The Arctic continues to attract more and more tourists. In some of the Arctic regions, tourism in general and cruise tourism in particular is becoming one of the fastest growing economic sectors. However, aside from the economic benefit, the Arctic tourism poses a certain threat to the sensitive environment of the Arctic, which currently experiences constantly increasing pressure from economic activity and climate change. Major negative consequences of tourism activity include the pollution of territories and water zones, worry of animals, direct destruction of flora and fauna, loss of the places of habitat due to infrastructure development, etc. The listed facts underline relevance of the selected topic of research, as well as the need for legal protection of the Arctic environment from negative effects caused by tourism. Analysis is conducted on the current situation in the area of Arctic tourism, as well as the questions of Russia’s Arctic policy pertaining to tourism activity. A brief overview is provided to the international legal regulation in this sphere. The author concludes on the insufficiency of legal regulation in the area of Arctic tourism, and gives recommendations on the improvement of Russian legislation. It is noted that tourism is one of the few types of activities in the Arctic that sparks interests of multiple countries, and in which the acceptance of universal standards seems possible.
Conceptual foundations of legal support for engineering in Arctic studies of climatic changes