A - C
Short Title: ARD Proposal URL:http://classic.ipy.org/development/eoi/proposal-details.php?id=411 The purposes of the project are to employ existing and new data and information to describe and analyse, i) onshore and offshore mineral and biological resources in the Norwegian and Russian Arctic from northern Norway and the Kola Peninsula in the west to the Bering Strait in the east, ii) existing and planned economic and commercial activities based on the resources, iii) environmental, infrastructural, economic, social, and institutional factors and conditions of importance to the exploitation of the resources and to particular types of business and investment opportunities, and iv) within a paradigm of sustainable development, create plausible scenarios of social, economic, and commercial trends over the next 10-20 and 20-40 years. The overall aim is to, produce a source of data, information, and analyses about the natural resources of the northern and Arctic parts of Norway and Russia that is unique and will be judged to be the obvious first choice of consultation for investment information and opportunities by state and private companies and organizations in Norway, Russia, and elsewhere. The project has five sections. Section 1 will consist of the most comprehensive description of mineral and biological resources and activites based on them so far undertaken. Section 2 will give an exhaustive account of infrastruture, especially transportation, communication, and logistical factors. Section 3 will concentrate on environmental factors, challenges, and conditions adverse or conducive to sustainable exploitation of the natural resources. Section 4 will describe and analyse economic, social, legal, and institutional factors that in various ways will affect the viability of economic and commercial activities. Section 5 will build on and draw together the results of the previous sections to make scenarios of sustainable development in the regions over the next 10-20 and 20-40 years. The implementation of the project will proceed in two phases. The first will cover northern and Arctic Norway and northwest Russia, defined as the Murmansk Oblast, the Republic of Karelia, the Arkhangelsk Oblast, the Republic of Komi, the Nenets Autonomous Akrug, and the Barents, White, Pechora, and Kara Seas. This phase will last from May 2006 to April 2008. The second phase, covering the Russian Arctic from the Urals to the Bering Strait, will commence immediately upon the completion of the first phase and will last another two years. Northwards the area covered by the project has a natural limit given by the summer time sea-ice edge, including the Northern Sea Route to the Bering Strait. Onshore the project will cover areas to the south where resources are recoverable and accessible by reasonable means of transport. This will include areas along some of the major waterways and rivers in both countries.
ARD