The project “Sustainability Under Pressure: Environmental Resilience in natural and cultural Heritage areas with intensive recreation” (SUPER) was implemented within Karelia CBC Program in 2018-2021. Its aim was to improve the environmental resilience of UNESCO natural and cultural heritage sites exposed to high recreational pressure.
Karelian Research Centre RAS, together with the North-Centre Association and other organizations, was a partner in this international environmental project.
The project’s pilot areas in Karelia were the Kizhi Open Air Museum and villages in the Kizhi Skerries area, Vodlozersky Biosphere Reserve and National Park, including Village Kuganavolok, and in Finland – North Karelia Biosphere Reserve and Geopark Rokua.
Activities in the project included surveys of waste sites for heavy metals, invasive plant species, sanitary characteristics. Water was tested for macro- and microplastics content. The condition of tourist stopovers was assessed. All these observations are needed to understand what would happen to the ecosystems under these types of human pressure.
The project also created some infrastructure for waste management (waste separation, storage, post-composting), and a multitude of information signs and other materials for visitors of the protected areas.
A third important action field for the SUPER project was education and awareness-building.
Videos made by the project tell more about the results and the recommendations produced by scientists. They are available online in the project’s VK community, and Karelian Research Centre’s YouTube channel.
Synthesizing the results of the research, the project produced a report based on DPSIR model, which is a framework for describing causalities in the relationships between people and the environment. It’s available via this link.
International
News
May 21, 2021
The international environmental project SUPER, in which Karelian scientists assessed the ability of the environment to withstand high recreational pressure in natural and cultural heritage sites, has come to an end. The project has also built waste management infrastructure in the pilot areas and organized lots of educational events.
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March 30, 2026
Young CIS scientists networked on common water problems at a school and workshop organized by the KarRC RAS
The international school and workshop “Under the Pressure of Global Climate Change: a Youth Network for Water Ecosystem Research” in Petrozavodsk has come to an end. During four days, young researchers from Russia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan listened to lectures and mastered scientific techniques in practice, under the guidance of seasoned experts. In conclusion, the participants agreed to maintain the network and keep looking for opportunities to jointly study common environmental problems.
The international school and workshop “Under the Pressure of Global Climate Change: a Youth Network for Water Ecosystem Research” in Petrozavodsk has come to an end. During four days, young researchers from Russia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan listened to lectures and mastered scientific techniques in practice, under the guidance of seasoned experts. In conclusion, the participants agreed to maintain the network and keep looking for opportunities to jointly study common environmental problems.
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RAS Corr. Fellow Olga Bakhmet: Arctic biodiversity conservation is impossible without science as its foundation
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The International Forum "Polar Bear Universe", organized by the Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia and the Government of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, is taking place in St. Petersburg. At the forum’s Bio-ecological Arctic Cluster, KarRC RAS leader, RAS Corr. Fellow Olga Bakhmet spoke about the scientific foundations for conserving Arctic biodiversity and presented the expertise of Karelian scientists in this field.
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Olga Bakhmet presented KarRC’s proposals for the federal Clean Ladoga project in St. Petersburg
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Experts of the Karelian Research Centre RAS have prepared proposals for the federal project Clean Ladoga. The Centre’s CEO, Olga Bakhmet, presented them at a joint meeting of the Environmental Council under the Governor of St. Petersburg and the Public Environmental Council under the Governor of the Leningrad Region. The main point of her presentation was that the integrated program for the environmental rehabilitation of Lake Ladoga must encompass also the water bodies located throughout the lake’s catchment area.
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A youth school and workshop on aquatic ecosystem studies gathers learners and lecturers from CIS countries at the KarRC RAS
The international school and workshop "Under the Pressure of Global Climate Change: a Youth Network for Aquatic Ecosystem Research" was launched in Petrozavodsk on March 24. Over four days, young researchers from Russia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan will engage in theoretical and practical training under the guidance of experts from the KarRC RAS and researchers from CIS countries, India, and China.
The international school and workshop "Under the Pressure of Global Climate Change: a Youth Network for Aquatic Ecosystem Research" was launched in Petrozavodsk on March 24. Over four days, young researchers from Russia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan will engage in theoretical and practical training under the guidance of experts from the KarRC RAS and researchers from CIS countries, India, and China.
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In 2025, entomologist from Karelia, Andrei Humala, described four new parasitoid wasp species from Africa. They all belong to a genus relatively rare in that region, Eusterinx. One more finding was made in each of samples from Mexico and Russian Far East. The scientist has specialized in the study of parasitoid wasps for over 30 years, during which time he has described 3 genera and 149 species new to science.