Arctic and North

10

Authors: Natalya V. RODNINA

The transformations taking place in Russia since the 90s have changed both the political and economic and social systems of the country. Privatization led to a loss of manageability of all agriculture, but significantly negatively affected the traditional agricultural sectors of Yakutia. The transformation of organizational and legal forms and the transition to small-scale production negatively affected animal husbandry as the main occupation of the republic's indigenous population. Despite government support for traditional industries, there has been no positive change. Of particular concern is the implementation of large industrial projects in the Arctic. The subject of the study is factors and trends affecting the socio-economic situation and the development of traditional industries. The goal is to determine the features and patterns of the development of traditional industries and assess the impact of ongoing transformations in the Arctic on their condition. The research hypothesis is the assumption of insufficient state regulation measures and mutually beneficial economic relations with business in the industrial development of the Arctic. The results of the studies showed the need to increase the attention of all levels of government in deciding on the development of a particular territory of the Arctic and identifying such rules and mechanisms for companies that should not only ensure the preservation of agricultural industries, but also improve the quality and standard of living of the population. The research methodology is based on system analysis using economic and statistical methods, analytical and computational algorithms for processing information on the development of agro-industrial complex and changing dynamics, including content analysis.

10

Authors: Irina M. SUVOROVA

The study aims to identify the hierarchy of value dominants in the axiosphere of the Karelian Arctic residents, which has developed under the influence of natural, social, economic, and cultural-historical factors. The methodology used is complex and includes sociological, economic questionnaires, focus groups, and in-depth interviews. The study’s cameral stage is based on an analysis of the empirical stage results conducted during a comprehensive scientific expedition of scientists of Petrozavodsk State University to two Arctic regions of Karelia in the summer of 2019. The most important in the study is the cross-cultural approach, based on comparing the results of a survey of respondents - the Karelian Arctic residents with the “general cultural profile” of S. Schwartz and identifying the level of validity of the applied psychological methodology. During the study, the author’s hypothesis about features in the axiological preferences of the inhabitants of the Arctic zone at the level of dominant indicators is confirmed. At the stage of analysis and synthesis of the empirical stage results, the relationship of preserving human capital in the Arctic regions of Karelia with the identified value dominants of residents’ health and safety is established. Special attention is paid to the influence of the current socio-cultural situation on the formation of the axiosphere of the inhabitants of the Arctic zone, and the conclusion is also made about the need for an integrated scientific approach in determining the prospects for the development of society in the Arctic regions.

12

Authors: Boris Kh. KRASNOPOLSKIY

Mechanisms for coordinating the activities of international interstate and macro-regional organizations of the North-Arctic regions, the implementation of which may be directly related to the program of the Russian Federation’s Presidency of the International Arctic Council in 2021-2023, are proposed. Among these organizations, primarily the Arctic Council is an international forum, which operates on the basis of interstate government agreements of the highest level between the Arctic countries. But in recent years, the Arctic territories’ activities at the macro-regional and regional levels, their regional and local governments have increased. How are the efforts of these top-level intergovernmental and regional communities and societies coordinated? For example, how is the interaction of the Arctic Council with the established sufficiently effective Barents / Euro-Arctic Council (BEAC) or the Northern Forum regulated and the newly created Bering / Pacific-Arctic Council (BPAC)? Do we need clear and well-coordinated mechanisms for this interaction and who should do it? The analysis concludes that a special task force is needed within the Arсtic Council structure to develop mechanisms for coordinating its activities with similar macro-regional struсtures to make the process a coherent and focused one to address the priorities of the Arctic basin in the coming decades. The duration of this task force will depend on the outcome of the task at hand. This proposal is very timely, as it is possible to implement it during the presidency of the Russian Federation in the Arctic Council in 2021–2023.

14

Authors: Maria A. PITUKHINA

Nowadays, the potential for international cooperation in the Arctic is concentrated within the framework of such an influential international structure as the Arctic Council, where Russia is presiding over soon in 2021–2023. The article is devoted to international cooperation evaluation of 15 Arctic universities from 7 Arctic Council member-states with a student contingent of at least 3,600 people (2 in the USA, 1 in Iceland, 5 in Russia, 2 in Finland, 2 in Sweden, 2 in Norway, 1 in Canada). It seems possible to evaluate international cooperation potential between Arctic universities through the prism of 10 quantitative indicators, including the number of international students admitted to the university; number of courses taught in English; number of educational programs for international students; a number of foreign scientists invited to the university, etc. We can evaluate both academic mobility within the Arctic universities and vocational education internationalization due to accumulated statistical data.

15

Authors: Pavel A. GUDEV

The second part of the paper shows that the regime of navigation in the Arctic, particularly on the NSR, defended by Russia today, is much more liberal than that which existed in the Soviet years: up to the Gorbachev’s 1987 Murmansk speech the Soviet Arctic was a closed sea region for foreign navigation. Permissive order of passage established today at the level of Russian national legislation applies only to civil ships, and in the framework of the 1982 Convention, measures to protect the marine environment from pollution from ships cannot be applied to warships, military auxiliary ships, and ships on the state non-commercial service. However, the presence on the Northern Sea routes of water areas with the status of internal historical waters, including several Arctic straits, plus the special legal status of the Arctic, which is not limited exclusively to the 1982 Convention, allows Russia to insist on the applicability of the permit regime also to foreign warships. This approach is based mainly on the two states’ practice with the longest coastline in the Arctic: the USSR and Canada. Navigation along the NSR in today’s ice conditions is not yet possible without passing through the waters of the Russian Arctic Straits, whose waters are classified by the USSR as internal on historical legal grounds. Although under the 1982 Convention, they can be conditionally regarded as international, the lack of permanent transit through them makes it possible not to recognize them as such. However, the Russian Federation’s task to turn the NSR into an international shipping route may lead to a weakening of the current legal position. A similar situation may arise concerning the enforcement of Article 234 “Ice Covered Areas” of the 1982 Convention, which gives the Arctic countries additional rights in the field of navigation control. Lack of ice cover in the Arctic during most of the year can significantly strengthen the position of Russia’s opponents, who insist on a too broad interpretation of this article on our part. Finally, climatic changes may lead to the NSR becoming more latitudinal, and then the Russian Federation will lose any legal grounds to regulate navigation.

16

Authors: Nikolay N. GAGIEV, Lyudmila P. GONCHARENKO, Sergey A. SYBACHIN, Anna A. SHESTAKOVA

In 2021, the Russian Federation will assume the chairmanship of the Arctic Council. This fact confirms the special attention of the country’s leadership to the unique geostrategic region. In December 2020, President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, at an online meeting with volunteers and finalists of the contest “Volunteer of Russia”, noted that Russia would grow with the Arctic and the territories of the North. Many Russian citizens’ lives and the state’s success in the international arena depend on this territory’s development. One of the most important mechanisms for achieving the stated goals is national projects (NP), which should make a significant contribution to the development of the country’s territory. The purpose of the study is to assess NP in the subjects that are entirely related to the Arctic zone: Murmansk oblast, Nenets Autonomous Okrug (NAO), Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug (YANAO), and Chukotka Autonomous Okrug (CHAO). In the course of the work, general scientific research methods were applied: comparative analysis, data comparison, induction, deduction, etc. The study results showed that, despite all the differences in economic and geographical position, financial condition, population, and regional development priorities, all Arctic regions have similar problems that hinder the effective development of territories. Without solving the problems indicated in the work, it is impossible to expect a qualitative «break-through» and implement the NP’s goals.

20

Authors: Natalya V. DYADIK, Anastasiya N. CHAPARGINA

The growing interest in environmental problems on the part of society leads to the fact that more and more attention is paid to the activities of enterprises, and the criteria for the greening of their production are becoming more stringent. With the growth of industrial production, the scale of the negative impact on the environment increases, so simply discussing environmental problems becomes insufficient. There is a need for a comprehensive accounting of the environmental performance of organizations and the development of measures to compensate for the resulting environmental damage. The article examines the issues of environmental and economic relations between business and government in the Russian Arctic. The purpose of this study is to form a theoretical approach to solving the problem of greening the Arctic regions based on the analysis of the ecological and economic relations between government and business. Legal and economic instruments for regulating environmental protection in Russia, as well as strategic documents for the development of the Russian Arctic in the field of ecology are analyzed. An assessment of the environmental and economic responsibility of companies operating in the Russian Arctic is carried out on the basis of non-financial reporting data. The results of the analysis show that the presented non-financial information is not transparent enough, and the level of business responsibility is rather low. To solve the problem posed, the authors propose a theoretical approach to building a "green" partnership, which allows finding a compromise between the interests of the state and business. The formation of an integrated ecological and economic approach in the state regulation of environmental protection activities will allow reaching a point of bifurcation in the relationship between government and business and thereby leveling the anthropogenic load on the ecosystem of the territory.

32

Authors: Aliaksei PATONIA

Iceland — an independent republic — and Greenland — an autonomous country within Denmark — represent two nations with similar geographical, economic, and historical backgrounds. Isolated from the continents, both are significantly affected by an adverse climate, making their economies dependent on trade and import. Nevertheless, despite their similarities, their national energy patterns differ substantially. Specifically, Iceland covers most of its energy mix with local renewables, whereas Greenland meets most of the energy demand with imported hydrocarbons. This paper investigates the reasons for Greenland lagging behind Iceland in terms of developing renewable energy resources. It hypothesises that, apart from the commonly-mentioned geographical, institutional, and cultural factors, the difference in social capital level has significantly contributed to the countries’ divergent energy strategies. In this sense, Iceland’s higher social capital stock stimulates its renewable power progress, whereas Greenland’s lower social capital level hampers it. To examine this hypothesis, the article constructs a ‘social capital tripod’, which assumes specific geographical, institutional, and cultural factors to be linked to renewable energy development through social capital. The findings demonstrate that Greenland, being dependent on hydrocarbon import, has a significantly lower expected level of social capital than Iceland, which runs mostly on renewables, therefore generally aligning with the research hypothesis.