some 20 geographers at Kindrogan Field Study Centre, Perthshire. Pinpointing the ‘eureka’ moment when the notion of SAGT was mooted has an aura of mythology, but Jim Carson, former PT Geography at Hillhead High, then Glasgow’s Adviser in Geography (196791), suggested its conception was the result of an inspirational midnight walk up to Kindrogan ridge. Apocryphal or not, it is perhaps fitting that Kindrogan Hill trig point is now owned by SAGT.

By December 1972, a constitution was established; office bearers, including On Kindrogan Hill, 1970. regional representatives, were appointed; SAGT was recognised as a ‘Nominated Body’; and membership was around 200, and nationwide in scope.

Such achievements reflected the hard work and determination of key founding figures. As well as Jim Carson, the Association’s workaholic first President, they included: Bob Purdie (PT at James Hamilton Academy, Kilmarnock), first Editor of the Journal; Gordon Hulme (PT at Craigbank Secondary, Glasgow), first Treasurer (membership fee, £1); Rose Robertson (PT at Bearsden Academy, later Blairgowrie High), first Editor of Scottish Geographical News; and Andrew Smith (Glasgow Education Department’s ETV Geography Producer), who, in spite of a heavy administrative role, designed the original SAGT tie, and produced a TV programme entitled Is there a need for a Scottish Association of Geography Teachers?

Perhaps the main indicator of the need for an organisation such as SAGT was its rapid uptake in membership. Numbers tripled to c600 by 1975, more than quadrupled to c900 by the early 2000s. Over the years, SAGT has served Scotland’s geography teachers in various overlapping ways: supporting curricular change; sharing resources; organising field courses, locally and abroad (Prague, Iceland, Morocco); encouraging students; running the Worldwise Quiz (currently under the leadership of Iain Aitken, PT at Belmont Academy, Ayr); awarding small grants to senior students to add to their fundraising for exciting fieldwork travel; and ensuring the status of geography.

In the classroom: is Russia a pris Stuart Kennedy, Principal Teacher of Geography, Elgin High School My choice of using Russia as a context to deliver the Curriculum for Excellence Experiences and Outcomes SOC 3-10a and SOC 3-12a was based on having read sections from Tim Marshall’s Prisoners of Geography and what was emerging as a popular choice for KS3 Geography teachers outside Scotland.

Foremost in my mind was to avoid taking a regional geography approach as this tends to be very broad and doesn’t lead to deeper lines of enquiry. My focus was on introducing processing techniques that will be further developed in subsequent topics or revisited in later years. These include producing different types of map, climate graphs (and interpreting them), annotating diagrams, and data handling. As literacy is one of the whole school responsibilities for all, I chose to use close reading tasks, modelling the same approaches as adopted by my colleagues who teach English.

So, is Russia a victim of geography? Like all good geography it begins by developing pupils’ mental maps of the world, the location of Russia, and the basic geography of Russia. Having established Russia has different climatic zones, pupils explore how latitude affects climate, laying a foundation for the later

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Welcome to our new (digital) classroom!

Dr Andrew Black, Geography and Environmental Science, University of Dundee

In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, higher education has been undergoing a rapid transformation. Two-metre social distancing in all teaching spaces means that teaching capacity by conventional means has been massively reduced. At the University of Dundee, we have adopted a blended learning approach, using online learning combined with face-to-face classes. The latter are particularly important for entrant students, so we have been ensuring that all first-year modules feature face-to-face classes for every student each week.

Weekly participation is essential on all modules and helps us maintain engagement, backed by automated attendance monitoring.

Many lecturers got their first taste of online lecturing in March, born of necessity, with very little notice. There was relatively little by way of interaction. Those of you who teach for a living must know the importance of being able to see your audience: in my experience, eye contact is such a vital thing to establishing rapport, so this is one of the big challenges of our new digital world. Enter Blackboard Collaborate, one of a range of software platforms which have come to the aid of universities this year, designed to recreate the dynamics of the classroom insofar as it is possible over the net.

Many staff have been pleasantly surprised by the numbers of students contributing questions and chat in online classes. I hope that the emphasis on dedicated sessions specifically for discussion has actually helped increase engagement – some compensation for the lack of time physically together. Personal interactions are so critical to student life, so I hope these classes will help our entrant students, and help us as staff to get to know them.

the same walls of their student flats for most of every day, with a very limited diet of company. Typically, students now have no separation between their home and work spaces, and feel they have no escape from study. There is a distinct lack of variety in people’s day-to-day lives. Recording online classes is seen as a benefit, and the heightened emphasis on discussion in online classes is seen as a positive too.

“The heightened emphasis on discussion in online classes is seen as a positive.”

The new situation is providing some opportunities to enhance student engagement, improve learning and possibly overall attainment.

Time will tell. However, there is some way to go before we can all enjoy the full spectrum of rich and stimulating experiences which should define a time at university.

Meantime, it’s down to all of us to try and help each other as best we can. Teamwork in Dundee has helped turn a daunting prospect into one which has become workable, led by a newly emergent digital champion (Dr Sarah Halliday) with the close involvement of our Head of Discipline (Professor Sue Dawson) and our Learning & Teaching lead (Dr Fiona Smith). Our focus now is to help ensure that every student gets the benefit of the new normal – for as long as it lasts.

So, what of the student perspective on this new world?

From my limited conversations, it’s clear that students place huge value on being able to see each other – properly – in class, and find it challenging to be within

soner of geography? curriculum S3 topic on tropical rainforest environments, and providing context for the weather topic at National 4 and 5, and the atmosphere topic in the Higher.

and the sheer scale of Russia, crossing many time zones, creates problems in running the country and feeding its people. We discuss generating wealth through mineral extraction, the environmental impact, and other negative impacts of industrial development via the concept of ‘dark tourism’. This allows our Developing the Young Workforce Travel and Tourism course to get some exposure in the lower school. The last lesson focuses on giving pupils a choice between the impact of the 1986 nuclear accident at Chernobyl (in the Ukraine, but a Russian impact) or the ‘Siberian Maldives’, Novosibirsk – home to a turquoise lake where the local power plant dumps its waste, yet loved by Instagrammers seeking the perfect selfie.

“Russia provides a wide-ranging scope for new topics.”

Pupils then examine the four biomes within Russia in greater detail, identifying and prioritising the ‘pros and cons’ of each biome towards supporting the population of 146 million, again returning to the question, is Russia a victim of geography?

In the third lesson, the skills of creating and comparing climate graphs are explored. This is followed up in a lesson looking at adaptions. The fifth and sixth lessons focus on the scale and issues of the oil and gas sector, the impact on the Nenets, and European dependence on gas supplies. Again, we return to the core question, considering if our view has changed or not.

The final two lessons focus on Russia as the largest Eurasian country, using Prisoners of Geography as an inspiration. We use a series of close reading tasks to establish if climate

Russia provides a wide-ranging scope for new topics like the development of the Arctic, or permafrost melt. I am looking forward to developing and sharing this unit and making relevant connections to the world of the geographers at Elgin High School and in other secondary schools across Scotland.

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Carbonic time bomb in Siberia Russian Geographical Society

The Arctic Ocean may transform into an ice-free zone by 2050. Such disappointing forecasts are appearing more often. In a recent study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, scientists do not exclude the possibility that, if global warming doesn’t stop, up to a billion people will become ‘climate migrants’ in the next half of the century.

For several decades, on the seashore of the Arctic Ocean in Yakutia, Russian scientist Sergey Zimov has been conducting a bold experiment to slow global warming. But how?

Sergey Zimov is an ecologist, senior researcher at the Pacific Institute of Geography of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and author of articles in the journals Science and Nature. Back in 1980, he moved to Yakutia. He runs the North-Eastern Scientific Station of the Russian Academy of Sciences, which was created in 1984, 130km far from the seashore of the Arctic Ocean, in Chersky village.

Mammoth steppes and savannahs were once the largest ecosystem on the planet. There, the animals maintained their grass and cereal pastures by themselves. This ecosystem existed throughout almost all Eurasia and North America, but disappeared because of the Ice Age. “In the late 1980s, I read an article in a scientific journal saying that the highest concentration of carbon dioxide in the world is observed over northern Siberia in winter. But no one knew why,” says Sergey Zimov. “I wondered: where does the gas come from in winter when everything sleeps? And I have found the answer: the only possible source was the frozen soil that appeared as a result of the melting of permafrost.”

Zimov’s guess is confirmed by other scientists. They explain that Siberian ice-rich permafrost began to melt rapidly in recent decades. This leads to soil erosion and exposes ancient non-rotten organics, which have been preserved in frozen soil for many thousands of years.

These organics are taken up by microorganisms, which release the heat and transform it into greenhouse gases.

Here Zimov set up the wildlife preserve Pleistocene Park in order to recreate the “The shores of the eastern sector of ecosystem that existed here before the the Russian Arctic are retreating at an Ice Age – to turn the marshy tundra into average speed of two metres per year. In steppe pastures, and to inhabit it with Sergey Zimov. © Tara Nicholson Central Yakutia, over the past 30 years, bison, reindeer, musk sheep, wild horse the losses from degradation of the ice-rich permafrost ranged and even tiger. The scientist is sure that this will help to stop from 10% to 60% for a depth of one metre. At the same the melting of permafrost, and to slow global warming in time, from 0.23kg to 1.44kg per cubic metre of carbon was general. released from the ice-rich permafrost in these areas. This is The Pleistocene is a geological era that began 2.6 million ten to 50 times more than under normal conditions,” says years ago, and ended 12,000 years ago. The project has its Rosalia Ivanova, a researcher at the Institute of Permafrost name. By the way, the last woolly mammoths lived around Studies named after P I Melnikov of the Siberian Branch of 4,000-7,000 years ago near these places, on Wrangel Island. the Russian Academy of Sciences.

According to her, it is possible to stop the destruction of the Earth’s surface and coastline like this: avoid development of the ice-rich territories, and restore the surface by planting vegetation, which prevents the ingress of direct sunlight.

Sergey Zimov has his own theory: the melting of permafrost can be stopped only by recreating the grazing ecosystem.

“Organic materials decompose into carbon dioxide when oxygen gains access to the dry soils. If the soil is overwetted (under lakes, swamps), methane is released. And as a greenhouse gas, it is dozens of times stronger than CO2. The faster frost melts, the more greenhouse gases are emitted,” Zimov explains. “If warming continues at the same rate, then the volume of CO2 emissions from the frost in 20 years can be comparable to the joint emissions of all factories, aircrafts and machines. Methane will also be produced. This climate bomb can be neutralized only with the help of a grazing ecosystem.”

Zimov has created the Pleistocene Park to test his hypothesis.

The territory of this wildlife preserve is 160km2, the same as the land area of Liechtenstein. Yakut horses were the first to appear. Then the Park was replenished with moose, reindeer, bears and wisents. Currently 200 animals live in the wildlife preserve.

Upper reaches of the Chulman River. © Yuri Kokovin

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“In the Pleistocene Park, there are more and more fastgrowing grasses and cereals that dry the soil while animals trample down mosses and shrubs. Over the winter, herbivores eat up all the vegetation; this stimulates a new growth of grasses, and soils become drier and more fertile,” explains Sergey Zimov. “While animals search for food during the winter, they move snow and compress it several times. The snow blanket becomes thin, and the temperature of the frost decreases by several degrees. That’s enough to stop the melting. There are fewer dark bushes and trees, and more light grass and snowy fields. Such landscapes reflect more sunlight and get less warm. Beasts and herbs dry the soil, swamps become dry, and methane emissions decrease.”

Zimov dreams of populating the Pleistocene Park with mammoths in the foreseeable future. Several groups of scientists in Russia, Japan, South Korea and the USA are currently working on cloning these animals.

“The mammoth was a useful beast,” explains Sergey Zimov, “which provided the entire ecosystem with water by breaking the ice on the lakes, allowing other animals to drink later. And in snowy winters, small animals followed the mammoths and were able to access food exposed by the mammoths. which could dig up any snow. In fact, not only a mammoth, but any elephant could survive in our climate. For instance, an Indian elephant with the corrected genome for length of coat and frost resistance could be taken – and ‘be employed’ by us.”

Harvard University professor George Church is working in this very direction: he is extracting individual genes of mammoth DNA and ‘transplanting’ them into the genome of ordinary modern elephants. Zimov’s son Nikolay talked to George Church at a scientific conference in Washington in 2013, and the American promised to settle frost-resistant elephants in Pleistocene Park if his genetic experiment succeeds. And if Zimov’s experiment succeeds, then Pleistocene Park may become a kind of northern Serengeti. After all, such a variety of animals can be seen, perhaps, only in African savannahs.

Singing bison. © Vladimir Ivanov

“Zimov dreams of populating the Pleistocene Park with mammoths in the foreseeable future.”

“So far, we have a chance to restore grazing ecosystems as a priority. To influence the climate, a population of 30 million large animals is needed. Today throughout Siberia we have a population of about two million. However, this amount could be increased in 20 years – large animals increase their abundance by 100 times in 20-30 years,” Zimov states. “But, I’m afraid, the topic of global warming is not taken seriously by politicians. With the money spent on environmental summits, you could open similar parks all over the north.”

Fog on ice landscape. © Lyudmila Denishenko

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A new natural phenomenon in the Russian Arctic Dr Evgeny Chuvilin, Dr Natalia Sokolova, Centre for Hydrocarbon Recovery, Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, Moscow

An event that occurred in the Russian Arctic tundra in the mid-2010s aroused vivid interest among scientists, journalists, and bloggers all over the world, and raised no less attention than the enigmatic Tunguska explosion of 1908 or the Chelyabinsk impact event of 2013. That was the formation of exceptionally large deep craters in the permafrost of the Yamal, Gydan, and Taymyr Peninsulas. To the present knowledge, craters of this kind were found earlier as well, but they have never been much in focus because they were located in remote hardly-accessible terrains far from populated or explored areas, and thus remained neither mapped nor studied in detail. The crater discovered in the Yamal Peninsula in the summer of 2014 became a strong attraction for researchers due to its large size, reaching 70m in depth and 40m in surface diameter, as well as due to its location near the producing Bovanenkovo gas-condensate field. The hole in the ground even got a proper name: the Yamal Crater.

Numerous pseudo-scientific ideas beyond the academic community attributed the origin of the crater to various causes outside or inside the Earth: from a bolide impact or an alien ship accident to underground tests of some super-secret weapons or a gas production emergency. These extremely exciting hypotheses are beneath any criticism though, because all collected data provide clear evidence that the Arctic craters rather have a natural origin. Such craters result from cryovolcanism, or explosive release of pressurized gas which can accumulate, for different reasons, in shallow permafrost.

At the time being, more than 15 gas-emission craters have been reported from the Arctic region. Besides the Yamal Crater, which was discovered in 2014 but originated most likely in 2013, two other smaller craters (no more than 20m in diameter and in depth) arose about the same time in the Gydan Peninsula: not far from Antipayuta locality in the west and near the Deryabino gas field in the east. Two more craters were reported in June 2017 from the Yamal Peninsula: one about 10m in diameter and up to 20m deep in the Erkuta-Yakha floodplain, 220km north of Salekhard, and the other, more than 50m deep, in the Myudriyakha River in the

vicinity of Seyakha locality. Finally, a crater was found in the summer of 2020, the largest and most recent discovery of this kind. The latter crater is yet to be studied, and the work has to start as soon as possible. The problem is that such features degrade and become hard to identify very rapidly: in a few warm months (two or three years) the crater fills up with water, its walls slump down, and the hole grows larger on the surface but shallower. Eventually, it transforms into a lake looking very much like hundreds of thousands of other Arctic tundra lakes. For this reason, some craters that were occasionally noticed before from a helicopter, but not visited in time by research teams, often remained lost afterwards among countless round lakes in tundra.

Currently, the origin of gas stored in shallow permafrost is still a controversial issue. It may result from organic matter decay, dissociation of gas hydrates, or upward fluxes of deep-seated gas. Whichever is the source of the gas, the permafrost lid impedes its emission into air, and the more the gas is pressurized under the lid, the more violently it will explode. As a rule, the place of a pending cryovolcanic event is marked by a rapidly rising mound up to several meters high, often associated with pingo growth.

According to scarce witness reports on explosive gas-emission events, people heard a boom and saw rock fragments being ejected and dispersed over tens of metres, flares rising metres high, and smoke plumes persisting for hours.

“People heard a boom and saw rock fragments being ejected and dispersed over tens of metres.”

The increasing cryovolcanic activity in recent years can hardly be due uniquely to industrial development of the northern territories. Obviously, the climate warming observed in the last decades makes the permafrost lid weaker and more vulnerable to release of pressurized gas. New gas-emission craters can be expected to appear ever more frequently in the Arctic tundra, as the warming trend will at least continue or even increase in the nearest future, as predicted by some models. © Evgeny Chuvilin I Skoltech

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Hunting mammoths Dr Tatiana Argounova-Low, Department of Anthropology, University of Aberdeen

In Sakha (Yakutia), north-eastern part of Russia, mammoths, long extinct ancient mastodons, continue to play an important role in social and economic life in the area. The woolly animals are probably the most enigmatic animals in the lifetime of humankind.

The existence of mammoths has long been associated with imagination and fantasies. The enigma of mammoths continued to fire up imaginations, creating legends and myths, as mammoths’ remains and tusks were found. Yakutia has been known for its wealth of mammoth tusks for a long time.

Basset Digby, an intrepid traveller, wrote these words almost a century ago: “Tundra is the sepulchre of the mammoth… And out with the mud and freshly thawed prehistoric silt come, occasionally, the entombed mammoths, from their age-old, cold storage.” The real sepulchre of mammoths is of course permafrost; established about two million years ago, it has preserved mammoths in northern Yakutia.

visiting card.” Tourists who come to Yakutsk are surrounded by figurines of ancient animals carved from mammoth ivory.

Mammoth ivory carving is a significant part of traditional craftsmanship in Yakutia.

The mammoths have firmly occupied their place on the social and cultural arena in the republic. Mammoths, like other animal imagery used for cultural representation, acquired an iconic status. Mammoths became powerful symbols of connection to the land, ancestry, rootedness, and history.

“Yakutsk is still an important location for the mammoth ivory trade.”

Superstitions hindered native people from excavations, but it did not dissuade merchants and people looking for profit from digging and selling valuable mammoth ivory.

Mammoth ivory trade with China was ongoing from early ages. According to records, not only native people of Siberia travelled to Mongolia and China to take ivory to the markets, but, allegedly, the Chinese collectors travelled up to purchase tusks on the spot as well.

Mammoth ivory, like other commodities such as tea, tobacco, and silk, helped to establish connections over large distances.

In Europe, good quality mammoth tusk was used to make “piano keys, combs, jewellery, chess sets and billiard balls.”

At the start of the 19th century, the trade of mammoth ivory was ‘lively’ and “the quantity of fossil ivory sent from Siberia to the European markets was enormous.” About four tonnes of ivory were excavated on the Novosibirsk Islands at the beginning of the 19th century, increasing gradually to more than 31 tonnes in 1828. Professor Susan Digby, who studied the life of her grandfather Basset Digby in his travels to Siberia and Yakutsk, comments that in the early 20th century the town of Yakutsk was a busy market where ivory was brought, stored, traded and exchanged.

Proof of the enduring mystique of mammoths was demonstrated in 2013 when a team of scientists from Yakutsk and their international counterparts excavated a mammoth carcass on the island of Malyi Liakhovskii. Soft tissues and blood of the animal are now being analysed for DNA. An international team of biologists have an audacious task – an attempt to form a mammoth embryo from that material.

Mammoth remains are incorporated into the matrix of the social and economic life of these northern settlements. These animals, although long gone and extinct, continue to exist and serve as a symbol for the region, connecting its claim for ancient historic past with the contemporary claim for advancement of scientific knowledge.

FURTHER READING

Digby, Basset (1926) The Mammoth and Mammoth-Hunting in North-East Siberia (HF and G Witherby, London) Digby, Susan (2008) Early twentieth-century collection of extinct mammals from northern Siberia: the provenance of Bassett Digby’s contributions to the Natural History Museum, London, and the British Museum (Archives of natural history Vol 35:1) Laufer, Berthold (1925) Ivory in China (Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago)

Today, Yakutsk is still an important location for the mammoth ivory trade. The tusks continue to be an important commodity. Every year 100 tonnes of mammoth tusks are sold, about 30 tonnes of these through illegal trading chains.

The legislation regarding collection of mammoth fauna is changing, and the laws in the region that control such activity are becoming stricter. But with anything between $15,000 and $30,000 in cash paid for a pristine tusk, many operate in a clandestine fashion. Most of the excavated mammoth tusks, more than 60 tonnes annually, are despatched to China and Asian markets where they are used for traditional carvings.

Despite the slowdown in trade due to Covid-19 restrictions, many involved in mammoth tusk trade are still hopeful that the market will revive soon.

Yet, mammoth ivory is more than just a trade item. The image of the mammoth, a treasured prehistoric animal, has become an emblem of the region: “Mammoth is an animal that exemplifies the frost and harsh region of Yakutia. This is our

Mammoth effigies can be found in many places in the city of Yakutsk. © Maxim Unarov

40 Winter 2020

Polar pilgrim: an interview with Dr Frederik Paulsen Jo Woolf FRSGS, RSGS Writer-in-Residence

A recipient of the Scottish Geographical Medal in 2015, and a Vice-President and Honorary Fellow of RSGS, Dr Frederik Paulsen has reached all eight of the Earth’s poles: the Geographic, Magnetic and Geomagnetic Poles plus the Pole of Inaccessibility in both hemispheres. The Chairman of Ferring Pharmaceuticals, he has business and philanthropic interests worldwide.

their expeditions. Wilkins was really the antithesis of that. He did the exploration for himself, and had no interest in what other people thought about it. The Australians should be proud of him.

You were born in Sweden, and come from a region that has supplied the world with a wealth of explorers. When you were growing up, were there stories that inspired you?

The Russian Geographical Society is one of the oldest geographical societies in the world, so they have a long history. It’s amazing because it’s a grassroots organisation; in most Russian cities and towns there’s a local chapter or club, and the members themselves play an important role. Their activities are not just related to the north – they are all over the world, including Antarctica. I’ve been a Trustee for almost ten years, and that has opened up many possibilities in terms of tying in the Russian Geographical Society with other international organisations.

When we organise expeditions, we invite them to participate in one form or another; and it’s very helpful for us to have them on board if we plan an expedition in Russia, because they have a lot of contacts to help us put the expedition in place.

My grandmother was Norwegian, and when I was a boy she told me stories about the Vikings, and how they sailed around the world. This had a great impact on me. Her stories were mainly about the Norwegian Viking heroes – Olaf Tryggvason, for example – but of course the Vikings were also in Sweden and Denmark. I was surprised when I moved to France and they told me that the Vikings were pillaging and robbing, because I’d learned at school that the Vikings were ‘a vector of culture’!

On 2nd August 2007, as a passenger in one of two Russian submersibles, you were among the first six people ever to reach the true North Pole, on the bed of the Arctic Ocean. Afterwards Mir 2, the vessel in which you were travelling, lost contact with the ship on the surface for nearly an hour.

Could you describe what happened?

I’d like to ask about your connections with Russia and the projects you’ve been involved with there.

“When we reached the surface we were quite euphoric!”

Both submersibles went down to the Pole on the sea bed, which took about four hours, and we stayed there for about an hour. Imagine that you’re 4,000 metres below the ice, which stretches for hundreds of kilometres in all directions, and above you is a small hole, about 15 by 50 metres. How do you find it? The ice is constantly moving, and there are currents in the water.

To help us get back up, we had put four transponders – navigational instruments – on the ice. Mir 1 went up first, and reached the surface successfully. But when our vessel was halfway up, two of the transponders broke down, so we only had two left to navigate by, which was impossible. We were sitting there in the darkness, waiting for something to happen, and started navigating back and forth. In a situation like that there is only one thing to do, which is to go to sleep, so I slept for about half an hour. Then an Australian crew member on the mother ship had the bright idea of lowering a lantern into the water. We navigated towards the light, and found our way up. When we reached the surface we were quite euphoric!

I’ve read that you admire the Australian explorer Sir Hubert Wilkins. In a way, that experience is reminiscent of Wilkins, when he attempted to pilot a submarine under the Arctic ice.

That’s very kind of you to say, but compared to Wilkins my undertakings are on a very small scale! I admire him not just because he was courageous, but because he never looked for the limelight.

Today, some so-called explorers just do it to be in the limelight – their own image is more important than

I read a quote, which was by your son, I think, that your trip to the Geographic North Pole was “the spark that lit your passion for Russia.”

That’s probably true!

I believe you described Russia as “a realm of possibilities.”

Yes, but like many things in life, it’s a question of expectations! As I grew up in Sweden, my expectations of Russia were about minus ten! Because of course Russia was the historical enemy of Sweden… and then, in the 1960s, there was the nuclear threat. I remember when I went to school, when the weather was bad, everybody’s first reaction was “It must come from Russia!” So my expectations were very low, and it was probably for this reason that I was so positively surprised!

As a Trustee of the South Georgia Heritage Trust, you helped to eradicate the island’s rat infestation. What is the current situation?

The campaign was spread over four years, and was finished about three years ago. So far, there is no indication that any rats have survived, and the birds are coming back in their thousands. It’s extremely rewarding that this project has worked out so well. The risk now, of course, is that a ship could reintroduce them; somebody calculated that, if one pregnant rat arrives, it would only take three years for the island to be full of rats again. The challenge now is to have a kind of quarantine system in place for visiting ships.

You’re a Trustee of the Royal Textile Academy of Bhutan.

This goes back almost 20 years. The Queen of Bhutan had started a museum of textiles, but they had very few textiles there, so I decided to help her. Bhutanese textiles are very high quality, and thus one of the few things that the country can export – but at the time there were not many examples left in the country. There were two big collections in the US, and I managed to acquire one of them, which I donated to

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the museum. Then it turned out that the museum, which was too big for the existing collection, was too small for the new one!

Instead of just building a bigger museum, we wanted to support the women in the mountain villages, helping them to continue producing these textiles. We wanted to preserve Dr Paulsen with the Queen Mother of Bhutan.

Bhutan’s heritage of textile making, and we wanted to help the women to sell their textiles, in a controlled manner. So we built the Royal Textile Academy. The main building is a museum, and there is a weaving school and a workshop for the restoration of antique textiles. Most importantly, the Academy has a function for marketing and selling the textiles.

reintroducing borders and hindrances for interaction. It’s a new trend, which is very concerning. It’s moving away from open borders and working together. Brexit is a step in that direction, and over the last four years, America has been building walls around itself. But let us hope this is just something temporary, that we will go back to a trend where societies will continue to open. Wealth has always been created by freedom of trade, freedom of commerce, and openness for new ideas from the outside. Historically, there’s no example of any country thriving by locking itself off from the rest of the world.

Have you enjoyed your visits to Scotland, and have they inspired you to become involved with Scottish traditions and industry?

Well, I believe most exploration is still undone – most of it is in front of them. We know very little about the seas, and there are still a lot of places in the world which are not really explored. I wish I was young, so I could start again!

Yes, of course! My family comes from a small ethnic group in northern Europe, called the Frisians. My father was very much involved in the independence movements of various ethnic peoples in Europe. When I was a child, we had visitors from Scotland, and from the Catalans, for example. I’ve always been very much attached to these places from a nationalistic point of view, so to speak.

In Scotland, I have a factory where we’re producing products for female health care, and I’ve just built a distillery on the Isle of Skye. Last year we produced our first whisky. It’s called Torabhaig. We hope to be able to expand on that. So I’m very engaged in Scotland!

What qualities do you think are important in a modern-day explorer?

I think patience is the most important quality. I don’t think, today, you can get into exploration if you’re not patient, because exploration is like doing military service. You have to sit around and wait for 90% of the time, and if you can’t control yourself and accept that, it is very difficult to get into this line of occupation!

What advice would you give to the next generation of aspiring explorers?

If you were starting again, what order would you do it in… would you still go for the Poles?

Yes. I mean, if you look at Antarctica, for example, you can find a mountain that you can be sure nobody has climbed before… it’s really incredible. I just hope I have enough time left to continue to do exploration!

That must be one of the newest single malts. Is it available now?

Have you got any goals in mind?

The whisky is only one year old, so we’ll have to wait a couple of years – we’re in it for the long haul!

The UN Climate Change Conference will be held in Glasgow in 2021. What would you like to see as an outcome?

I think we have to move away from measuring and observing, and we have to get into a programme where we don’t just try to mediate, but we try to arrest and turn back the changes that are ongoing. There is too much concentration on passive observation, and not enough of trying to formulate and introduce active programmes to stop and prevent and reverse what’s going on.

In Chasing the Cold, your colleague and mentor, Dr Alexandre Lumbroso, says that when you took over your father’s company, Ferring Pharmaceuticals, you viewed the world “as a whole world, with absolutely no borders.” Is this still your vision?

That was when I was about 30 years old. Now, as I’m becoming more international in outlook, with businesses all over the world, I’m sorry to have to observe that the world is shrinking, in a way – because more and more countries are © Rip Curl

A circumnavigation of Greenland is one of the things we’ve been looking at for a couple of years. And a full circumnavigation of the Arctic, visiting all the various islands… there are still a lot of challenges available!

FURTHER READING

Chasing the Cold: Frederik Paulsen’s Quest for All Eight Poles

by Charlie Buffet and Thierry Meyer (Editions Paulsen, 2014) We’d like to thank Dr Paulsen for taking the time to chat to us, and wish him every success in his future endeavours and expeditions.

BOOK CLUB

42 Winter 2020

Why Study Geography?

Our Only Home

Alan Parkinson (London Publishing Partnership, October 2020)

A Climate Appeal to the World

Are you considering studying geography at university, having fallen in love with the subject at school? Are you a fan of in-depth discussion and independent research? Are you looking to support responsible citizenship? Are you ready to develop a variety of practical skills that employers need? Are you keen to have a wide range of career options after you graduate? Studying any subject at degree level is an investment in the future that involves significant cost. This book, aimed at students, parents and teachers, explains in practical terms the range and scope of Geography at university level and where it can lead in terms of careers or further study. It will both enthuse the reader about this vital subject and answer the crucial questions that a college prospectus does not.

The Dalai Lama and Franz Alt (Bloomsbury Sigma, November 2020)

A Gentleman in Moscow

Hope in Hell

Amor Towles (Windmill Books, November 2017)

A Decade to Confront the Climate Emergency

Reader Offer Offer ends 31st March 2021 only

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Hacking the Earth Might Be the Last Thing We Ever Do Bill McGuire (Book Guild Publishing, September 2020) Jane Haliwell put her head in her hands. To tell the truth, she was still in shock. All the samples she had taken from inside and around the lab contained the enigmatic spheres in huge numbers. She had only had a brief time to think about the implications, but she was pretty sure already what was going on. For the first time in the history of the world, it was literally raining carbon. Long before it stopped, the guilty would pay, but so would the innocent...

Readers of The Geographer can buy Skyseed for only £5.00 (RRP £8.99) with £3.80 UK P&P. To order, please visit www.bookguild.co.uk/bookshop and quote code ‘RSGS’ at the checkout, or phone 0116 279 2299 and quote ‘Skyseed – RSGS’.

RSGS: a better way to see the world Phone 01738 455050 or visit www.rsgs.org to join the RSGS. Lord John Murray House, 15-19 North Port, Perth, PH1 5LU Charity SC015599

Jonathon Porritt (Simon & Schuster UK, June 2020) The Age of Climate Change is an age of superlatives: most extreme this, biggest that, most costly ever. The impacts worsen every year, played out in people’s backyards and communities, and more and more people around the world now realise this is going to be a massive challenge for the rest of their lives. Porritt confronts that dilemma head on.

He believes we have time to do what needs to be done, but only if we move now, and move together. In this ultimately optimistic book, he explores all these reasons to be hopeful: new technology; the power of innovation; the mobilisation of young people – and a sense of intergenerational solidarity as older generations come to understand their own obligation to secure a safer world for their children and grandchildren.

A Life on Our Planet My Witness Statement and a Vision for the Future David Attenborough (Ebury Press, October 2020) “I am 94. I’ve had an extraordinary life. It’s only now that I appreciate how extraordinary. As a young man, I felt I was out there in the wild, experiencing the untouched natural world – but it was an illusion. The tragedy of our time has been happening all around us, barely noticeable from day to day – the loss of our planet’s wild places, its biodiversity.

“I have been witness to this decline. A Life on Our Planet is my witness statement, and my vision for the future. It is the story of how we came to make this, our greatest mistake – and how, if we act now, we can yet put it right. We have one final chance to create the perfect home for ourselves and restore the wonderful world we inherited.”

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On 21 June 1922, Count Alexander Rostov is escorted out of the Kremlin, across Red Square and through the elegant revolving doors of the Hotel Metropol. Deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a Bolshevik tribunal, the Count has been sentenced to house arrest indefinitely. But instead of his usual suite, he must now live in an attic room while Russia undergoes decades of tumultuous upheaval. Can a life without luxury be the richest of all?

Saving the environment is our collective duty.

With each passing day, climate change is causing Pacific islands to disappear into the sea, accelerating the extinction of species at alarming proportions, and aggravating a water shortage that has affected the entire European continent. In short, climate change can no longer be denied – it threatens our existence on Earth. In this inspiring new book, the Dalai Lama, one of the most influential figures of our time, calls on political decision-makers to finally fight against deadlock and ignorance on this issue. He argues that we all need to stand up for a different and more climate-friendly world, and to allow the younger generation to assert their right to regain their future.