Arctic
Book
Law and Policy
for Sustainable Development
of the Russian Arctic
Summary
The Arctic region is one of the most fragile and environmentally important regions on the planet. Today, it is facing increasingly larger threats including climate change, habitat loss and land fragmentation from infrastructure and industrial development, chemical pollution, the disappearance of traditional activities and knowledge of the northern indigenous peoples.
The book “Law and Policy for Sustainable Development of the Russian Arctic” (Elena Gladun, Hubertus von Dressler, Johannes Kamp) is the result of collaborative research project of the University of Tyumen and its German partner universities. It is the first experience of the University of Tyumen to publish thematic books in English. The primary objective is to introduce ideas of sustainable development and the system of sustainable land management to Russian students and to encourage them to study global problems. The book might be interesting for international readers as it discusses the specifics of Arctic land policy and law in the Russian Federation.
The scope of the book is description of the Arctic regions, mostly in the Russian Federation, and the frameworks of legal regulations of the Arctic land use in the period of industrial development and increasing environmental impacts. The objective is to give an overview of the existing policies and laws and outline the most effective legal mechanisms which provide for sustainable development of the Arctic. A part of the book is devoted to a scenarios planning exercise – presenting the ideas of how the Arctic and, especially, the Yamal region can be developing in the near future.
Acknowledgements
The book is written with the support of V. Potanin Foundation. The authors also wish to express their appreciation and gratitude to Dr. Gerhard Clemens and Yuliana Griewald who contributed a lot to the scenarios development and the study of the sustainable development in the Tyumen Region.
Contents
Sustainable development
The idea of sustainability
Definitions of sustainable development
The evolution of the ”sustainablility” approach
Sustainable development in international regulations
Goals of sustainable development in the new millennium
Sustainable Land Management
The Arctic region: industrial development and environmental impacts
Definition of the Arctic
Characteristics of the Arctic region
Environmental problems
Natural resources and industrial development
Arctic lands
Arctic legal regime
Arctic law
International regulations
Industry regulations
Soft law
State sovereignty over Arctic territories
Domestic law
Transboundary private law
Implementation of sustainable development at the domestic level
States’ compliance with the Arctic law
Compliance and enforcement
Means of compliance and enforcement
Environmental impact assessment as a specific tool of sustainable development
Spatial planning as a way to sustainable development
Definition of land-use planning
Land-use planning at different levels in the state
People in land-use planning
Concept and expansion of spatial planning
Landscape approach in spatial planning
System of landscape planning
Goals of landscape planning
Russian policy and regulations of land use
The framework of land-use regulations in Russia
Land-use planning in Russia
Spatial planning in Russia
Landscape planning in Russia
Land management in Russia
Land use in Yamal region
Land management in Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Distrct
Indigenous peoples and land use
Peoples in the Arctic
Challenges to the northern indigenous peoples
Land use of indigenous peoples
International and domestic regulations of indigenous land use
Scenario development to explore the future of land use in the Arctic region
What is scenario planning?
The future of the Arctic
Global scenarios suggested by Finnish Meteorological Institute
National scenarios
Scenarios of regional development – Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District