Green economics: environmental imperatives of providing economic development of the Arctic zone of the RF

23 October 2015 at the Institute of Regional Studies and Urban Planning Higher School of Economics (Moscow) hosted the 2nd meeting of the Arctic Expert Club, which focused on environmental issues in the economic development of the Russian Arctic. The meeting was prepared by excepts of IRIiGP Higher School of Economics, the Arctic Centre for Strategic Studies NArFU, the Council for Study of Productive Forces of the Russian Federation Ministry of Economic Development and the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), the Arctic Information and analytic center RISS.

The meeting had eight reports available for the participants in two cities (Moscow and Arkhangelsk) via a video link. The meeting was devoted to environmental challenges in the Arctic in the 21st century: threats and prospects for future development; the challenges of sustainable development; the accumulated environmental damage in the Russian Arctic, and the problem of waste; international cooperation aimed at protecting the environment and others.

These issues are of great practical importance, since the Arctic ecosystem is quite unstable and vulnerable to anthropogenic impact, which will only increase due to the planned activity in the North (the development of the Northern Sea Route, mining, strengthening the military presence).

At the beginning of the meeting the participants were welcomed by a speech of the director of the HSE I.N. Ilina. Explaining the choice of the theme of the meeting, she said that the issue of environmental conservation is one of the most pressing in the development of the Arctic.

• V .M. Zakharov, Doctor of biological sciences, professor, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, director of the Institute for Sustainable Development of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation, spoke about the concept of sustainable development, the history, the possibilities of alternative energy. He suggested that the \Arctic could become a pioneering region in the field of renewable energy sources and innovative technologies.

• V .V. Kurteev, Senior Fellow of FGBNIU “Council for the Study productive forces” made the report on the problems of ecological safety, informed about the current (very poor) condition of monitoring systems in the Arctic, transshipment ports in the eastern part of the Russian Arctic and offered to turn to international experience in the sphere of environment protection.

In the report of L.N. Drachkova, associate professor of geography and hydrometeorology of Institute of Natural Sciences and echnologies of NArFU, it was noted that it was necessary to establish a comprehensive environmental management using the latest environmentally-friendly, low-waste technologies, preserve the fragile ecosystem of the Arctic and its development. Storage, disposal and removal of waste products from the areas of new development in the Russian Arctic, as well as recycling should be one of the main concern when planning and implementing any activity in the Russian Arctic.

D.N. Lyzhin, Head of the Sector for bio-economy and sustainable development of the Center for Economic Studies of RISS, announced some international activities in the field of environmental protection in the Arctic, including the international legal instruments. Despite a significant progress in this direction in recent years, it should be admitted that a regional legal regime for the protection of the Arctic environment has not yet been formed.

• V .M. Razumovsky, Vice-President of the Russian Geographical Society, spoke about quite a new direction of regional studies — spatial planning of maritime and coastal areas. He pointed to the basic principles of ecological and sustainable management of marine and coastal areas in relation to the Russian Arctic.

Report of A.N. Olszewski, Head of FGKU “Administration of the Northern Sea Route”, was devoted to the law regulations on merchant shipping in the waters of the Northern Sea Route. The main focus was on environmental requirements, and spills of petroleum products.

• S .P. Gorshkov, Doctor of Geography, professor, Department of Ecology and Earth Sciences of the State University “Dubna”, spoke about the importance of the Russian Arctic for the biosphere, as well as on the sources of pollution in the region.

After the event, the sides exchanged the views on the issues. Thus, there were some more problems discussed: prospects of development of tourism in the Arctic. On the one hand, according to V.V. Kurteev, tourism is hindered by the lack of infrastructure, which is necessary for this field of activity (transport, housing, services). On the other hand, as the director of the Arctic Center for Strategic Studies of NArFU K.S. Zaykov pointed that currently there are ongoing negotiations with the military, so that they allow the use of the airfield on the Alexandra Land (archipelago of Franz

Josef Land) for tourism. The discussions also touched upon the financial aspects of the development of the Arctic today.

Federal and regional management, the policy of the state, economic activity are extremely relevant as well as the choice of directions for the development of the Russian Arctic between the active economic development and reduce of the impact on natural ecosystems. Therefore, longterm development strategy of the Arctic region, the problem of investing a green economy, of course, remain valid. Summarizing the meeting, there is going to be prepared an analytical brochure in Russian and English .

Learn more about the last meeting of the Arctic expert club here: , where you can see the abstracts and the position of the opponents.

The next meeting of the Arctic expert club is scheduled for November 27, 2015. Its theme will be the inter-ethnic relations and migration processes in the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation.