A meeting of the Society's Board of Trustees was held at the Headquarters of the RGS in St. Petersburg on April 23. Vladimir Putin thanked the “tireless enthusiasts of the RGS” for their work, the trustees for supporting Society's projects . The work of the RGS aimed at domestic tourism developing was encouraged by the President particularly. President of the RGS Sergei Shoigu, in turn, noted the active work of the Society, told about the main results of 2018 and the main projects that are implementing in 2019.
The project of creating the "Vostok" station wintering complex in Antarctica was presented by Chairman of the Board of PJSC Novatek Leonid Michelson at the meeting of the Board of Trustees .
The infrastructure of the station has not been cardinally updated since the opening in 1957. Private investors, including the trustees of the Russian Geographical Society, are implementing a project to create a complex of 2.5 thousand square meters. The complex will provide all the conditions for life and research even in extreme weather conditions. At the same time, up to 35 scientists can work at the station. The building of the complex in Antarctica is planned to be completed by 2022.
Transpolar expedition of the RGS on the route of the historical "building № 503". RGS President Sergey Shoigu paid special attention to this project. “There was such a project, started in 1949, it was called the “building № 503 ”- the building of a railway from Norilsk to Urengoy. We would like to study the project in more detail, perhaps, there is the prospect of reviving this project for our country, for the development of Siberia. We conducted the first reconnaissance stage in March-April, so that we will conduct a large expedition to study the route along which the construction took place more consciously in the fall", said Sergey Shoigu.
TV journalist Elizaveta Listova presented her documentary film "The Northern Sea Route", which was also shot with the help of the RGS media grant. The premiere of the film took place on April 8, 2019 on NTV. The painting is dedicated to the history of the development of the Russian Arctic. Filming took place in the Barents Sea, on Franz Josef Land, in Chukotka, on the Yamal Peninsula, in Norilsk and other places. The script was written on the basis of documents from the State Archives of the Russian Federation, the Russian State Archives of Economics, and the Russian Archives of Social and Political History. The main part of these documents has never been published. The Trustees of the Russian Geographical Society told about the problems of teaching geography in secondary school, as well as innovative methods that teachers develop to encourage children with the subject.
"The leaders of our Society have repeatedly said that literature, Russian language, history and geography are the basis of our national identity. But if the philologists and historians are doing well, then, I should say, that the geographers are now standing at the point of no return and degradation, because we are “not taken” to universities. This is a very big problem: in order to enroll at the vast majority of universities, you don’t need to take the Unified State Exam in geography. As a result, 400 thousand people passed the Unified State Exam in social studies last year, and just 16 thousand people passed it in geography. How should we discuss the preservation of human resources? How in such a situation can we implement the strategy of scientific and technological development, approved by the President of Russia? Five big challenges, indicated within the framework of the strategy, are in the main field of work of the geographers."
First Vice-president of the RGS Nikolay Kasimov
Фото: Алексей Михайлов
Underwater researches of the RGS in the Baltic Sea. The Center for Underwater Research of the RGS plans the deepest archaeological excavations in history in 2019. The Center for Underwater Research divers will work near the island of Gogland, at a depth of 60 meters - in the place of the flooding of an English merchant ship of the XIX century. Center for Underwater Research Executive director Sergey Fokin told about this project at the meeting.
Dmitry Peskov, the Chairman of the Media Council of the Russian Geographical Society, the member of the Board of Trustees of the Society, raised the topic of studying and preserving rare species of animals: belugas, snow leopards, Amur tigers, Far Eastern and Persian leopards, and polar bears. He noted that the RGS annually allocates grants to support projects to restore the populations of the Red Book animals. Dmitry Peskov stressed that it is necessary to continue the research of belugas and killer whales - it is currently not known exactly how many animals live in nature. It is very important to understand, because decisions on whether to issue quotas for their catch or not should be made in accordance with scientific evidence.
Фото: Алексей Михайлов
Awards of the Russian Geographical Society were presented, and the signing ceremony of the Globe of the Russian Championship took place during the meeting. People, who have achieved outstanding achievements in science, politics, sports, signed themselves on the Globe.
Фото: Алексей Михайлов
This time, the Globe was signed by Vladimir Putin - as the first Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Russian Geographical Society in its new history. Captain-pilot of the "Mir-1" deep-water apparatus Anatoly Sagalevich and the flight engineer of the deep-sea apparatus "Mir-2", who for the first time in the history of mankind reached the bottom of the World Ocean at the North Pole, Frederik Paulsen, also signed the Globe.