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Tag: environmental issues

  • Russia puts €10 million in clean up

    Russia puts €10 million in clean up

    Hundres of thousands of old barrels with waste-oil on Franz Josef Land

    Russia has put 10 million Euros into a project aiming at cleaning the Arctic. Environmental issues are high on the Russian Arctic agenda.

    “We want the Arctic to be clean,” says Yuri Trutnev, the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment in Russia.

    The Arctic Council has priority project regarding the Arctic environment and the 10 million Euros go into that pot, especially projects which concern pollution prevention.

    NEFCO (Nordic Environment Finance Corporation) will manage the funds and Magnus Rystedt, the Managing Director, was very pleased with Russia’s contribution.

    “We are extremely delighted with the fact that the Russian government is taking an active role in supporting environmental protection in the Arctic region. The financial boost provided under this agreement will enable us to finance a wide range of environmental projects in the Russian
    Arctic within the near future,” Rystedt said.
    Source: BarentsObserver

  • Chinese Arctic Policy

    Chinese Arctic Policy

    Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) has launched a new report entitled “China and the High North prepare for an ice-free Arctic” dealing with the emerging interest of China on the anticipated Arctic Ocean shipping routes. The report is written by Linda Jakobson, the Acting Programme Director and Beijing-based Senior Researcher of the China and Global Security Programme of SIPRI, and is based on material gathered from officials, scholars and other primary sources in China.
    The main theme of the report is that despite the fact that China has no official Arctic policy “the country does appear to have a clear agenda regarding the Arctic”. Until now, China has mainly concentrated on the melting sea ice in the Arctic and its impact on China from the environmental point of view, but many Chinese academics are pointing out that China must broaden its focus from environmental issues to cover commercial and political issues as well.

    Chinese view on the arcticHu Zhengyue, Chinese assistant minister of foreign affairs stated in Arctic forum organized by the Norwegian Government on Svalbard in June 2009 that China supports Arctic countries’ sovereign and judicial rights under international law, pointing though out the need of refinement and development of the contemporary international law due to the circumstances that are arising from the melting of the ice. China points out that despite that large areas of the Arctic are under jurisdiction of coastal Arctic states, the Arctic cannot be seen as a regional matter only, due to the many international implications the emerging shipping routes and possible energy exploitation will have in future.