The Altai Mountains transboundary region (Greater Altai) is a mountainous region located in the very center of Eurasia and connects four countries: Russia, Mongolia, China, and Kazakhstan. The Altai Mountains have significant glaciation (approximately 1,330 glaciers) containing up to 50 billion cubic meters of water that provide the region’s water (both in terms of glacial and ground water). Shrinking glaciers are one of climate change’s impacts. The socioeconomic status of local residents depends directly on the region’s climate and sustainable development in Altai overall. Knowledge of the region’s geophysical and energy-informational characteristics is an aggregate constant for renewable and non-renewable resources here. Today, it is clear that it is necessary to inventory these constants in order to formulate a development strategy for Greater Altai nations. Because it is clear that landscape creates culture, traditional indigenous culture is one factor that facilitates the correct calculation of criteria to evaluate development risks in this area. In this regard, Altai’s importance in the modern conditions of globalization is undoubtedly high: as a multiplier of indigenous cultures, as a historical and cultural homeland for Eurasian peoples that have since left, and as a natural indicator counterbalancing intercivilizational and intercontinental vectors of interaction.
The Scientific Research Laboratory for Ethnoculturological and Ecological Research operates within two scientific institutions: Polzunov Altai State Technical University and the Institute for Water and Ecological Problems (Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences).
The Laboratory is a scientific research subdivision of Polzunov Altai State Technical University and its Humanitarian Studies Department.
