MURMANSK, July 25. /TASS/. A mobile laboratory, installed onto a KAMAZ truck, began working at the Pasvik Nature Reserve in the Murmansk Region. Press service of the Nornickel Company, which had invested in the lab, said the equipment onboard will be used for scientific research and ecology monitoring.

"The only mobile laboratory in Russia’s North-West has begun working in the Pasvik Nature Reserve," the press service told TASS on Wednesday.

The vehicle, which is adjusted to work in the Arctic region, can cross rivers or rocky tundra, can move off-road. It is equipped with a GPS navigator; up-to-date camera traps are set for certain intervals. The lab has equipment to study the air, soils and water.

The laboratory has onboard fridges to keep collected material. The lab will be used both inside the nature park and in the Kola Peninsula’s other districts for other projects, including for international projects.

"The vehicle is comfortable for long-term accommodation - researchers would be able to sleep there, to cook; there is an electricity generator onboard," the nature reserve’s deputy director, Tatiana Snegiryova, told TASS. "Most importantly, it is safe to be inside it in the wild nature conditions, unlike it is in tents."

According to the official, the eco-truck is made in Russia, while the equipment originates from many countries.

Ecology projects

The scientists have begun seasonal studies in the nature reserve. They will take samples of soil, water, will study air conditions, will review the bear population and will make a film about animals. They will study the animals and birds, listed on the Red Data Book, and in early September they will register bird’s seasonal migration.

"This summer, we have organized already a few trips to the territory’s remote parts and have collected samples of the nature’s unique diversity," the reserve’s expert Natalya Polikarpova said. "A car with research equipment means we can cover big distances, thus we use more effectively the day light and the region’s summer climate conditions."

In August, the lab will work on two international projects under the Kolarctic Cross Border Cooperation 2014-2020 Program, which features Russia, Sweden, Norway and Finland. One of the projects is ReARK (Ecological Restoration of Arctic Rivers) - to monitor various rivers, from Nordland to Kola Peninsula, and to give recommendations regarding ecological restoration and maintaining their biology diversity.

The second project - Phenomena of Arctic Nature - will include work to organize a series of nature exhibitions at visitor centers of three countries: Finland, Norway and Russia. The expositions will present the northern region’s heritage and will favor ecology tourism in those countries.

Support from businesses

"Implementation of such projects would have been impossible without support from big businesses, interested in sustainable development, in keeping the natural diversity and caring for future generations," the nature reserve’s Director Vladimir Chizhov said. "The reserve has been in cooperation with Nornickel for a few years, and jointly we have implemented several unique projects to study the nature."

Back in 2017, a new visitor center opened in the Nickel settlement at the border with Norway. The center is an international dialogue platform for Russia, Norway and Finland. Investments in the 800-square-meter center made 70 million rubles ($11 million).

Nornickel’s Kola MMC in the Murmansk Region cooperates with another big nature reserve - the Lapland Biosphere Reserve. Joint projects are underway there for a few decades already.

According to Director of the Green Patrol non-governmental organization Roman Pukalov, tests at areas neighboring Nornickel’s assets show the stable ecology situation. "The Murmansk Region has been approaching our rating’s green scale, and those, of course, are results of joint efforts by ecologists, local communities and industrial giants," he said.

Pasvik Nature Reserve

The Pasvik Nature Reserve was organized in July, 1992. It is home for rare species of flora and fauna, which are in the Russian Red Book and on the IUCN (the International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List of Threatened Species.

The nature reserve participates in the Russian-Norwegian intergovernmental environmental commission, the Russian-Finnish commission on transboundary waters, an intergovernmental working group on environment, and in the EUROPARC Federation.