Activities of the Regional Committee for Nature Protection of the KhMAO in the Late 1980s — 1990s: Water Resources

Abstract

Since the mid‑1980s, serious changes in the socio-economic and political system have been taking place in Russia. The problems of nature protection are widely publicized. The deterioration of the ecological situation in the regions is connected not only with the activities of industry, but also with the peculiarities of the state system of nature protection.
During the second half of the twentieth century, departmental institutions solved issues of nature protection, this correlated with the goals of the territorial organization of the economy. There was no single nature protection management body until 1988, when the State Nature Committee was established with regional and local branches. The main functions of the committee are integrated management of nature protection activities in the district, control over the use of natural resources, etc.
Large-scale industrial development of oil and gas fields in the North of Western Siberia during the second half of the twentieth century led to an aggravation of the ecological situation, the generation of many irreversible processes in the environment. The volume of water resources of the district is quite large and has strategic fisheries, transport, and spiritual and cultural significance for the indigenous peoples of the North.
The purpose of this article is to determine the role of the regional committee for Nature Protection of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug in the late 1980s— 1990s in ensuring the preservation of water resources.