International environmental cooperation in Northwest Russia
Concern over environmental problems in Northwest Russia has resulted in a complex structure of international environmental cooperation in the region since the early 1990s. This research studies experiences and views on developments of the cooperation and its results from the Russian and Nordic perspectives.
The main questions in the reseach are:
- what are the major developments in international environmental cooperation towards sustainable development since the late 1980s from the Russian perspective?;
- what are the main changes in the environmental administration, in regions and civil society which have affected most the cooperation?;
- which changes in the Russian, European, Arctic or international context have advanced, disturbed or obstructed international environmental cooperation?; and
- what is the role of international environmental cooperation in tackling the environmental problems in the region?
The interviews (100) were conducted in Apatity, Arkhangelsk, Moscow, Murmansk, Petrozavodsk, and St. Petersburg during the winter 2003–2004 and again in 2006. Most of the Nordic interviews (18) were made in Helsinki, Kirkenes, Oslo, Rovaniemi, and Stockholm in spring 2004, but some follow-up interviews (3) were made in Helsinki in 2006. The interviewees were selected using publicly available lists of national contact persons and members of working groups. The persons interviewed were promised anonymity.
In addition, a questionnaire was sent in fall 2004 and again in fall 2006 to project managers working in Northwestern Russia to collect their experiences of international environmental cooperation in the region. Seventy-five of them, mainly Nordic project managers, responded to the questionnaire.
Projects on Sustainable Development in Northwest Russia database was compiled during 2004 - 2006.
The project is funded by the Academy of Finland.
Research Professor Monica Tennberg
Arctic centre, Univeristy of Lapland