Up until now, multiple institutions across Russia monitor permafrost and focus on local results. Oil and gas industries do not share their permafrost results with each other. Human impact from energy industries has cumulatively increased permafrost temperature which further affects their infrastructure. The researchers recommend a new state monitoring system which can be linked to…
Category: Russia
Eco efficiency adds up in Russian regions
Researchers found eco efficiency grew between 1998 and 2017 except some northern and Siberian regions with lower populations, less technology and investmental potential. They noticed GDP growth with eco efficiency provides a sustainable development model. They used data from RosStat (Russia’s national statistics service). They calculated efficiency using data envelopment analysis (DEA). To assess the…
Silent soldiers of the environmental protection: the issues and challenges of the Russian peatlands.
Peatlands are a key element of environmental sustainability and have a special place in the context of climate change. However, their importance is still underrated in Russia. We discussed the current challenges with Dr Tatiana Minayeva, the leader of the Russian peatland restoration project at Wetlands International. How did you become professionally involved in climate change…
Riddled with doubts – climate change conversations in Russia
The effects of climate change in Russia have become more apparent in the past years, and policymakers are recently active in addressing the issue. Yet, a lot of Russians think climate change is bad, but do not see it as a serious problem either recognize the role of human activity. Kokorin discusses the reasons such…
Nothing goes to waste: sustainable practices of re-use among indigenous groups in the Russian North
Do the main inventions in current environmental sustainability practices always come from the metropolitan research centres? Could they also be of ‘non-Western’ origin? To answer and challenge these questions, Siragusa and Arzyutov explored waste practices among two indigenous communities in the Russian North – Nenets and Veps as part of ethnographic fieldwork since 2009. They highlight…
Distilling hard and soft water strategies in climate adaption policies
Despite Russia’s rich freshwater resources, it faces significant water problems, which arise from the country’s adaptation policy with low priority to climate action and less advanced risk management. Safonov from NRU HSE, Moscow outlines the key characteristic of water-related problems in the world’s biggest country. Firstly, Russia is one of the world’s leaders in its…
Shades of green or black for Russia’s energy prospecting?
In recent years, the Russian state and businesses have been supportive for the national renewable energy development, however, the future of the industry is not yet clear as indicated in Proskuryakova and Ermolenko’s paper. The goal was to foresee the future for the renewable energy sector in Russia, and to provide a scientific ground for…
To see or not to see – climate change and climate skepticism in Russian and US science
Modern science is global, and we expect the standards of scientific research to be same around the world. Yet, twenty environmental scientists from different nations have dissimilar views. Dronin and Bychkova studied what these Russian and American scientists see as key environmental issues. After a series of interviews with prominent researchers, they found that the…
Detecting a methane rush over the Arctic seas
The Arctic is warming twice as fast compared to the rest of the World. The Arctic ocean contains gigatons of organic carbon and methane hydrates. Warming may induce liberation of this methane into the atmosphere. This greenhouse gas would start a positive feed-back: the warmer water – the faster methane emission, the higher concentration the…
More than meets the Northern eyes – climate change perceptions in Northern Russia
Dr. Anisimov and Orttung gave an insight into the public perceptions of climate change in Northern Russia. While Northern Russia demonstrates high rates of climate change, regional adaptation policies are yet to be established, and public views on the issue are poorly known. Russia is important in international climate discussions as the country occupies a…
