Nornickel to finance polar bears aerial survey

MOSCOW, March 17. /TASS/. The Norilsk Nickel Company (Nornickel) will support the project of the polar bears’ aerial survey under the federal project to protect biological diversity and to develop ecology tourism. The company signed a cooperation agreement with the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology during the Clean Country forum on Wednesday. "The project [on aerial counting of polar bears] is rather serious, its budget is about 20 million rubles ($190,000)," Nornickel’s Vice President on federal and regional programs Andrey Grachev told TASS. "We have continued talks with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology for quite a time, and, as I can understand it, the ministry has taken our initiative with great enthusiasm." Under the cooperation, he continued, the parties will care for the Arctic ecology and will develop public-private partnership. "I am adamant, this project will bring good results, moreover it is about the polar bear, everyone likes, the Arctic symbol," Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology Sergey Yastrebov said during the signing ceremony. About Nornickel’s project and forum Earlier, Nornickel announced it would finance works to preserve the polar bear population. Russia has three populations of polar bear: the Kara-Barents, the Laptev and the Chukchi-Alaska populations. The global population is 20-25 thousand animals. The Clean Arctic third international forum and exhibition opened on March 16 and will continue working at the Skolkovo innovation center for two more days. The events will have more than 40 sessions. The forum and exhibition are organized in support for the Ecology National Project. Read more