Scientific discussion on the topic "Sustainable development of the Northern Territories: opportunities and limitations"
November 23 at Syktyvkar State University named after P. Sorokin, who joined and became a member of the Sustainable Development Consortium at the beginning of 2023, held a scientific discussion on the topic "Sustainable development of the Northern Territories: opportunities and limitations" within the framework of the Science Festival. The participants of the discussion were students, masters, university professors and researchers of the KNC Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
The main topic of discussion is related to demography and human resources as a factor of sustainable development of the North. In the late twentieth and early twentieth centuries, the northern regions faced demographic challenges such as migration outflow, aging of the population, reduction in the proportion of men, and deformation of the population settlement. Andrey Smirnov, Senior Researcher at the Institute of Energy, Socio-Economic Problems of the North of the KSC Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Ph.D. in Economics, addressed these issues.
The participants of the discussion asked many questions to the speaker, a young scientist. They expressed optimistic scenarios for the future of the North, proposed conditions and ways to consolidate youth in the Komi Republic.
Co-author of the monograph "Demographic and labor factors of sustainable development of the northern regions of Russia", 2018 edition
Presented the author's monograph "Demography of the Russian Arctic in the Digital age", published in 2023.
Lecture hall
The questions that were asked (the main ones are given)
- Is it possible to stop the outflow of young people from the republic, what needs to be done to do this?
- Does Andrey Vladimirovich support the discussion that has unfolded at the level of the Russian and regional authorities on methods of increasing the birth rate? In particular, is gender equality being abolished? Does maternity capital stimulate fertility?
- Is the shift method of developing the North a benefit or new problems for the North? What to do with northern single-industry towns, for example, Vorkuta, Inta.
- What are the population projections for Russia as a whole? Will the population grow or decrease?
Most of the questions asked have no clear answer, as the speaker also said. He cited and referred quite privately to the opinions of domestic researchers on demographic issues.
Summary of the whole discussion – it is necessary to hold such discussions, raise urgent issues for the North, young people begin to think more about their future and the future of their small homeland.