Altai Republic

Altai Republic operates as a continental refugium—a pristine mountain sanctuary where rare species and ancient cultures persist in isolation. With just 210,924 residents across 92,903 square kilometers, it is Russia's least populous republic, a demographic sparseness that paradoxically protects its most valuable asset: ecological integrity. The Golden Mountains of Altai UNESCO World Heritage Site covers 25% of the territory, making this one of Earth's last great wilderness areas accessible to tourism.

The region demonstrates island biogeography principles despite being landlocked. Mount Belukha (4,506m), Siberia's highest peak, anchors a mountain "archipelago" that shares more ecological and cultural connections with neighboring Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and China than with European Russia. The indigenous Altaians regard Belukha as the gateway to Shambhala in their spiritual traditions—a belief system that has survived Soviet suppression. Lake Teletskoye, 80 kilometers long and 325 meters deep, functions as a freshwater ecosystem comparable to a tropical reef in its biological importance.

Tourism now drives economic transformation. The 2.2 million visitors in 2020 to this "economically depressed but ecologically pristine" region marked a fundamental shift from extractive industry. The Manzherok Alpine Complex offers 60 kilometers of ski trails year-round, while 434 classified accommodation facilities (up from 168) now pay a new tourism tax that collected 18.5 million rubles in its first months. The Kalbak-Tash petroglyph complex, nominated for UNESCO status as an "open-air museum," represents another path dependence: tourism monetizes what mining would destroy. Rich deposits of gold, silver, tungsten, lithium, and mercury remain largely untouched—a form of natural capital preservation rare in resource economies.