creating databases and GIS maps that help carry out independent analysis
of the regional ecosystems and identify factors threatening their well-being;
distributing information on the nature protection problems in order to
raise public environmental awareness and especially to involve local youth
into conservation activity;
making field surveys and promoting the establishment of protected natural
areas in the Murmansk Region;
collecting and disseminating information about the ecological culture
of indigenous peoples in the area and the current projects that involve
industrial development of their lands;
organizing public discussions of nature management projects;
campaigning against the most environmentally desctructive industrial projects
and initiatives in the area.
Besides, its members take active part in designing the region’s new
specially protected areas: “Khibiny” and “Kutsa” National Parks, a
number of wildlife refuges.
The Kola BCC has developed effective methods of cooperation with governmental
officials, particularly through information exchange and provision of expert
comments on various development projects. Its members maintain close contacts
with the Murmansk Region Committees for Environmental Protection and the
Natural Resources, the Apatity City Council and Ecological Fund, the Kola
Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the major environmental
NGOs of the area.
In 2003-2004 the Kola BCC jointly with Taiga
Rescue Network and Siberian
Environmental Center implemented the project Promoting
Public Participation in Russian Forest Management and Policies,
supported by Europian Union (IBPP/Tacis), SIDA and VROM. For more details
read this presentation (PPT, 2.9 MB).
