Arctic and North

6

Authors: Konstantin S. ZAIKOV, Nikita A. SOBOLEV

The article discusses the pollution of marine environment with plastic waste, in particular, the accumulation of microplastics in the oceans, which is one of the most serious environmental problems both in the world and in the Russian Arctic. Alongside with other world oceans, the Arctic Ocean and the Barents Sea have become places of plastic accumulation, causing great harm to the fragile ecosystem of the Arctic region. Researchers have found microplastics not only in Arctic waters, but also in the ice of the Arctic seas. Plastic debris is carried by ocean currents from more densely populated areas of the planet. Local sources, such as fishing and other commercial activities, as well as waste water, are one more reason. Microplastics adversely affect living organisms in the ocean. In particular, plastic can cause physical harm and disrupt body formation of marine animals, as well as cause death by suffocation or ingestion of plastic. At the same time, plastics can accumulate persistent organic pollutants on their surface, which can poison marine animals, damaging the entire food chain.

10

Authors: Vyacheslav A. TSUKERMAN, Elena S. GORYACHEVSKAYA

The analysis of methods for assessing the financial opportunities for increasing the economic efficiency of industrial enterprises using absolute and relative indicators and coefficients was carried out. A mechanism for determining financial possibilities for realizing innovative potential of northern mining enterprises of non-ferrous metallurgy, based on the method of assessing the three-component coefficient, which allows choosing the most rational strategy of scientific and technological development, taking into account financial resources and features of production functioning in the northern regions of the Russian Federation, was developed. It is shown that the proposed methodology can be used with limited information in the accounting statements provided in public access. On the basis of objective indicators, the research of innovation activity of twenty industrial enterprises of non-ferrous metallurgy directly operating in the North and the Arctic and included as subsidiaries and branches of seven largest corporations — PJSC MMC “Norilsk Nickel”, JSC “Mine Karalveem”, PJSC “Acron”, JSC “Mining company “Berelekh”, PJSC “Seligdar”, OJSC “Susumanzoloto”, JSC “Polymetal” for the period 2013–2019 was carried out. Studies showed the dependence of the innovation activity of northern enterprises of non-ferrous metallurgy on the level of financial security revealed by the method of assessing the three-component coefficient. Scientifically substantiated possibility of developing and implementing a strategy of innovation development of enterprises for the medium and long term periods based on the level of financial security is shown. Enterprises with high financial security or in special cases (with additional investments with normal financial security) are able to generate innovation technologies. As the analysis has shown, the majority of northern enterprises have low financial security, which does not allow them to count on effective innovative development without attracting a significant amount of targeted investments.

11

Authors: Natalya A. SEROVA

About a quarter of the world's natural gas and oil reserves are concentrated in the Arctic, which has led to increased interest of the world powers in this region in recent years. The Russian Federation has the greatest resource potential in this macro-region. This article examines the transformation of economic processes in the Russian Arctic. The relevance of the study is determined by the fact that in order to achieve the main goals and implement the tasks of the modern state Arctic policy of Russia, it is necessary to have a clear understanding of the features and patterns of economic processes taking place in this region. The author has analyzed the indicators characterizing some aspects of the economic development of the territories of the Russian Arctic in 1950–2018. According to the results of the analysis, three fundamentally different periods of the development of this region were identified: 1950–1990 — an intensive stage of economic development of the Arctic territories; 1990–1999 — the stage of market relations formation; from 2000 to the present — the stage of “redevelopment” of the Arctic. The main features of the economic development of the Arctic territories at each stage are shown. Conclusions concerning the tasks of the current stage of development are made. The assumption about the contemporary tendencies and the need to find new effective approaches to the management of the region is put forward.

12

Authors: Aleksandr Yu. TSVETKOV

Weekend rest is an important part of a person's recreational cycle. Northerners need a good rest to maintain their health. The choice of a place for vacation is associated with restrictions on the time of movement, since its period should not be longer than 2–3 days. The purpose of the research is to select the most suitable transport areas for residents of the Arkhangelsk urban agglomeration, taking into account the landscape and tourist resources. Based on the study of vehicles and the geographical location of tourist services, three sectors were identified, limited by five–hour transport accessibility from the cities of the Arkhangelsk agglomeration. The most promising for priority development is the southern sector, the centers of which can be the villages of Kholmogory and Emetsk. Excursion, relaxation, ecological and sports tourism can be offered there at any time of the year. The transit position of the main roads of the region gives this sector the advantages of attracting tourists from other regions. The western and eastern sectors have significant recreational potential, but their use is constrained by poor transport accessibility. The western sector with the center in the city of Onega is promising for the development of seaside relaxation tourism in summer and sports tourism in winter. The eastern sector with two centers in the villages of Pinega and Karpogory is promising for ecological, sports and excursion tourism throughout the year.

15

Authors: Valery P. ZHURAVEL

The analytical review is devoted to the progress and results of the three-day business trip (March 17–19, 2021) of the President of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Academician A.M. Sergeev, to the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) as part of a large group of scientists from the Russian Academy of Sciences and its Siberian branch. During this period, he visited more than 20 scientific and educational objects in Yakutsk and Tiksi village, met with their leaders, got acquainted with the main directions of their activities. The article reveals and analyzes numerous meetings of the President of the Russian Academy of Sciences with scientists, his speeches at conferences and round tables, where his key positions and assessments regarding the role of science in the development of Russia and Yakutia are outlined in the light of the requirements of the decree of the President of the Russian Federation “On measures to improve the efficiency of state scientific research and technical policy”. Special attention is paid to the results of meetings with the leadership of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), the Academy of Sciences of the republic, visits to the Federal Research Center “Yakutsk Scientific Center of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences" and its institutions, North-Eastern Federal University named after M.K. Ammosov, scientific and educational laboratory "Agrokub", the Polar Geocosmophysical Observatory, the station of rocket sounding of the atmosphere and the wind-diesel complex. The article contains innovative material on a comprehensive development plan for the Tiksi village. Speaking about the importance of a business visit to the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), the author notes that this trip took place in the Year of Science and Technology in Russia, on the eve of the Russian Federation's chairmanship in the Arctic Council, and thus emphasized the importance of the region in the Arctic state policy and gave a good impetus for further development of scientific organizations and science in Yakutia. According to the results of work in Yakutia, the President of the Russian Academy of Sciences A.M. Sergeev highly appreciated the scientific and technological potential of the region, noted the most promising areas of fundamental and applied research that can ensure breakthrough development of the region.

17

Authors: Mariya A. KOBZEVA

The article analyzes the cooperation between China and Russia in the field of Arctic shipping. The author compares the tasks of the Northern Sea Route development and the Ice Silk Road construction. This allows identifying the factors that promote and hinder cooperation. The author examines the specifics of the Sino-Russian format of comprehensive partnership and strategic interaction that helps to mitigate contradictions between the national interests of the two states. The author examines the current cooperation between Russia and China in the field of Arctic shipping, identifying strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in key areas of interaction (SWOT analysis). The author concludes that differences between interests and status of the two states in the Arctic provides Russia a strategic advantage in its relations with the PRC. This balance may be maintained within the framework of a multilateral cooperation. At the same time, cooperation with China in the field of marine security is promising in case of keeping existing power balance. In conclusion, the author suggests areas for cooperation to increase the effectiveness of bilateral interaction in the field of Arctic shipping.

21

Authors: Tatyana I. TROSHINA, Olga M. MOROZOVA, Nadezhda A. VOROBYEVA

One of the global challenges of our time is the conflict of man and human communities with the rapidly changing world order, which has an aspect lying at the intersection of culture and human physiology — the conformity of food behavior to lifestyle and the environment. The vitality and resilience of modern humans is subjected to special challenges. Comfortable conditions of existence in the modern world have a reverse side, expressed in diseases associated with sedentary lifestyle, psychotraumatization, violation of the usual nutrition pattern. These changes are especially noticeable on the example of indigenous peoples of the North, who have lived in relative isolation for a long time, as well as on the example of migrants forced to work in unusual natural and climatic conditions and, in general, abruptly and for a relatively short period of time (which does not allow "launching" the adaptation mechanisms) to change the whole habitual way of life. These categories of population are of special interest for researchers, including in connection with the reactions of body to changes in the food model. The idea of optimal food for the human body, formed in the course of nutriological studies, often contradicts the food traditions of peoples living in conditions far from being favourable. Since the end of the 19th century, balanced consumption of fats, proteins and carbohydrates was perceived as a civilization sign of mature modern society, and any deviations were treated as primitive practices. Over time, the approach to studying the lifestyle of traditional societies evolved from the perspective of the mechanism of human adaptation to different habitats. Traditions, including eating habits, are regarded as an optimum point of survival with the highest level of food, fuel and other material resources available in a given habitat. In addition to the problems of traditional and modernized food supply, the article focuses on the painful conditions associated with the disruption of the habitual way of life, work and nutrition of various groups of northern residents — in historical retrospect and at the present stage. Archive and literary sources, results of modern medical and social research and own field material (ethnosociological and biomedical) were used for the analysis. As a result of the generalization of the data set, which includes the authors' own research, it has been concluded that, in addition to ensuring the supply of basic foodstuffs, preventive medicines and high-quality preventive medicine for permanent residents and temporary workers in the Arctic, it is advisable to take into account the survival practices of indigenous peoples that have been developed over the centuries, creating the conditions for new settlers for assimilation. The credibility of these traditions is given by their high viability and their focus on the ethnic survival of indigenous people in the North.

27

Authors: Tatyana P. SKUFYINA, Elena A. KORCHAK, Sergey V. BARANOV

The uniqueness of today's social processes triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic determines the lack of insights into the transformation of the socio-economic space of the Russian Arctic. The purpose of this article is to review the past, recent, and future conditions for development and management of the Russian Arctic, considered in the context of the unfolding crisis of a non–economic nature and its consequences. The methodological peculiarity of the review is presentation of the phenomenon of the current crisis in the context of interrelated fundamental problems of the development of the Russian Arctic, the new economic reality, which makes it difficult to reliably predict the future. This naturally led to the substantiation of a series of contradictions and difficulties in implementing the declared development goals of the Russian Arctic, that are specifically reflected in the title of the article — "chimeras", which in biology means an organism consisting of genetically heterogeneous cells. A statistical description of the specifics of socio-economic development of the Arctic regions under the COVID-19 pandemic has been carried out in the context of review of the support measures, examination of the economic structure and the corresponding scale of "disconnection" of the regions' economies during the period of isolation and the subsequent recovery. It is revealed that the Arctic regions demonstrate greater economic resilience compared to the overall Russian situation, which is associated not so much with the strengthening of stabilization measures at the federal level with the support of the regional level, but with the fundamental reasons — the relative simplicity of the Arctic extractive economy, higher population incomes, low level of small and medium business development. Navigation on the risks and opportunities of governing the Russian Arctic has been carried out, linking the fundamentals and the practical implications of the study through the traditional rationale for navigating and considering the practice of managing an object, in our case, the Arctic, as well as routing, which is, choosing the path to follow. In particular, it makes a strong case that the pandemic has deepened the problems and risks that are also major management targets for the "precursor" period and creates a new hypothetical risk — the diminishing scale of the Arctic's social and economic development goals, including practices for securing conditions for increased standards of living and quality of life for its people.