Abstract
The issue of environmental well-being is at the center of current contradictions in development of the Russian Arctic. These contradictions are formed by an exhaustive economic model, successive to the period of industrial development of the Arctic spaces in the 20th century, on the one hand, and the continuing, and in the context of current challenges, increasing role of the macroregion as a resource base for development of the country’s industry, on the other. In this context, anthropogenic impact on natural ecosystems should be considered from two perspectives: objectively occurring environmental pollution as a result of human economic activity and perception of environmental problems by the local population, which is the main consumer of ecosystem services and the medium of human capital, as a key factor in economic development. The aim of the study is to identify key problems and features of the environmental and economic development of the Arctic territories of two Russian regions: Arkhangelsk oblast and the Komi Republic. A specific feature of the research approach is comparison of data from specialized sociological research and official departmental and corporate information on the issues at hand. The study showed that the population’s assessment of the state of individual environmental components largely coincides with official data on water and air pollution. Official data on the condition of forests and parks, noise pollution, and especially cleanliness of the environment (the absence or presence of household waste in territories) were significantly supplemented by assessments on the part of the population. The problem of unauthorized dumps and littering of territories is the most significant and was critically assessed by respondents, but, at the same time, it suffers from an extreme lack of or fragmented statistical information. If other components of the natural environment are characterized by correspondence of critical assessments of respondents and the spatial localization of industrial enterprises and urbanization of territories, then the problem of household waste is more acute for peripheral areas. The study is significant as a basis for further scientific research, including application of the theory of reasoned action and theory of values–beliefs–norms in studying proenvironmental behavior (environmentalism).
Notes
In the context of municipal districts and urban okrugs, the sample was distributed as follows: Arkhangelsk urban okrug, 326 people; Severodvinsk urban okrug, 153 people; Onezhsky municipal district, 71 people; Pinezhsky municipal district, 46 people; Vorkuta urban okrug, 314 people; Usinsk urban okrug, 164 people; Inta urban okrug, 122 people; Ust-Tsilemsky municipal district, 51 people.
See: State reports on the state of the environment of the Komi Republic for 2017–2021. https://mpr.rkomi.ru/dokumenty/gosudarstvennyy-doklad-o-sostoyanii-okrujayushchey-sredy-respubliki-komi.
See: State Report on the State of Sanitary and Epidemiological Well-Being of the Population in the Russian Federation for the Komi Republic in 2021, Office of the Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Welfare for the Komi Republic, Syktyvkar, 2022. https://11.rospotrebnadzor.ru/rss_all/-/asset_publisher/Kq6J/content/id/505746.
See: Specially protected natural areas of the Komi Republic: Geoportal of the Komi Republic. https://geo.rkomi.ru/ viewer/oopt.
Question: “How satisfied are you with the state of the environment?”
REFERENCES
Ajzen, I., Perceived behavioral control, self-efficacy, locus of control and the theory of planned behavior, J. Appl. Soc. Psychol., 2002, vol. 32, no. 4, pp. 665–683. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-1816.2002.tb00236.x
Coleman, L.J., Bahman, N., Kelkar, M., and Curry, N., Walking the talk: How the theory of reasoned actions explains adult and student intentions to go green, J. Ap-pl. Business Res., 2011, vol. 27, no. 3, pp. 107–116. https://doi.org/10.19030/jabr.v27i3.4217
Druzhinin, P.V. and Shkiperova, G.T., Assessing the mutual influence of economic and environmental processes, Ekon. Sots. Peremeny: Fakty, Tendentsii, Prognoz, 2014, no. 2, pp. 213–224. https://doi.org/10.15838/esc/2014.2.32.16
Druzhinin, P.V., Shkiperova, G.T., Potasheva, O.V., and Zimin, D.A., The assessment of the impact of the economy’s development on air pollution, Econ. Soc. Changes: Facts, Trends, Forecast, 2020, vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 125–142. https://doi.org/10.15838/esc.2020.2.68.8
Dyadik, N.V. and Chapargina, A.N., Business and power: Environmental and economic responsibility in the Russian Arctic, Arktika i Sever, 2020, no. 41, pp. 38–61. https://doi.org/10.37482/issn2221-2698.2020.41.38
Glazyrina, I.P. and Zabelina, I.A., Socioecological inequality in the Russian Federation and problems of its measurement, Zh. Sib. Fed. Univ. Ser.: Guman. Nauki, 2021, vol. 14, no. 7, pp. 1047–1062. https://doi.org/10.17516/1997-1370-0784
Kautish, P., Paul, J., and Sharma, R., The moderating influence of environmental consciousness and recycling intentions on green purchase behavior, J. Cleaner Production, 2019, vol. 228, pp. 1425–1436. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.04.389
Koivurova, T., Buanes, A., Riabova, L., and Didyk, V., “Social license to operate”: A relevant term in Northern European mining?, Polar Geogr., 2015, vol. 38, no. 3, pp. 194–227. https://doi.org/10.1080/1088937X.2015.1056859
Mkrtchyan, G.M., Tagaeva, T.O., and Tsvelodub, V.O., Analysis and forecast of environmental load in Russia, Mir Ekon. Upravl., 2017, vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 57–69.
Novoselov, A., Potravny, I., Novoselova, I., and Gassiy, V., Social investing modeling for sustainable development of the Russian Arctic, Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, p. 933. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14020933
Pyzheva, Yu.I., Pyzhev, A.I., and Zander, E.V., Solving the problem of atmospheric air pollution in Russian regions, Ekon. Anal.: Teor. Prakt., 2019, vol. 18, no. 3, pp. 496–513. https://doi.org/10.24891/ea.18.3.496
Serova, N.A. and Serova, V.A., Critical tendencies of the transport infrastructure development in the Russian Arctic, Arktika i Sever, 2019, no. 36, pp. 42–56. https://doi.org/10.17238/issn2221-2698.2019.36.42
Shamakhov, V.A. and Mezhevich, N.M., Environmental and economic development of the Arctic Zone of the Russian Federation: On the issue of the evolution of the system of external and internal challenges, Upravl. Konsul’tirovanie, 2020, no. 8, pp. 10–17. https://doi.org/10.22394/1726-1139-2020-8-10-17
Skuf’ina, T.P., Samarina, V.P., and Samarin, A.V., Processes of decarbonization of production and prospects for the Arctic as a carbon neutral territory, Ugol’, 2022, no. 6, pp. 54–58. https://doi.org/10.18796/0041-5790-2022-6-54-58
Solovieva, N.V. and Lobkovsky, L.I., Acceptable risk for arctic shelf ecosystems based on probabilistic model calculations, Arktika: Ekol. Ekon., 2022, vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 172–182. https://doi.org/10.25283/2223-4594-2022-2-172-182
Sotsial’no-ekonomicheskaya dinamika i perspektivy razvitiya rossiiskoi Arktiki s uchetom geopoliticheskikh, makroekonomicheskikh, ekologicheskikh i mineral’no-syr’evykh faktorov: monografiya (Socioeconomic Dynamics and Prospects for the Development of the Russian Arctic, Taking into Account Geopolitical, Macroeconomic, Environmental and Mineral Resources Factors: Monograph), Skuf’ina, T.P. and Korchak, E.A., Eds., Apatity: Kol’sk. Nauchn. Tsentr Ross. Akad. Nauk, 2021. https://doi.org/10.37614/978.5.91137.458.7
Stepus, I.S., Gurtov, V.A., and Averyanov, A.O., Population migration for the development of the Russian Arctic: Features and capabilities, Reg. Res. Russ., 2022, vol. 12, no. 4, pp. 483–494. https://doi.org/10.1134/S2079970522700149
Stern, P.C., Dietz, T., Abel, T., Guagnano, G.A., and Kalof, L., A value-belief-norm theory of support for social movements: The case of environmentalism, Human Ecol. Rev., 1999, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 81–98.
Vasil’tsov, V.S., Yashalova, N.N., and Novikov, A.V., Climatic and environmental risks of the development of coastal Arctic territories, Arktika: Ekol. Ekon., 2021, vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 341–352. https://doi.org/10.25283/2223-4594-2021-3-341-352
Volkov, A.D., Tishkov, S.V., Karginova-Gubinova, V.V., and Shcherbak, A.P., Environmental problems of the Arctic region: How do official data correlate to the population’s perceptions?, Reg. Res. Russ., 2021, vol. 11, no. Suppl. 1, pp. S97–S110.
Zabelina, I.A., Delyuga, A.V., and Zabelina, N.I., Economic development and environmental load in the regions of the Russian Federation: Spatial analysis, Vestn. Omsk. Univ. Ser. “Ekon.,” 2019, vol. 17, no. 3, pp. 135–149. https://doi.org/10.25513/1812-3988.2019.17(3).135-149
Funding
The article was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (project no. 20-010-00245 “Current State and Forecasting of Environmental and Economic Development of the Arctic Zone of the Russian Federation”).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Ethics declarations
The authors of this work declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
Additional information
Publisher’s Note.
Pleiades Publishing remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Volkov, A.D., Tishkov, S.V., Karginova-Gubinova, V.V. et al. Environmental Well-Being of the Russian Arctic Regions: Official Data and Population Estimates. Reg. Res. Russ. 13 (Suppl 1), S141–S155 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1134/S2079970523600154
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S2079970523600154