Prototype of the Guidelines for Design of Infrastructure Facilities in SPNA presented to experts
On September 12, the Agency for Strategic Initiatives (ASI) held in Moscow the workshop Principles of Organization of Eco-Tourism Infrastructure Facilities with participation of almost 50 experts. Specialists discussed the prototype of the Guidelines for Design of Infrastructure Facilities in Specially Protected Natural Areas (SPNA) presented by the event moderator Nikita Tomin (Fantalis Group).
The document is planned to be placed in the library of smart solutions Smarteka by the end of this year and must be examined and reviewed by the Scientific and Technical Council of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (Minprirody).
"The first area of the ASI's activity in respect of natural areas is analytics. The first thing we did was to figure out our target audience. Big data analysis helped us find out that as much as 600 thous. people reside in federal natural areas, and 40% of the country's population reside within a radius of 30 km from these areas," Project Director of the Local ID Initiative Vyacheslav Ivanov stated at the beginning of the workshop. "And that is just federal natural areas. This evidences that the potential and effect of the systematic introduction of a new management model for these areas may be huge on a nationwide scale. Our second direction is creating eco-tourism development standards; we are now working on this jointly with the Minprirody."
He emphasized that SPNA might become a driver for regional development and help authorities reduce poverty and that a clear mechanism of interaction between interested parties had to be formed to attract businesses to natural areas. In particular, we should pay attention to reduction of uncertainties for businesses, as well as to minimization of administrative and statutory restrictions. In addition, SPNA must engage in biodiversity conservation, environmental education, and involvement of the local population in education programs.
During discussions, experts proposed to take into account several factors in the revised guidelines: criminal situation in case of proximity of SPNA to cities, tourism for nature and nature for tourism principle, special treatment for areas with cultural heritage sites, terms of businesses' participation in the construction of infrastructure facilities, existence of rare animals and plants in SPNA. Moreover, we should take into account local restrictions at the level of each SPNA, as well as prescribe boundaries for raising the investment attractiveness of natural areas, who and how will use infrastructure facilities, and the number of storeys in buildings. Besides, it is important to pay attention to the problem of nature protection, human rights, and the social and cultural factor in SPNA.
The Guidelines for Design of Infrastructure Facilities in SPNA are meant to give answers to the following four questions: How to understand what to construct? What must infrastructure facilities be like? How to apply the sustainable development concept to their design, construction, and operation? What is their cost?
To understand the kind of infrastructure to be constructed, the users of the Guidelines will have to complete 14 steps: from selecting a zone of SPNA (nature reserves, natural and national parks, wildlife sanctuaries) to determining the average monthly temperature, wind speed, proximity to population areas, and the potential flow of visitors.
Afterwards, it is required to use the matrix created by the developers of the Guidelines, as well as a set of codes showing the level of applicability of specific infrastructure under any given conditions.
By way of illustration, a task was given to select the most appropriate type of visitor center to be located in the Ugra National Park in the Kaluga Region. The Guidelines provide for three types of visitor centers: The first type is a visitor center with basic functions, a showroom (Subtype 1.2), event halls (1.3), and a minicafe (1.4). The second type is an open-plan visit center with varying functions. The third type is a center that can be enlarged with factory containers.
Upon completion of all steps, Ugra turned out to be the appropriate place for a visit center with basic functions, event halls, and a minicafe (1.4) or an open-plan visit center with varying functions. Their advantage is due to the eco-tourism potential of the area, a predictable flow of SPNA visitors, and relatively favorable building conditions.