#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. Cleaning up the Russian Arctic from scrap metal, barrels and ruined buildings will take about five to six years. This opinion was expressed by the Rosprirodnadzor’s (Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resources) head Svetlana Radionova.
“There has been the Arctic zone development since the 1930s, and no one thought about environmental safety. In the 1990s, when people left and enterprises stopped working, rusted tractors and tanks, sea vessels’ skeletons, dilapidated buildings, construction debris and traces of a fuel spill remained in the Arctic. About 12 million barrels have accumulated in the Arctic Ocean coastal zone alone”, wrote Radionova in her Telegram channel.
According to her, Arctic animals were left alone with hazardous waste. Svetlana Radionova recalled that the Arctic cleaning up process is now taking place within the projects General Cleaning and Clean Arctic:
“When we decided to free the polar bears and other Red Book animals’ habitats from waste, to clean the fragile Arctic zone, we understood that it would take more than one year. I think it will last five, maybe six years. And this will be more difficult to do without volunteer help, without the projects General Cleaning and Clean Arctic. Now the work is underway, it is daily, difficult, maybe not so bright, but very necessary”.
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Text: Ekaterina Elkanova. Photo: Marina Peshkova, istockphoto.com, Clean Artic volunteers
