The year 2023 saw the end of the Russian Geographical Society's (RGO) second stage of the cleanup expedition titled "Arctic. General Cleanup." Initiated in 2022 with the backing of the Russian Ministry of Defense, its objective is to improve the environment within the Arctic Circle. It's a massive and complex task, as over the years, heaps of waste have accumulated around the Far North settlements and they need a major cleaning effort.

First season of the Cleanup

The previous year, researchers, environmentalists, and volunteers brought together by the RGO embarked on a mission to ameliorate the environment on Kildin Island, located 1.5 kilometres off the Murmansk Region's coast, and Wrangel Island, situated near Chukotka. A total of over 300 tonnes of scrap metal were gathered and transported to Murmansk for processing. The primary contributors to man-made pollution were military bases, leaving behind fuel drums, broken and simply discarded machinery, dilapidated buildings, and so on. Expedition members, equipped with shovels, crowbars, and metal detectors, cleaned up parts of the island before shipping the waste to mainland Russia. For instance, last year, the Kola fleet removed over 600 tonnes of anthropogenic waste from Kildin Island: scrap metal that had built up from years of cleaning. Starting from 2017, the Northern Fleet personnel have been regularly conducting environmental activities on Kildin.

What distinguishes RGO's project from other efforts is its scope and complexity. Scientists and environmentalists aim to cover the entire Russian Arctic, freeing it from human-made waste and conducting studies on its flora, fauna, and the environmental situation. For example, several uniquely Arctic plants were examined on Kildin Island, including its one-of-a-kind Iris Arctica population first identified in 2018. The expedition members observed populations of birds and marine animals and evaluated the extent of human impact on the island's ecosystems. As the final outcome of "General Cleanup", a comprehensive ecological map of the region will be created. It will contain the current data on both the remaining amount of the remaining waste and the biosphere status.

The cleanup on Kildin continued in 2023. The RGO actively involves third-party organisations and volunteers. Rosatom also participated in the project, with its employees assisting in collecting scrap metal and testing LPWAN (Low Power Wide Area Wireless Network) technology. In simple terms, the technology allows to implement the Internet of Things solutions in regions without proper GSM coverage.

Second season

In the second year of the 'General Cleanup', the village of Khatanga joined the programme. In the 1980s, it housed an air squadron and had a population of over 10,000 people. Years of active development in the Far North resulted in an enormous accumulation of waste within the district, including several thousand fuel drums. At the very least, they contaminate and degrade the soil, harming local plants and animals. This summer, the expedition aimed not to immediately clean the waste, but rather to develop an action plan and collect some old scrap metal in the process. But even with all the research efforts going on, the participants cleaned up 3 out of 6 kilometres and removed approximately 200 tonnes of anthropogenic waste.

Looking ahead, Khatanga aims to reclaim its status as a civilisation outpost in the Arctic, but with logisticians, scientists, and tourists in mind, not the military. The RGO further highlights the immense value of Khatanga, for logistics, saying that it has the potential to become one of the key footholds in the Russian Arctic. The Geographical Society's experts have devised a master plan to establish an international cluster for science and tourism named "Khatanga — Mammoth Valley." The society has already designed and launched several tourist routes. The village boasts a hotel and an airport, as well as easy access via the Northern Sea Route. Once the area is cleaned up, scientists and tourists will flock to the village to research and explore the surrounding lands. Botany, zoology, geology, and palaeontology, among other disciplines, will be incorporated into the academic study of this nearly 400-year-old settlement.

In the course of Khatanga's cleanup, the new "Arctic Volunteer" initiative was kick-started. The RGO is spearheading a new volunteer movement aimed at removing waste that has piled up over decades in the Russian Far North.