Altai is a unique noospherical region

The above statement is not just an expression of love for our little hometown.  It is the result of many years of study of Altai and practical work for its conservation and development.

The term “noospherical region” has already become widely used, although there is still some discussion as to the meaning of the noospherical concept, itself.  For us, it is tied both to the idea of an inevitable transition to a civilization of a new type - noospherical or spirituo-ecological - and that certain regions have optimal conditions for such a transition:

• advantageous geographical and geopolitical positions;
• availability of strategic biospherical resources; biodiversity; recreational potential;
• rich cultural-historical heritage; a tradition of peaceful coexistence and cooperation between peoples and cultures;
• developed models of a regional noospherical strategy.

Applying these criteria to Altai, it’s clear that the region has few rivals — not only in all of Eurasia, but in the whole world — and it is called to play an important role in the formation of a noospherical civilization.  The Altai Region (or Greater Altai, as it is often called) is nestled in the “heart” of the Eurasian continent, at the crossing of the borders of four great states: China, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and Russia.  From time immemorial, the region has been one of the most important centers of cultural and agricultural interaction between peoples, and the crossing of many trade routes and cultural influences.  Still today, Altai is blooming with active regional cooperation, in which our Fund is constantly participating.  (See section: “Our common home, Altai”)

Altai is distinguished by exceptional biospherical value:

• within a relatively small space are represented each of the landscape types found on the Eurasian continent.  Many of the natural features of Altai are included on UNESCO’s Natural World Heritage List, “Golden Mountains of Altai”;
• Altai is a source of clean water and air; its glaciers and forests feed the major rivers of the region—Khovd, Irtysh, Katun’, and Kanas—providing life for the people on the huge expanse of Siberia and Central Asia, and supporting the ecological balance of the planet;
• a significant global center of biodiversity, Altai is home to hundreds of species of endemic plants, birds and animals included in the Red Book.

Of course, this natural bounty, first and foremost, is in need of conservation and protection, especially from such destructive projects as the Katun’ Hydroelectric Station or the gasline and railroad across Ukok Plateau.  That’s why one of the main directions of our Fund’s work is called just that —“Save Altai!”

Greater Altai has an extraordinary historical-cultural legacy:

- archaeological discoveries of global importance were made here — sites belonging to Afanasevo, Andronovo, Scytho-Sarmatian, Hun, and ancient Turkic cultures.  The many archaeological finds allow Altai to be counted as one of the oldest ancestral homes of humanity;

- this was the stage for the rise and intensive interaction of the major ethnos of Eurasia: Arian, Chinese, Mongolian, Turkic, and Finno-Ugric.  Many people of Korean, Turkic, and Hungarian nationalities consider Altai their historical birthplace, while dozens more cultures still peacefully coexist here, preserving their cultural identity through the centuries;

- religious dialog exists between all of the major world religions (different sects of Islam, Buddhism, and all branches of Christianity) and ancient Shamanic cults represented here;

- the most important elements of national culture and tradition have been preserved here and even seen new development—most notably, the sanctification of nature (it’s no coincidence that these major natural objects turn up sacral simultaneously, like Katun’ or Ukok), and eco-oriented principles of the use of nature.  They have not only practical and educational meaning, but also new ways of being understood in the light of modern knowledge.

Out of all this comes the main goal of noospherical development strategy of the Altai region, for which the Fund for 21^st Century Altai has already stood for many years in its publications and projects: it is essential to work together to preserve and rationally use the unique cultural-biospherical property of Greater Altai in the interests of all of the peoples living here and for the benefit of the whole world.

Accordingly, we can define the basic principles and courses of action in the Greater Altai Region:

• preservation of  the main natural and cultural-historical (sacral) relics as guarantors of biospherical and social stability in Altai;
• employment of new, ecological-economic approaches and methods in the formation of strategies of regional development;
• development of non-traditional energy and other alternative technologies;
• orientation towards the production of environmentally clean goods and their promotion in the world market; development of tourism and recreation;
• development of international cooperation in the form of the “Our common home, Altai” movement: development of scientific, cultural, and personal connections between the young people of the region, in the form of the annual International summer school of students of the Altai Region; formation of a united educational and cultural space in the region, through the exchange of television programs, films, and publications. 

The last goal is fulfilled in part by the Fund’s publication established a few years ago: an international almanac, “The Altai Herald.”