Programme details

A dozen Russian chemists and biologists meet today onboard the "Akademik Topchiev", the main research vessel at the Institute Papanin (IBIW), the biggest hydrobiological Institute in Russia. They are sailing along the Volga, the longest river in Europe, in order to better understand the way its ecosystem is evolving in a number of topics, including fish biology, aquatic plants, sedimentology and chemical pollution. Volga river has been the main road for culture expansion, and also an essential element for the development of industry, transport and agriculture in the whole country. Global Warming is changing the whole Volga Bassin ecosystem.
The European Union and Russia are working together in the so called CABRI-VOLGA project. In Cologne that German economist Frank Wefering works to streghten EU-Russian cooperation to reduce environment risk and improve water quality, sustainable development and water management in the Volga Basin. If you take a look at the Rhine River it was indeed heavily polluted some ten years ago. It took a political willingness but also industry and citizen s willingness to change the situation. We have the same situation in the Volga, and there the Russians can certainly learn by our European experiences. Figures, experts say, show us how important it is both for Russia and the whole European continent to guarantee a better water management along the Volga.