World Snow Forum: snow and its impact on people's lives

According to Mr. Vladimir Kotlyakov, Honorary President of the Russian Geographical Society and Director of the Institute of Geography of the RAS, the topics to be addressed at the forum are of great importance both for science and for society as a whole:

“Even now, during the so-called “global warming”, the amount of snow on the ground does not decrease, but rather increases,” says the expert. “We see on television, hear on the radio that snow is falling all over the Middle East and that a huge mass of snow has been accumulating on the Alps, in Europe, creating significant problems for people.”

During the opening of the plenary session, Sergey Brilyov, Deputy Director of the Russian State TV and Radio Channels "Russia", noted that the Forum organizers were able to specify not only a positive, but also a creative agenda.

“We, together with you, take the arrival of winter for granted. Every year we execute an achievement of civilization, very few people think about living in such an environment like the one we live in. And put together a forum to share experiences between different countries is a brilliant thing. I want to congratulate the organizers of the inaugural forum, because such a broad representation of participants from different countries already means something. And if you make this forum similar to those forums taking place in other countries (water forum and so on), it seems to me that we are at the beginning of a long journey to include our Russian agenda into the world” said Mr. Brylyov.

Experts from various countries will discuss for three days various aspects of life and leisure in the snowy areas of different parts of our plane.

Participants in the area of public services will consider operation of engineering facilities and electricity and heat supply cities in winter conditions, energy efficiency and maintenance of the housing stock.   For sports and tourism industry representatives, organizers of the Forum will include a series of round tables and training seminars for the development of winter resorts, innovative equipment and gear, constructing sports facilities, etc.   At the same time, scientists will work out the impact of snow cover in climate and ecological conditions of the environment as well as changes in snow cover in a changing climate.