III Russian scientific conference "Biodiversity of the Far North ecosystems: inventory, monitoring, protection" (Syktyvkar, Komi Repuublic, November 20–24, 2017)
Authors: Degteva S. V. , Patova E. N. , Kulyugina E. E. 
Published: May 2019

The Conference was organized by the Northern Flora and Vegetation Department of the Institute of Biology Komi SC RAS with support of the Ministry of Industry, Natural Resources and Transport of the Komi Republic, The Federal Supervisory Natural Resources Management Service in the Komi Republic, Komi Branch of Russian botanical society and Russian Foundation for Basic Researches (project No17-04-20591). The aims of the Conference were to discuss and generalize the results of study of plant and animal world and soils of the Far North, to expand scientific contacts between specialists and to outline a program for further researches within the Arctic sector of Russia. The Conference was attended by 256 participants from 65 scientific and environmental organizations and educational institutions from 27 cities of the Russian Federation. 74 oral lectures (including 13 plenary ones) and 10 poster presentations were made at the Conference. Their main topics were the various characteristics of the biota and ecosystems of the Far North: the diversity, structure and dynamics of vegetation, its classification and cartography; cryptogam and vascular plant floras, lichen- and mycobiota, animal populations; rare species and communities; national protected areas; soils and their role in the functioning of the terrestrial ecosystems. Three panel discussions were held at the Conference: the overview and analysis of available information on the vegetation of Russian Arctic and the prospects for the realization of a collective monograph on its classification; the relevance of a full-scale assessment of changes in Arctic ecosystems under different scenarios of global climate change; the issues of environmental education in the northern regions of Russia.

The Conference recommend to: 1) start preparation and publication of the book about the classification of Russian Arctic vegetation; 2) organize work on the standardization and archivation of relevés of the Russian Arctic vegetation in form of web-archive open for wide range of users; 3) develop international cooperation on the inventory of biological diversity, monitoring and protection of Arctic ecosystems; 4) intensify the work on creating new protected areas in the subtundra forests area at the Northeast European Russia; 5) The Government of the Republic of Komi to develop and approve an interdepartmental plan for the implementation of the Concept of Environmental Education and Public Education in the Komi Republic for the period up to 2025, approved by the Decree of the Government of the Republic of Komi of December 29, 2016 No. 570-r; 6) The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of the Komi Republic should a) initiate the development of the Development Plan for the Komi Republic’s protected areas in 2018–2022; b) together with FSC Komi SC, UrB RAS, develop a draft monitoring system for protected areas at the regional level and include relevant measures in the State Program of the Republic of Komi «Reproduction and use of natural resources and environmental protection»; 7) Institute of biology Komi SC UrB RAS up to the end of 2017 should publish the Conference Proceedings Book with a circulation of 200 copies; 8) organize the IV Russian scientific Conference «Biodiversity of the Far North ecosystems: inventory, monitoring, protection» in 2021.

The participants noted the high level of the researches carried out by the scientists of the Institute of Biology Komi SC UrB RAS and expressed gratitude to administration of the Institute and to Organizing Committee for the high level of the Conference organization.