News in Press-centre

Valerii POSTNIKOV [text],

Anastasia KOTLYAROVA [photo]

This year the international laboratory for studying climate change—Far Eastern Climate Smart Lab—starts to work in FEFU under the direction of the distinguished environmental scientist, FEFU Professor Riccardo Valentini. Professor Valentini and his Italian colleagues tell our readers about the practical significance of knowledge on climate change.

—Professor, how is climate research important for us?

"Do you see this wooden table? In fact this is nothing more than a condensed atmosphere! A tree is just a combination of carbon, water, and other elements, which are organized by the circulation of substances in nature. The knowledge about the climate can be translated into practical results in the same way. They help to plan the development of economy, urbanization processes, and farmland development. These are matters our Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change at the University of Tuscia (Italy) deals with. It is equipped with the supercomputer that handles data from 500 observation sites worldwide, forms the climate predictions and recommendations used by large corporations and governments.

— What predictions do you have in respect of Russia?

"In June I was invited to the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum as an expert. There I had the opportunity to talk about the climate and its changes and forecasts, about the development of the Russian economy and, in particular, about the Far East as an important region for economic development. Climate change suggests that this region will be promising for agricultural development, food industry, and tourism business.

I believe that in the next decade, Russia could become an important agricultural producer. There are several positive signals for this. Soon, we will complete a study of the condition of the Russian lands from 1975 onwards, and on the basis of this data the forecast is being prepared. We conclude that every year more and more land becomes suitable for growing crops in Russia. This is important not only for Russia but for the whole world. Providing the population with food is a global problem. 9 billion people will inhabit the planet by 2050, and they need to be fed. We need more and more farmland. Russia has a great advantage in this respect—a huge amount of vacant land. I believe that Russia will be able to become an important producer of food for the whole world.

The second part of the question is that you need to diversify the economy. This is an important task and challenge for Russia, as I witnessed at the Economic Forum in St. Petersburg. You can't just rely on oil and gas resources and need to develop other sectors of the economy. I think that agriculture is one of the most important and promising ones for Russia. Of course, Russia has many other opportunities, such as, for example, information technology and electronics, which is also very important.

As a result, climate change, the global food problem, and diversification of the economy are those signals that speak about the need to develop agriculture in Russia. And this implies the development of the food industry. I can speak on this issue not only as a scientist but also as a businessman. I organized the production of pasta with Italian technologies near Moscow. It is made from durum wheat, which is grown in Russia in small amounts. The demand for such products is very high, and the raw material comes from North America. It would be good to grow this wheat in Russia. Such products, from grain to finished pasta products, are in demand throughout the world.

Information: Riccardo Valentini is a professor at the University of Tuscia (Italy), Director of the Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change, and the winner of several prestigious international awards. In 2007 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize as a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) "for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change". In 2015 he was named the Europe Best Ecologist. At the beginning 2016 he visited FEFU for the first time and headed the international multidisciplinary research laboratory for climate study here—Far Eastern Climate Smart Lab.

—What is about Primorsky Krai that has aroused interest of the Italian scientists?

Simona Castaldi, Professor of Ecology, Naples University:

"I am an expert in the area of global climate change and carbon emissions. Primorye interests me as one of the forest regions of temperate zone. The forests of this zone are the main lungs of the planet, which absorb the bulk of carbon dioxide on Earth. We know a lot about the different regions, the tropics, Europe, North America, and Russia. But we have little information specifically about your region. Primorye is unknown to us, not yet detectable puzzle in the overall climate picture of the planet. Knowledge of it can be the key that will open the full picture of climate change in the whole temperate zone, Arctic, and Pacific region.

Luca Belelli Marchesini, a researcher at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (Free University of Amsterdam):

"Russia is a vast belt of forests and agricultural lands; I have been working with Russian materials for more than 15 years. Primorye is interesting in that there is a unique climate and vegetation, and their study is useful for the studies of the rural development prospects. We are also interested in Russia's influence on the amounts of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere of the planet. This information is not only of scientific value but also has an impact on the economy and politics.

Tommaso Chiti, an ecologist, post-doc, University of Tuscia (Italy):

"I am an expert on soils, studying the question of how soils interact in forest ecosystems. I mainly worked in the tropics, but also visited the European part of Russia. It is here that I first discovered that the diversity of forests of Primorye gives new possibilities in the study of soils."

— What is the current status of the Far Eastern Climate Smart Lab?

Riccardo Valentini: "We are just starting our project. Now we have to prepare a lot of documents and agreements. Our July visit is an actual starting point of the activities. One of this year's main tasks is to install equipment for environmental monitoring. We are going to install two stations in the Sikhote-Alin Nature Reserve, two stations in the agricultural area near Ussuriysk, and one on FEFU campus. This equipment consists of the sensors that are mounted on towers. They will show the amount of greenhouse gases produced and absorbed on site. The equipment will operate in real time, 24 hours a day, for years, and it will show the actual state of forests and the environment.

The first tower will be installed here on campus. Hopefully I’ll be able to present it in working order in early September. I will also hold an open lecture for the participants of the Eastern Economic Forum.

We will use the latest version of the device in our laboratory, which we named the Tree Talker. It consists of separate sensors, inserted into a tree, and the register-sender for online transmission of data on water content, growth, and photosynthesis. It will be like a medical device that measures physiological data in humans. We are planning to install such devices on one hundred trees. The data collected will provide information about climate change, and about the viability of forests. I'd like to note that this is the first such device in the world. I believe that it can arouse interest in entrepreneurs and some local companies could produce the equipment. This could be an interesting innovation for the international market. It would be fine if they produced it in Vladivostok for the whole world. The system I will also present at the Eastern Economic Forum."

—How do you plan to use the results of research of the laboratory?

"One of the critical issues of our research is the role of Russia in pollution and preserving the environment. The Russian Government, as an important partner in the global climate policy, may use the data to protect their interests. Russia now participates in environmental restoration agreements from CO2 emissions, which it produces, and makes significant payments according to them. Our system can show the important role of Russian forests to purify the atmosphere. These data may lead to changes in international legal documents, on which Russia pays compensation for environmental pollution. Therefore we say that the Primorye and the Far East, so rich in forests, is an important resource of the Russian economy and environmental policies, and information about the atmosphere and climate is real money.

But our ultimate goal is to create the international center of climate change studies here in FEFU, such as the Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change. It should become the center of excellence in climate research within the entire Asia-Pacific region, and unite scientists from East Asia and Russia. It will be the center focused on the research in the fields of climate change, projections of the future, economic development, planning, and even politics. The most extensive interdisciplinary research by ecologists, biologists, economists, physicists, and mathematicians should be conducted there.

These are very ambitious plans. But if we do not have the ambitions, there is nothing we can do. This is a really important project, because the economy of the future is a Green Economy, and we need scientific knowledge and climate programs for its development. There is no other way for the economy, and it's quite obvious. All the world's governments need to think about this right now, to seek ways of cooperation, and major companies need to take care of environmental sustainability and security. We are working here to this end," emphasizes Riccardo Valentini.

We learned during the conversation that Riccardo Valentini is not only a scholar and businessman, but also a public figure. He is one of 50 members of local parliament in Rome (as one of the Italian provinces), where he was invited as an expert in the field of science, planning, and development of agriculture. Thus, we ventured to talk about politics and asked Italian guests the question about European-Russian relations.

—In Western countries, Russia often appears to be a "terrible" country with many problems. What do you think, is Russia so horrible in reality?

(Laughs) "Absolutely not. Italians have a really good attitude towards Russia and Russians. The relationship between Europe and Russia goes back centuries. I'm talking about Europe, because Italy is an important part of it. We have particularly close ties with St. Petersburg and Moscow. For us, Russia is a part of the European development. There is no reason to divide Europe and Russia. I don't see any borders between us in the fields of science, culture, and art. At the same time I may note that there are significant cultural differences between Europe and America, as well as between Europe and Asia.

The specificity of modern Russia is that you have a very strong leader and Russia becomes noticeably more active in protecting civilization against terrorism. So now many Italians are looking at Russia as the solution to the problem of international terrorism and global wars.

"I would like to express my opinion," says Simona Castaldi. "I don't think that Russia is envisaged as a "terrible" country in Europe. This is not the case. We have many Russian tourists, we see them every day, and we have no reason to think so. I would like to note that Russia and Italy in many respects resemble each other; we have a lot in common—both virtues, and even flaws. Culture brings us closer together. At the same time what we have in common, and not very productive, is bureaucracy, which is strongly developed both in Italy and Russia, and which complicates the work. There is less bureaucracy in Northern Europe (in Netherlands, Germany, and Scandinavia), and everything can be done much faster there.

Relations between Europe and Russia are largely determined by the politicians. The events of recent years show that politics does not unite but separates people. What unites us nevertheless? All the cultural aspects of life. Science in particular."

"I would like to touch on the issue of sanctions, which is very topical now," said Riccardo Valentini. "Give my firm conviction: the adoption of the sanctions was a big mistake. They hamper the cooperation between Europe and Russia. This is my personal opinion. But, despite the sanctions, we are free to cooperate in the field of science. It is not afraid of sanctions and it unites researchers. Science shows us an example of what we must do now: work together to meet common challenges."