Sea route and energy are key to Russia's Arctic vision

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Power Plant ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Liquefied Natural Gas ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Russian Arctic ◽  
Remote Communities ◽  
National Interests ◽  
Content Type ◽  
And Control

Subject Russian Arctic update. Significance Russia has identified two key national interests in the Arctic, hydrocarbons development and control over sea routes, and has worked consistently to advance them. Often seen as aggressive by NATO states, Russian efforts to rebuild military capabilities after decades of underfunding are in large part designed to consolidate Moscow's claim to exercise jurisdiction over its Arctic waterway and increase exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG), oil and coal along it. Impacts Russia's new floating nuclear power plant is the first in a series designed to assist remote communities and extractive projects. Warships are being used to stop and inspect small boats in a sign of Moscow's assertion of its claim to control its waters. Russia is part of the MOSAiC project to study the central Arctic and gain insights on climate change.

scholarly journals How Does the Arctic Council Support Conservation of Arctic Biodiversity?

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 5042
Author(s):  
Tom Barry ◽  
Brynhildur Daviðsdóttir ◽  
Níels Einarsson ◽  
Oran R. Young
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Environmental Protection ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Arctic Council ◽  
National Interests ◽  
Conflicting Demands ◽  
Agent Of Change ◽  
Insight Into

The Arctic Council is an intergovernmental forum promoting cooperation, coordination and interaction among Arctic states, indigenous communities, and peoples on issues of common importance. The rising geo-political importance of the Arctic and the onset of climate change has resulted in the Council becoming a focus of increasing interest from both inside and beyond the Arctic. This has resulted in new demands placed on the Council, attracting an increasing number of participants, and instigating a period of transformation as Arctic states work to find a way to balance conflicting demands to improve the Council’s effectiveness and take care of national interests. This paper considers whether, during this time of change, the Council is having an impact on the issues it was formed to address, i.e., environmental protection and sustainable development. To provide answers, it looks at how the Council reports on and evaluates progress towards the implementation of recommendations it makes regarding biodiversity, how it identifies where activities have had impacts and uncovers the mechanisms through which they were successful, to provide an insight into how the Arctic Council can be an agent of change.

Financial battle against climate change – assessing effectiveness using a scorecard

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Candauda Arachchige Saliya ◽  
Suesh Kumar Pandey
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Financial Risk ◽  
Financial System ◽  
Regulatory Agencies ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Banking Regulations ◽  
And Control ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose This paper aims to investigate how and to what extent the Fijian sustainable banking regulations or guidelines are designed, communicated, implemented and monitored within the financial system in Fiji. A scorecard is introduced for this purpose to assess the effectiveness of Fiji’s financial battle against climate change (FBACC). Design/methodology/approach This study uses a mixed-method methodology. Data were collected mainly from a survey and supplemented by interviews, observations and documents. The scorecard was developed by building on existing two theoretical frameworks, namely, the Sustainable Banking Assessment and Climate Change Governance Index, to make them more appropriate and practically applicable to less developed financial systems in emerging economies such as Fiji. This FBACC scorecard consists of four perspectives, eight critical factors and 24 criteria. Findings The results show that the overall FBACC score averages 40.75%, and all the perspectives scored below 50%, the benchmark. Only the CF “policy” scored 54.25% because of a high positive response of 82.3% for the “political leadership” criterion. The relative contributions of each perspective in constructing the overall score are distributed as 28%, 25%, 24% and 23% among planning, action, accountability and control, respectively. Research limitations/implications These results were complemented by the information shared during the interviews and confirmed that the existing political initiatives need to be effectively communicated and/or implemented in the financial system by the regulatory agencies. Practical implications This FBACC scorecard can be applied to other underdeveloped systems in emerging countries to assess the effectiveness of the sustainable banking regulations and/or guidelines in those countries in relation to the FBACC. It can also be applied to individual firms to assess their contribution to the FBACC. Originality/value To the authors’ best knowledge, this might be the first study in Fiji that considers the impact of climate-related financial risk on the Fijian financial system.

scholarly journals 200th anniversary of the discovery of Antarctica: a breakthrough in scientific research is needed

2020 ◽  
pp. 227-237
Author(s):  
Valery Zhuravel ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Russian Federation ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
National Interests ◽  
Interstate Cooperation ◽  
200Th Anniversary ◽  
Foreign Countries ◽  
Global Problems ◽  
The Russian Federation

The article is devoted to the 200th anniversary of the discovery of Antarctica under the guidance of 2nd rank captain F. Bellingshausen and lieutenant M. Lazarev. Analyzing the peculiarities of Antarctica, the author notes that this is one of а few regions of our planet, the resources and territory of which are used by various states jointly and exclusively for peaceful purposes for the benefit of science. The article analyzes in detail the celebration of this anniversary in Russia and foreign countries, while paying special attention to the thematic focus of socio-political and scientific events. Considerable attention is paid to the study of the region by Russia and the European States. Interstate cooperation between countries in Antarctica is aimed at finding effective solutions to global problems facing humanity, such as environmental pollution, climate change and its consequences, and the loss of components of biological diversity. It is concluded that despite the fact that Antarctica is traditionally one of the strategic regions for ensuring the national interests and security of our state, the Russian Federation in its state policy in comparison with the Arctic, does not always respond promptly to the existing challenges, does not pay enough attention to improving the research base and living conditions of polar explorers, which negatively affects Russia's positions in Antarctica.

Social consequences of climate change in the Arctic towns

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Klyuchnikova ◽  
Larisa Riabova ◽  
Vladimir Masloboev
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Social Consequences ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Extreme Weather Events ◽  
Urban Residents ◽  
Strong Impact ◽  
Russian Arctic ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Murmansk Region

<p>Climate change in the Arctic is noticeable and affecting the well-being of the population. The health and emotional state, food and water availability, livelihoods are on the threat. The towns are particularly sensitive to climate change. Their population and infrastructure density is exceptionally high, and temperature fluctuations, as well as extreme weather events, have an exceptionally strong impact on air and water quality, health and other components of human well-being. At the same time, urban communities in the Arctic, especially in industrial development zones, represent a little-studied area in this case.</p><p>The report presents the interdisciplinary study results concerning the climate change consequences for the population of Russian Arctic industrial developed areas. The study carried out in Murmansk Region which is a highly industrial and highly urbanized region that is completely included in the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation. Qualitative methods were used; in-depth (more than 50 questions) interviews were conducted with residents of several towns in the region. The study showed corresponds between the subjective perceptions of climate change by urban residents of the Murmansk Region with objective data on meteorological parameters changes. The surveyed urban residents feel changes in health and environmental management practices, and many respondents associate these changes with climate fluctuations. Such a phenomenon as the destruction of infrastructure (residential, public and industrial buildings, roads, energy infrastructure) due to climate change has not been identified. Concerns have been raised about the potential impact of climate warming on the ability to have a decent job due to reduced employment in some industries (such as energy).</p><p>The results obtained contribute to a better understanding of the social consequences of climate change in the Russian Arctic. This is important for adaptation actions development.</p><p> </p>

Design and Function Realization of Nuclear Power Inspection Robot System

Robotica ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 165-180
Author(s):  
Zhang Zhonglin ◽  
Fu Bin ◽  
Li Liquan ◽  
Yang Encheng
Keyword(s):  
Control System ◽  
Remote Control ◽  
Power Plant ◽  
Nuclear Power Plant ◽  
Pid Control ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Control Operation ◽  
Inspection Robot ◽  
Walking Mechanism ◽  
And Control

SUMMARYThe particularity of nuclear power plant environment requires that the nuclear power inspection robot must be remote control operation. The main purpose of the inspection robot is to carry out inspection, prevention, reporting, and safety emergency operation on the instruments, so as to provide guarantee for the safe operation of the nuclear power plant. Based on the representative configuration of nuclear power robot at home and abroad, this paper develops a small and lightweight nuclear power plant inspection robot, including walking mechanism, lifting mechanism, operating mechanism, image acquisition, information communication and control system, etc., to carry on the statics analysis to the key components of the inspection robot and verify that the stiffness and strength of the mechanical structure meet the requirements of lightweight design. Modal analysis is carried out to verify that the motor does not cause resonance when working. The kinematic model of the robot has been established and can provide the theoretical basis for the controller design. A hierarchical control system based on LabVIEW upper computer monitoring and control operation interface is established, which uses adaptive fuzzy Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) control to simulate the walking control, and then realizes the control of walking mechanism through software programming, and the adaptive fuzzy PID control has better effect than the conventional PID control. The S-type acceleration and deceleration algorithm is used to realize the accurate control of the position location of the lifting mechanism. Finally, combined with the experiment of 5MS robot comprehensive experimental platform, it is proved that the inspection robot can realize remote control function operation.

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