News
November 01, 2013
The interactive nature Museum was launched in Kronotsky National Biosphere Reserve (Kamchatka territory, RF). The opening ceremony took place on 1 November 2013, and was dedicated to «birthday» of the natural reserve. The exhibition presents the unique ecosystems of the Kronotsky Biosphere Reserve and South Kamchatka Sanctuary. By virtue of the new Museum visitors will be able to take part in a guided tour and watch the video scenes in 3D. Students of Elisovsky boarding school # 1, children's educational center “Flash” and the children’s art school were the first visitors.
October 22, 2013
Publishing House “Routledge” published the monograph of David Groenfeldt “Water Ethics. A Values Approach to Solving the Water Crisis”. This book introduces the idea that ethics are an intrinsic dimension of any water policy, program, or practice, and that understanding what ethics are being acted out in water policies is fundamental to an understanding of water resource management. Thus in controversies or conflicts over water resource allocation and use, an examination of ethics can help clarify the positions of conflicting parties as preparation for constructive negotiations.
October 21, 2013
Canada-based Nautilus Minerals (21 % owned by Alisher Usmanov’s Metalloinvest) specializing in the mining of solid mineral resources localized on the ocean floor said it may start mining of mineral raw materials at the second deep water area in of the New Guinea sea (in the Papua New Guinea region) in the coming four years.
October 18, 2013
International Conference on Geoethics 2013 has been finished. The conference was held as a part of the 52nd Symposium “The Mining Příbram in science and techniques” under the umbrella of the Working Group for Geoethics of the International Association for International Development (AGID). Altogether 30 persons from the Czech Republic, Italy, Japan, Poland, Russian Federation and Senegal attended the meeting. The authors or registered participants included also colleagues from Algeria, Bolgaria, India, Germany, Mongolia and the USA.
October 17, 2013
Reuters reported police in the eastern Canadian province of New Brunswick arrested about 40 people on Thursday after efforts to dismantle a highway barricade turned violent and protesters against shale gas exploration set several police vehicles on fire. The incident came in response to a weeks-long protest by activists and local aboriginals, who blocked a road near the town of Rexton to try to slow work by SWN Resources Canada, a subsidiary of Southwestern Energy Co, which is exploring shale gas properties in the area.
October 11, 2013
Prof Jesus Martínez-Frías (Spain), Chair of IUGS Commission on Geoscience Education, Training and Technology Transfer and President of IUGS Affiliate International Association for Geoethics (IAGETH) has been awarded a NASA Group Achievement Award (2013). This NASA Award is received as part of the "MSL REMS Instrument Development and Science Team" For exceptional achievement defining the REMS scientific goals and requirements, developing the instrument suite and investigation, and operating REMS successfully on Mars. This is the second NASA award received by Prof. Martínez-Frías.
October 07, 2013
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is likely to cancel the US Antarctic programme’s upcoming field season if the US government shutdown persists through mid-October - jeopardizing hundreds of scientists’ work in glaciology, ecology and astrophysics. The agency has kept its three Antarctic research stations open during the initial days of the shutdown, which began on 1 October, under rules designed to protect human lives and US government property.
October 01, 2013
A seaquake of magnitude 6.1 occurred in the Okhotsk Sea off the western coast of Kamchatka, as reported to Itar-Tass by Kamchatka’s branch of the Geophysical Service of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The quake has been registered today at 15:39 local time (07:39 GMT). The epicenter was located 363 km south-west of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, at a depth of 642 kilometers under the sea. In some areas of the Kamchatka's regional center ground motion was felt at the power of up to 2 points. According to the regional emergency department, no victims and destructions were reported.
September 26, 2013
Minister of Natural Resources and Environment of the Russian Federation published the article «The cold calculations» in the newspaper «RBC Daily». Arctic is a leading region in the world on reserves and diversity of mineral raw materials. Most Russian deposits have been located in the Arctic zone - about 600 oil fields, more than 150 gas fields, two nickel deposits and more than 350 gold deposits. Arctic mineral resources ensure about 11% of Russia's national income and almost a quarter of total Russian export. Arctic is «resource crown» of our country.
September 25, 2013
Reuters said the death toll from a powerful earthquake in Pakistan rose to at least 208 on Wednesday after hundreds of mud houses collapsed on people in a remote area near the Iranian border, officials said. The earthquake struck Pakistan's thinly populated province of Baluchistan on Tuesday and was felt across South Asia. It destroyed houses and cut communications with the worst affected district of Awaran, and was so powerful that it caused a small island to emerge from the sea just off the coastline in the Arabian Sea.