Sustainable Development of the Arctic

Author(s):  
Liudmila Lapochkina ◽  
Elena Vetrova

Circumpolar territories and the regions related to the Arctic are those rich with natural resources. They have a high potential for the development of mining and extractive industries. The abundance with resources makes the North increasingly attractive for investments. However, circumpolar territories are characterized by peculiar socio-economic, natural, and climatic conditions which taken together frequently pose a negative impact on people and hinder the exploration opportunities of the Arctic resources. In global, regional, and sub-regional levels, the development of the Arctic is heavily regulated by multilateral international treaties. However, the issues of monitoring and assessment of the sustainable development of the Arctic remain open, which stems from the absence of agreed criteria and indicators for assessing sustainability in the context of national, regional, and scientific approaches. It necessitates the development of a specific methodological approach to the establishment of a system to monitor and assess the sustainable development of the Arctic.

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dimitrios Paraskevadakis ◽  
Alan Bury ◽  
Jin Wang ◽  
Jun Ren ◽  
Stephen Bonsall ◽  
...  

Abstract In the North West of England the issue of a perceived infrastructure gap is of increasing concern. Investment needs to be made to improve the transport infrastructure of the region if it is to be expected to promote the development of its own regional logistics gateway. Funding tools have been set up to address the challenges arising from the imbalance in infrastructure development that exists between regions in the north of the United Kingdom and those in the south. For regions with well developed economies the outlook is promising as the availability of modern transport infrastructure looks set to improve. However, some sources believe that the development of new transport infrastructure will have a negative impact upon sustainable development. It is expected that this will occur in a range of both direct and indirect ways. As a result, it is critical that planning for the creation of new intermodal transport infrastructure, or the upgrading of that which already exists, takes into account the impact that these developments will have on the sustainable development of the host region. A scenario based development methodology is proposed in this paper. It was developed to provide a way to identify potential scenarios that may arise within a given region as a result of transport infrastructure projects. To create significant scenarios the methodology is dependent on the availability of a sufficient quantity of quality data. For this paper that data was collected through a focus group composed of stakeholders from the region in question. This was further supported by the performance of an impact survey using the same group of stakeholders.


Author(s):  
Olga Pasko ◽  
Natalia Staurskaya ◽  
Anna Safronova

The chapter is about contemporary ecological problems of the Arctic with regard to the relevant regulations, as well as their practical implementation. The chapter outlines the range of problems related to the coordination of international cooperation and concerted actions of stakeholder states for sustainable development in the region. The goals of international treaties on environmental protection have been classified. There is a review of key tendencies of legal regulation improvement for safeguarding Arctic ecosystems and the designation of protected areas. The natural resources and theoretical issues of their use have been thoroughly described and illustrated with examples obtained internationally. There are conclusions on the state of the art in the field of international rules and regulations for the sustainable development of the Arctic, in particular by sound environmental management, improvement of infrastructure and industrial facilities, preservation of the authentic culture of the northern indigenous communities, and improvement of the quality of their life.


2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (14) ◽  
pp. 61
Author(s):  
Kodah Mawuloe Koffi ◽  
Addo-Danquah Ofosu

In the face of the fast depletion of natural resources worldwide resulting from industrial and economic cannibalism, selfishness and marginalization are becoming more and more pronounced in a globalizing world. The phenomena of selfishness and marginalization are manifest in the introduction of stringent immigration laws by most industrialized countries in the North to ward off migrants from the less developed economies in the South; and also the reinforcement of existing laws by the latter to protect their citizens and natural resources in recent years. Issues of national identity, territorial integrity as against the centrality of humanity remain an Achilles heel toward the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As far as 1968, Ahmadou Kourouma, an Ivorian novelist, in his very first narrative text, “Les Soleils des Indépendances” later translated into English as The Suns of Independence, raised the tragic dilemma of national identity at the expense of ‘human identity’. In the absence of concrete steps to address the issues over the years, Liberia, Sierra Leone and La Côte d’Ivoire were engulfed in intestine civil strife over two decades later. The main causes of this strife are found in the irrational quest for self-identity in the name of nationality and ethnic superiority for greater access and control of “national” resources. This paper examines the upsurge of socioeconomic and political exclusion, and the potential threats they pose to the realization of the recently launched Sustainable Development Goals. It is done through a critical reading of Kourouma’s The Suns of Independence, Allah is not obliged and ‘Quand on refuse, on dit non’. The study is posited within the analytical framework of literary studies and sociocriticism


Author(s):  
S. A. Kozhevnikov

The article examines the key trends in the development of the transport infrastructure of the regions of the European North of Russia. It is substantiated that the key problems in this area of the northern territories include a decrease in freight and passenger traffic of rail and road transport in the post-Soviet period, low density of transport routes, a small proportion of paved roads in the total length of public roads. These infrastructural limitations are currently one of the barriers to the sustainable development of the northern and arctic territories of the country. It is substantiated that in such a situation, the Vologda region can play an important role in the quality of the outpost for the development of the North and the Arctic in the European part of Russia. At the same time, the development of Vologda as a transport hub is seen in the form of a multimodal logistics center, which will allow for the close cooperation of the northern and Arctic territories of the country with its southern regions. Counter flows of goods and services will go through it to provide, on the one hand, the northern territories with food, essential products, machinery and equipment, and the southern regions with raw materials and their processing products for further development of technological chains, which will create favorable conditions for the sustainable development of the European regions. North of Russia and its Arctic zone. At the same time, an important scientific and practical task is the scientific substantiation of the mechanism for managing the processes of formation and development of this center, taking into account the northern specifics.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 462 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Dickens ◽  
Vladimir Smakhtin ◽  
Matthew McCartney ◽  
Gordon O’Brien ◽  
Lula Dahir

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), are high on the agenda for most countries of the world. In its publication of the SDGs, the UN has provided the goals and target descriptions that, if implemented at a country level, would lead towards a sustainable future. The IAEG (InterAgency Expert Group of the SDGs) was tasked with disseminating indicators and methods to countries that can be used to gather data describing the global progress towards sustainability. However, 2030 Agenda leaves it to countries to adopt the targets with each government setting its own national targets guided by the global level of ambition but taking into account national circumstances. At present, guidance on how to go about this is scant but it is clear that the responsibility is with countries to implement and that it is actions at a country level that will determine the success of the SDGs. Reporting on SDGs by country takes on two forms: i) global reporting using prescribed indicator methods and data; ii) National Voluntary Reviews where a country reports on its own progress in more detail but is also able to present data that are more appropriate for the country. For the latter, countries need to be able to adapt the global indicators to fit national priorities and context, thus the global description of an indicator could be reduced to describe only what is relevant to the country. Countries may also, for the National Voluntary Review, use indicators that are unique to the country but nevertheless contribute to measurement of progress towards the global SDG target. Importantly, for those indicators that relate to the security of natural resources security (e.g., water) indicators, there are no prescribed numerical targets/standards or benchmarks. Rather countries will need to set their own benchmarks or standards against which performance can be evaluated. This paper presents a procedure that would enable a country to describe national targets with associated benchmarks that are appropriate for the country. The procedure builds on precedent set in other countries but in particular on a procedure developed for the setting of Resource Quality Objectives in South Africa. The procedure focusses on those SDG targets that are natural resource-security focused, for example, extent of water-related ecosystems (6.6), desertification (15.3) and so forth, because the selection of indicator methods and benchmarks is based on the location of natural resources, their use and present state and how they fit into national strategies.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 1013
Author(s):  
Kuo-Wei Yen ◽  
Chia-Hsiang Chen

Remote sensing (RS) technology, which can facilitate the sustainable management and development of fisheries, is easily accessible and exhibits high performance. It only requires the collection of sufficient information, establishment of databases and input of human and capital resources for analysis. However, many countries are unable to effectively ensure the sustainable development of marine fisheries due to technological limitations. The main challenge is the gap in the conditions for sustainable development between developed and developing countries. Therefore, this study applied the Web of Science database and geographic information systems to analyze the gaps in fisheries science in various countries over the past 10 years. Most studies have been conducted in the offshore marine areas of the northeastern United States of America. In addition, all research hotspots were located in the Northern Hemisphere, indicating a lack of relevant studies from the Southern Hemisphere. This study also found that research hotspots of satellite RS applications in fisheries were mainly conducted in (1) the northeastern sea area in the United States, (2) the high seas area of the North Atlantic Ocean, (3) the surrounding sea areas of France, Spain and Portugal, (4) the surrounding areas of the Indian Ocean and (5) the East China Sea, Yellow Sea and Bohai Bay sea areas to the north of Taiwan. A comparison of publications examining the three major oceans indicated that the Atlantic Ocean was the most extensively studied in terms of RS applications in fisheries, followed by the Indian Ocean, while the Pacific Ocean was less studied than the aforementioned two regions. In addition, all research hotspots were located in the Northern Hemisphere, indicating a lack of relevant studies from the Southern Hemisphere. The Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean have been the subjects of many local in-depth studies; in the Pacific Ocean, the coastal areas have been abundantly investigated, while offshore local areas have only been sporadically addressed. Collaboration and partnership constitute an efficient approach for transferring skills and technology across countries. For the achievement of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) by 2030, research networks can be expanded to mitigate the research gaps and improve the sustainability of marine fisheries resources.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 4203
Author(s):  
Bin Du ◽  
Ying Wang ◽  
Jiaxin He ◽  
Wai Li ◽  
Xiaohong Chen

Based on the fundamental concept of sustainable development, this study empirically analyzes the spatio-temporal characteristics, formation mechanisms and obstacle factors of the urban-rural integration of shrinking cities in China, from 2008 to 2018. The conclusions are as follows: the overall level of the urban-rural integration of shrinking cities in China is low; the internal differences of urban-rural integration are also small, and the changes are slow. Next, the space difference is high in the east and low in the west, high in the south and low in the north. Moreover, differences exist among different levels of urban agglomerations. Urban economic efficiency, urban resources and environment, urban social equity and rural economic efficiency are the main factors affecting the urban-rural integration of shrinking cities in China. Urban and rural economic efficiency are the two most prominent shortcomings that restrict the urban-rural integration of shrinking cities. The spatial resistance mode of each city is more than the two-system resistance; the main resistance of shrinking cities with a higher level of urban-rural integration also comes from the non-economic field. This study expands the research scope that up till now has ignored the discussion of urban-rural issues in the research of shrinking cities at home and abroad, and provides practical guidance for the sustainable development of shrinking cities in China.


Ekonomika APK ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 319 (5) ◽  
pp. 46-56
Author(s):  
Olha Kovalenko ◽  
Liudmyla Yashchenko

The purpose of the article is to improve approaches to assessing the effectiveness of innovative activities of the food industry and its individual subsectors to identify prospects for development and problems that can hinder the sustainable development of this area of production and the country as a whole. Research methods. The article uses the methods of theoretical generalizations and comparisons, which made it possible to comprehensively consider and generalize methodological approaches to assessing the effectiveness of innovation in industries. When systematizing the calculated data by the intensity of innovation costs, the methods of statistical classification and grouping were used. To achieve the goal of the study, the methodology for assessing the level of manufacturability of industries has been improved (the OECD methodology is taken as a basis), which made it possible to re-evaluate the effectiveness of innovative activities in sub-sectors of the food industry with an emphasis on the computerization of production. Research results. The article presents a methodical approach to assessing the effectiveness of innovation in the food industry. The study is based on the OECD methodology for assessing the manufacturability of industries, which is to calculate the weighted average cost intensity of R & D. The application of this approach to the food industry has confirmed the too low level of its innovative manufacturability. It was found that due to the lack of relevant statistics on R&D expenditures, it is difficult to assess the effectiveness of innovation in certain sectors of the food industry. It is proposed to solve this problem with the help of capital investment indicators, which are invested in the software of industries and are directly related to the level of computerization of technological processes. The obtained indicators of the intensity of software costs are ranked in descending order and divided into three groups according to the level of computerization, which characterizes the efficiency of innovation, as its level increases profits and profitability in industries. This will contribute to the goals of sustainable development of the country (including goals 2 and 9) and increase the competitiveness of the food industry. Scientific novelty. A methodological approach to assessing the effectiveness of innovative activities of sub-sectors of the food industry in Ukraine is proposed, which will contribute to the formation of a new look at the research methodology of this area of knowledge. Practical significance. Designed for professionals in the field of food industry economics, scientists, teachers, graduate students and students of higher educational institutions. The results of the study can be used by experts to assess the level of manufacturability of industries. Tabl.: 3. Refs.: 30.


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