This week marks the opening of Canada’s first permanent road to the Arctic coast, linking the hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk and the town of Inuvik (Figure 1). This road represents decades of planning, years of construction, and significant financial investment by the Canadian government.
Figure 1: Construction on the Inuvik Tuktoyaktuk highway in an undated photo. Source: JAMES MACKENZIE/THE CANADIAN PRESS
Meanwhile, several thousand kilometres away on Hudson Bay, Canada’s only Arctic port in Churchill, Manitoba, is dormant (Figure 2). The railway which served the important port has been inaccessible since May 2017. Many scientists blame regionally accelerated climate-change for exacerbating the damage, and this sort of problem is common throughout the Arctic.
Figure 2: The Port of Churchill is Canada’s only rail-accessible deepwater port in the Arctic. Source: CBC
Figure 3: Heavy rain and melting snow washed out sections of the Hudson Bay Railway. The company that owns the line says it can’t afford repairs leaving Churchill Manitoba stranded. Source: OmniTrax
To ensure future operability, relevant stakeholders would need to finance repairs combined with a mitigation and adaption strategy to harden infrastructure against new levels of environmental impacts. The severity of these environmental stressors has been exacerbated by climate change and is projected to continue rising. These issues are pertinent throughout Arctic region, with ageing buildings and transport infrastructure in the Russian Arctic and Alaska also being impacted by ongoing climate change. This is a preview of the future which might be in store for newly built infrastructure. The need to mitigate and adapt to eventual climate-change impacts must be considered in the planning and development of future projects.
The infrastructure which is already built in the Arctic has been shown to be at risk and will require significant investments in mitigation and adaption to continue operating as intended. Meanwhile, the construction of new infrastructure continues and is planned in many regions, undeterred by the experiences of their northern neighbours. Any construction in the Arctic is very costly as a result of the remote location and because of the unique geotechnical challenges that must be addressed. The newly opened all-weather gravel road, from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk, NT, will be 120 km long and cost over $300 million, about $2.5 million per kilometre. The road represents only the start of the Northwest Territory’s development plans, with routes being planned in the regions around Yellowknife, Nunavut, and the Mackenzie Valley. These sorts of new developments are an attractive and flashy investment for policymakers, pleasing constituents and big business alike. Funding their maintenance and upkeep over the long term is a less politically appealing matter.
Investments in new infrastructure will certainly benefit local peoples and the economy, but they will never be without significant future costs. The Churchill Port and rail were major projects of their time, just as the Inuvik-Tuktoyaktukroad Highway is now. Both infrastructure projects were hailed as groundbreaking, opening new territories and connecting underserved populations. However, when the Inuvik-Tuktoyaktukroad Highway is inevitably faced with mitigating expensive climate-change impacts, as the Churchill Port and rail are now, the costs will quickly rise and continued support is not guaranteed. In Manitoba, rising repair costs are being cited as an argument to abandon the infrastructure altogether and OmniTrax is looking to sell its stake in the project, showing the transient nature of support for Arctic infrastructure projects. Though the Manitoba government has promised to help future owners fund repairs, the practical release of these funds remains uncertain.
In many cases, the companies and governments responsible for repairs are inhibited by high-costs and the desire to invest in new development rather than upkeep existing infrastructures. While the mood along the Inuvik-Tuktoyaktukroad Highway is high – as it should be – these communities must temper their long-term expectations. While planning for the growth that will come with the new road is beneficial, it is equally useful to plan for scenarios when the route is damaged and investment is less forthcoming.
During the Summer of 2017, the PIRE team made a research trip to the Russian cities of Salekhard and Vorkuta. Here we present some of the student descriptions of the trip.
July 9:
Anna Zhu
Of the 11 glaciers that previously existed in the region, only 2.5 remain. Today, we journeyed to the Ray-Iz glacier and plateau region of the Polar Urals. Formed during the Jurassic Era by active volcanic fissures and surface lava flow, the region and its glaciers are extremely important indicators of glaciation evolution and climactic changes. The glaciers are unique as they are located at an elevation of 1,200 meters, which is below the snow line of 1,800 meters, and are formed solely by wind redistribution of snow from plateaus to cirques. This dry region was widely
T. Henning
glaciated in the Pleistocene Era and is characterized by rare mineral resources in rock formations. We also observed many periglacial features, such as kettle and tarn lakes along with avalanche cones and talus.
Unfortunately, our hike was cut short when we reached frozen and icy conditions on the way to the glacier and it was too dangerous to proceed. From a distance, we learned that the glacier is receding and degrading. We then continued to observe the landscape, studying the varied ground patterns characterized by slopes, frost boils, and pingos. An earth covered ice mound, pingos are usually located in drained lakes where they have access to moisture. Groundwater moment and top down freezing combined with increased pressure forces water to move upward in the path of least resistance, raising the ground into a mound that creates the pingo formation. After learning about the landscape, we arrived at a river and completed our day with a picnic with a picturesque view.
9 июля:
Claire Franco
Сегодня мы поднимались в горы, чтобы посмотреть известный ледник в массиве Рай-Из, который находится на Полярном Урале. В 1960-ом году ученые нашли 11 ледников в этом районе, на сегодняшний день осталось только 2-3. По дороге на ледник мы проезжали поселок Харп, где находится “Полярная сова” – исправительная колония особого режима для пожизненно осужденных. Там заключенные собирают мебель. Вдоль дороги почти не встре чалась растительность, кроме некоторых видов трав. Но когда мы поднялись по склону, открывшийся вид с гор был похож на пейзаж Марса. На склоне горы, Валерий Иванович показал нам, как вода размывает горные породы, в результате чего образуются горные долины. К сожалению, дальнейший путь был опасен и наше профессора показали нам образование бугров пучений вместо этого.
T. Henning
Мы обедали рядом с горной рекой. Никита, один из русских студентов, показал мне основные типы облаков в небе. Тереза из Германии научила нас пускать блинчики на воде реки.Наш прибрежный пикник закончился и мы поехали домой. Вечером в гостинице мы слушали студенческие доклады о Арктике.
July 12th
Nina Feldman
A. Sumi
The day started off a bit fishy. An aroma of excitement and curiosity filled the air as the students loaded the bus. We were off to visit a local fish factory in Salekhard. After being kindly greeted by the Director and Head Engineer of the factory, we were fitted with the appropriate factory attire. Sporting thin white coats and blue hair nets, we followed our hosts through a thorough tour of the production facilities. We saw how the workers canned, labeled, smoked and tested various types of fish. At the end of the tour the Director took us to a conference room that had a large spread of all the fish they sold at the factory ready for us to sample. The factory’s hospitality made for one of the most unique and exciting parts of the trip, and one I will remember.
Following the factory fish feast was a day of museum touring. We started with the Craft Museum in Salekhard where we saw various artifacts carved by the indigenous people of Siberia. Intricate tusks displayed detailed carvings depicting different beliefs and stories of these people. Next was the Geology Museum in Labytnangi. This museum
U. B. Shpak
was definitely a diamond in the rough. The halls were filled with a large collection of minerals and stones extracted from around the area, as well as drilling samples and interactive exhibits that explained how they were able to find what they have found. We ended with a tour that took us back in time, following the lives of indigenous people throughout history. We learned how the Komi people used Birch bark to build their canoes and huts, and how the Khanty considered themselves to be descendants of bears and had a sacred bear festival every time one was killed.
What was great about this day is that through it all we were able to capture the historic, geologic and local feel of the region. As a result, we were able to gain a better understanding and appreciation of the community we were living in.
July 13th
Anna Sumi
U. V. Shpak
I’m one of those college students who got through my hard science requirements my freshman year, in a hurry and with my eye lids half open. So I think it’s fair to say I had no clue what it meant when we were told we would be “in the field” for the day. I nodded along in feigned understanding and put on my olive green farm boots as instructed before settling into the bus with a false feeling of preparedness.
That day we were in the Tundra measuring active layer thickness and temperature. That day also presented the added challenge of pretending to act naturally as two Russian TV crews followed us around with their cameras. While I may have never felt completely prepared for the Tundra, at least I was not wearing a skirt and brocade tights like one of the journalists, who had clearly not thought through the landscape she would find herself in. I watched with a look of sympathy as she attempted to take a shower in bug spray.
U. V. Shpak
Somehow that ill-prepared TV anchor survived her day in the Tundra and later that night we gathered in Abby and Anna’s hotel room, crowding onto the two twin beds. The box of a television, sitting in the corner broadcasting the local news, held our full attention. After an hour of bated breath and hasty translations from the two of the group who had a light grasp on Russian, we realized they were not using our feature that night. Luckily, two minutes later, Luis walked into the room with his computer queued up to the broadcast from another channel. We huddled around that computer and giggled and gasped with recognition as our faces appeared on the screen. It was yet another once in a lifetime experience on our trip to Siberia.
July 18:
Claire Franco
In the morning, we collected our things and prepared for a 10-hour train ride west across the Polar Urals toward Vorkuta. At breakfast we learned that our train left two hours later then we had planned because all trains in Russia operate on Moscow time rather than local time. I used this extra minutes to finish some letters and send them through the local post office. Stamps for these two letters, one to California and one to Belarus, together cost less than $2.50 and I’ve made bets on how long each will take to reach its recipient.
Once our train was on its way, the usual rounds of card games and crossword puzzles began. The day before, I had expressed interest in Russian music to one of our GW professors, Nikolay Shiklomanov. In preparation for our long journey by train, he made a playlist of songs which loosely chronicle Soviet and Russian history from World War II until the 1990s. It began with war ballads made popular by Soviet
C. Franco
films, such as Two Soldiers (Два бойца, 1943) and BelorussianStation (Белорусский вокзал, 1971). Then came the bards like Vladimir Vysotsky (Владимир Высоцкий) whose music was typically self-published and consisted of only a single voice accompanied by a guitar. This genre is called bardovskaya (бардовская) or avtorskaya (авторская)music. The playlist included a song about Soviet-Jewish emigration to Israel and another about the human expense of the gulag system. The final decades of the USSR were represented in the selection by the bands KINO (КИНО) and DDT (ДДТ), among others. This historical narrative in songs was supplemented by an MSU professor, Nadezhda Zamjatina, who wrote me her own list of significant music, films, and literature, focusing on those related to the Arctic territories.
The train was extremely warm and we were all grateful to arrive in Vorkuta, where the night time hours were only slightly darker and the city’s European orientation was immediately more evident in the architecture.
July 19:
Anna Zhu
The professors organizing the trip have long collected ice data in Siberia as part of a project known by its acronym CALM. Located approximately 10 kilometers outside of Vorkuta, CALM Site 2 rests in a typical southern tundra landscape. Established in 1996, this CALM site collects active layer depth, temperature, and soil moisture data and monitors the spatial variation of landscapes. Taller shrubs, dwarf shrubs, and willows characterize the typical southern tundra landscape. There exists no permafrost under taller shrub vegetation, while there is extremely shallow permafrost under dwarf shrubs. Observations of the extremely dry landscape show that the south-facing slope exhibits colder conditions with a shallower active layer. The north-facing slope, on the other hand, exhibits warmer conditions and a deeper active layer. This difference in conditions is largely due to winter snow and wind redistribution following typical wind patterns. The permafrost in this region is highly sensitive to local environmental conditions and anthropogenic impacts, resulting from former agricultural and railroad use. We collected some active layer and vegetation data around CALM Site 2 so that we did not disturb the actual CALM site. Then we all participated in a tundra “polar plunge” to end our day, finally refreshed from a long, hot day in the field.
A. SumiA. Sumi
July 21st:
Nina Feldman
C. Franco
Today we spent the day walking around Vorkuta. After having lived here for a few days, exploring allowed us to feel closer to the people and their community. We traveled around, noting buildings with unique architecture as well as the significance they held. One building that stood out to me was the “Дворец культуры шахтеров” or the “Miners Culture Palace”. With numerous large columns at its entrance and an elegant metal statue placed above at its center, it truly demanded attention. After the day of touring, we were able to have a sit down meeting with the city managers of Vorkuta. We talked about their challenges, strategies and thoughts on planning and organizing such a unique city. With changing extreme climates, fluctuating populations, and a sense of consistency needed in the community, it takes a keen sense of creativity and meticulous thought to develop a city like Vorkuta.
C. Franco
Out of the entire day, my favorite moment would have to be when Moscow State University Professor Valeri Ivanovich took us to his childhood bakery shop, “Лакомка”, where he treated us to pastries and tea. This shop definitely stood the test of time, running for over 40 years with its delicious eclairs, donuts, and cookies. This being our last day in Vorkuta, there was a bittersweet feeling. However, I wouldn’t want to spend it any other way then surrounded by friends and colleagues in a cute little pastry shop talking about our time in Vorkuta over some tea and delicious desserts.
July 23rd:
Anna Summi
Maybe it’s because just a few days ago we spent over 10 hours in a train compartment that doubled as a sauna. Or maybe it’s because no one thought that travelling to Siberia in July could’ve easily been mistaken for a trip to the tropics if you closed your eyes, if only for the high temperatures and constant bug buzzing halo. But the feeling of relief and refreshment that swept through the group as we realized the train that we would attempt to call home for the next 40 hours was air-conditioned was instantaneous and all encompassing.
The entirety of today will be spent zooming, at the hyper-speed of around 50 mph, toward Moscow and the reality of the lives we left in America for the past month. Throughout the compartment, over meals in mess kits of bread and cheese and maybe the odd cup noodles, conversations of reflection and fond memories of the trip have begun. I don’t think anyone really knew what to expect when we all met at Dulles nearly three weeks ago, but without a doubt, this experience will stick with each one of us for a long time to come.
Marlene Laruelle (GWU) and Sophie Hohmann (INALCO, Paris)
This PIRE fieldwork was devoted to the study of social urban sustainability in two cities of Sakha Republic (Yakutia): the capital city Yakutsk and the “diamond capital” Mirnyi. Our research focused on demographic, social and cultural changes in Russia’s Far North cities. We collected local statistical data and organized interviews with local diasporas and migrant communities. We also met with officials from the republican-level Ministry of External Affairs, Center for Strategic Studies, House of Friendship, and several scholars from different research centers at the North-Eastern Federal University and curators from local museums.
The “Yakutization” of Yakutsk
Yakutsk is a unique case in the Russian Arctic because it is a city which has been able to avoid massive depopulation. If the republic lost some of its population during the depressed 1990s, the city itself has continued to show a rare dynamism, growing from 196,600 inhabitants in 1989 to 303,800 in 2016. This dynamism is fed by the massive arrival of the titular rural population to the capital city. Such a movement of people is a unique phenomenon: no other city in the republic of Sakha receives a similar influx of rural residents.
Yakutsk is attractive because it is seen as part of a process of climbing the social ladder by the rural population, especially young generations. Several overlapping phenomena explain this attraction:
the departure of Russians for European Russia (about 200,000 have left since the collapse of the Soviet Union, or 35% of the Russian population of the city);
the promotion of the titular nationality in the republican administration;
being the main higher education center in the republic; the local universities and institutes, especially North-Eastern Federal University, the Medical Academy and the State Agricultural Academy, attract mostly young members of the titular nationality.
As Figure 1 shows the number of Russians steadily collapsed after 1989, while the number of Yakuts grew without disruption since the 1950s.
Figure 1. Ethnic distribution of Russian and Yakut population in Yakutia by censuses
Our research also focused on the niches occupied by a third category of the population, that of labor migrants, coming from the South Caucasus and Central Asia. The two main ethnic groups are Armenians and Kyrgyz, representing two different patterns of migration. Armenians benefit from a “pull” factor, that of a small diaspora already present in the city in the 1970s-1980s, while numerous Kyrgyz arrived only in the 2000s. It is difficult to obtain statistics from the Federal Migration Service at the municipal level, and many migrants remain undocumented. However, we know that the city of Yakutsk hosted 2,200 Armenians and 2,900 Kyrgyz with Russian citizenship during the 2010 census.
These diaspora and migrant communities occupy specific economic niches: mostly the construction sector—a booming sector given Yakutsk’s demographic growth—followed by the car repair business, and the shoes repair sector for Armenians. Some other groups such as Uzbeks—mostly from Southern Kyrgyzstan, therefore Kyrgyz citizens—dominate the fruit and vegetable import market, especially wholesale bazaars. Many migrants come only for the summer months (from 2 to 5 months) to make money and spend the winter in their home country.
Diaspora and migrant cultural life is organized around two main institutions: the ethnic associations represented at the House of Friendship (Dom druzhby), in charge of folkloric activities (celebration of national holidays, traditional dances and songs), and the religious buildings. The Armenian community built a church in 2014, thanks to a group of generous Armenian businessmen, and is waiting for a permanent priest. The mosque has existed longer: it was erected in 1997 by some members of the Ingush diaspora, and was totally rebuilt in 2014, to receive a growing number of Muslims, including some Yakuts and Russians converted to Islam. The mosque is multinational, with Ingush, Tajiks and Uzbeks being the most numerous attendees to religious services.
The Armenian Church and the Mosque
Mirnyi offers a totally different outlook of urban development. The diamond capital is a monotown entirely dominated by Alrosa, Russia’s partially state-owned diamond company. Like all other cities of the republic with the exception of Yakutsk, the city is not facing a Yakutization process: Russians remain largely dominant, comprising 24,000 people of 37,000 total inhabitants. There are only 3,600 Yakuts (see Figure 2).
Figure 2. Ethnic distribution in Yakutsk and Mirnyi, 2010 census
A large part of the population works for Alrosa and its subsidiaries: over the whole Mirnyi district, Alrosa employs about 40,000 people from a total of 96,000. As the city’s main mine stopped working in 2001, diamond extraction increasingly takes place in other small towns of the district, such as Aykhal and Udachnyi, by long-distance commuting workers based in Mirnyi. There too, migrants are present, with Kyrgyz being the first diasporic ethnic group, working in the construction sector and trading clothes and everyday items, while Uzbeks control the fruit and vegetable kiosks. The city hosts a mosque and veiled women are visible in the streets of the city. A similar trend is noticeable in other industrial cities: in Nenyungri for instance, the second city of the republic with 60,00 inhabitants, between 10,000 and 15,000 residents are Muslim, though there are only 1,800 Yakuts.
The city and the mine of Mirnyi seen from the sky
Housing for long-distance commuting workers in Aykhal
Sakha-Yakutia therefore displays a dual urban development pattern: the capital city of Yakutsk displays rapid demographic growth and indigenization, thanks to a diversified economy and its status as a republican administrative center, while all the other cities (Mirnyi, Nenyungri, Lensk, Aldan), centered on extraction industries, remain demographically stable and dominated by Russians.
By Ksenia Mokrushina – SKOLKOVO Center for Urban Studies, Moscow
The coldest city of its size or larger on the planet, Yakutsk is impressively vibrant and rich in cultural and urban life. Over the past 50 years it experienced an explosive population growth of 300% and is still actively attracting people from neighboring regions. Today, the city is home to over 325 thousand people. Situated on continuous permafrost, Yakutsk has a long-standing experience of design and construction in extreme weather conditions. The city is cut off from the rest of Russia: located on the west bank of the Lena with no bridge, so the city is only accessible for its own citizens, visitors and goods by air, ferry or over the frozen river in the dead of Siberian winter. Although not strictly an arctic city, Yakutsk is the capital of the vast Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), 40% of which lies beyond the North Polar Circle (Figure 1). Five mono-settlements are located in the region, including Mirny on the famous Mir diamond mine and the shrinking coal-mining city Neryungri, second largest in the Republic. The population of the once prosperous northernmost port city of Tiksi has shrunk almost threefold after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Almost 0.5 mln of indigenous people live in Yakutia, out of which 93% are Yakuts, whose well-being and position is the region is continuously improving.
Figure 1: Yakutsk under the Midnight Sun
It is the extraordinary nature of large Russian northern cities and their intrinsic relationship with the Artic that brought Brent Ryan of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Ksenia Mokrushina of the Center for Urban Studies SKOLKOVO to Yakutsk to begin their research on innovation in urban sustainability policy in arctic cities. Brent and Ksenia studied Yakutsk’s experience in urban planning and design, mass housing maintenance and construction in permafrost conditions, and the context, policies and challenges of Yakutian monocities development. An important task of the mission was to identify sources of policy innovation, evaluate the level of accessibility of quantitative and qualitative data, build partnerships with local organizations and institutes to include them in the PIRE network, as well as research educational outreach efforts later on. They held over 20 meetings with people from the regional government and municipal administration, research institutes and think-tanks, local universities, , representatives of local business and creative industries, and civil society organizations. Among them are the State Commission for the Arctic, Institute for Permafrost Studies, the Center for Strategic Studies, North-Eastern Federal University, Association of Reindeer Herders, etc.
Figure 2: Meetings with representatives from Yakutsk
The team has found out that negative effects of climate change are taking their toll on Yakutsk. Thawing permafrost causes visible deformation of buildings, road surfaces and pavement. The city increasingly suffers from the vagaries of the Lena river, which make the ‘northern delivery’ of food and energy supplies completely unpredictable for Yakutsk and the remote settlements in Arctic Yakutia. The economic losses arising from climate change are becoming evident, although not evaluated by the municipality.
Figure 3: Aged Housing Units in Yakutsk
Upgrading of dilapidated housing stock and ensuring systemic deployment of affordable, energy efficient, solutions in new construction, energy, heating and other municipal services poses a significant urban sustainability challenge for the city. Yakutsk is one of the few large Russian cities that is still struggling to solve the problem of urban slums with absent or poorly functioning heating, water, waste management systems, as well as inadequate transport, food and services access. There are still a lot of run-down wooden barracks built back in 1950-60s as temporary housing for builders of ‘khruschevki’. They are being slowly replaced with new mass housing projects of questionable quality and a lot of people are still trapped there waiting for private developers or the municipal government to relocate them within the framework of federal dilapidated housing relocation program. Effective institutional engagement mechanisms to ensure faster and better quality renovations are clearly missing. Without municipal services and housing policy change the city is unlikely to break the vicious circle of local budget deficits and excessive dependence on federal donations and centralized decision-making.
The city is tackling the challenge of unwelcoming public spaces, streetscapes exacerbated by ubiquitous empty spaces of the khruschevka mass housing design pattern, the sight of worn-out external piping, frightening vacuums in-between stilts under houses, lack of trees and greenery. Local design and architecture companies encouraged by the chief architect of Yakutsk and supported by experts from around Russia including the successful local IT company SINET volunteer to develop design projects for abandoned places, disused park territories and canal embankments. A number of these projects will be financed and implemented as part of the federal government driven program “5 Steps towards a more сomfortable city” that is criticized for a standard beautification approach to local urban design problems in Russian cities.
The same urban beautification program is implemented in monotowns and settlements around Yakutia following federal policy requirements. Planning and realization is hindered though by the lack of local capacity and understanding of the need for better urban environment. The Fund for Monocities Development has been recently established to coordinate federally driven local economy diversification programs, including the establishment of ‘zones of intensified development’ offering advantageous conditions for doing business and investing in monotowns,. Whether the new federal monocity development program will bear fruit, remains to be seen. What’s obvious, however, is that there is not enough locally driven strategic planning and policy innovation, community engagement and proactive approaches to local problem solving.
The team was lucky to visit a village 130 km away from the capital, which gave them a unique opportunity to see the other side of the urbanization challenge in Yakutsk. The village is struggling to retain its younger residents, develop local eco-tourist and farming businesses. However their entrepreneurial spirit is still dominated by the habit of relying on support and directions from the government.
Yakutians see the preservation of their unique local arts, culture, and spirit as the key prerequisite of sustainable development. Indeed, Yakutsk boasts a large number of theaters, museums and art galleries that are well-known in Russia; and the Yakutian film industry has established itself globally. The development of local creative industry is one of city’s strategic goals. Almazergienbank, the largest bank in Yakutia, has made the creative cluster project one of its strategic investments and is actively promoting the themes o around the Republic in cooperation with Calvert 22. The State Arctic Institute for Arts and Culture was established in 2000 with the aim to preserve and develop local cultural heritage. Aysen Nikolaev, the Mayor of Yakutsk, believes creative industries will be the main driver of the city’s economic development.
Everything seems to be taken to the limit in Yakutia: from the seasonal temperature differences of over 100°C to the warmth and hospitality of the northern people. This calls for unconventional, locally sensitized approaches to urban sustainability. Thorough research into sources, drivers and prerequisites for locally grown creative potential is required to make arguments and give recommendations regarding the needed policy action.
International Arctic Field Course on Permafrost and Northern Studies
Blog 1 – Carlson Giddings
On July 3rd, 2017, five professors and 20 students from the US, Russia, and European Union countries will gather in Moscow to begin a month-long field course on permafrost and northern studies. This field course presents a unique opportunity for an international study of how natural and technogenic landscapes in Arctic cities are impacted by climate change and permafrost conditions. For this study, the team of students and professors will study the impacts of permafrost thaw on two Siberian cities, Salekhard and Vorkuta.
Salekhard, a portion of which reaching across the Arctic Circle, is the capital of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug of the Russian high north. Meanwhile, Vorkuta, a subarctic municipality, is considered part of the Komi Republic. In an article by The Siberian Times, Salekhard was described as a “new economic frontier,” given its close proximity to oil and gas fields and the municipality’s commitment to industrial and infrastructural development. The population of Salekhard has grown rapidly in light of these conditions with migrants driven by higher wages and increasing social and cultural opportunities for their families. As of the 2010 census, the population of Salekhard was 42,544.
Photo from The Siberian Times
While Salekhard is known for its industrial oil and gas extraction, Vorkuta is known for its industrial coal extraction. Vorkuta’s coal mining industry originally employed Gualag prisoners during when during the early to mid-1900s it served as an administrative center for smaller groups of municipalities with labor camps and coal mines. As one of Soviet Siberia’s largest labor camp and coal mining operations, today Vorkuta exists as a historical monument of that window of Russia’s history.
With the field course quickly approaching, several curiosities come to mind. Firstly, given that climate change has induced geotechnical and infrastructural construction challenges in most high north cities, how have settlements like Salekhard and Vorkuta adapted practices of urban architecture and design to accommodate for these challenges? Secondly, as a global rise in the appeal of adventure tourism becomes increasingly apparent, how has this rise impacted Salekhard and Vorkuta? Are these cities planning for an increase in tourism? If so, in what ways? Finally, what opportunities exist for university-age students in Salekhard and Vorkuta to study permafrost or climate change? What kinds of jobs do degrees in these fields lead to?
Overall, Arctic PIRE’s geography and northern studies field course in Siberia presents a unique opportunity for an international group of students, research assistants, and professors to engage with Arctic science in live time and be able to draw conclusions about what sustainability means and how it can be measured in an urban Arctic setting.
Should Norway continue to develop its Arctic oil and natural gas resources or would Arctic communities be better off focusing on renewable energy? This was the hot topic of debate at the opening session of the 2017 Arctic Frontiers conference in Tromsø, Norway in January.
Columbia University Professor Jeffrey Sachs made the case for leaving resources in the ground. He praised Norway for its green domestic policies, which are a model of sustainability that he frequently holds up to countries around the world. However, he warned that continuing to extract oil and gas from the Arctic for export markets would ultimately tip the planet into irrevocable climate change.
Norway’s Prime Minister Erna Solberg (Figure 1) defended the ongoing drilling for oil and gas. She noted that Norwegians have used ocean resources sustainably for 10,000 years and emphasized the on-going cooperation with neighboring Russia on managing fish stocks in the Barents Sea. Solberg highlighted a difference between CO2 emissions and fisheries in explaining why it was hard to solve the energy problem even as the country was able to address the fish issues. The emissions are a global problem while the fisheries are a regional problem. She stressed the need to place a global price on carbon that would make it possible for the best producers to survive and eliminate less efficient ones.
Figure 1: Norwegian PM Erna Solberg
Russia is also committed to developing its Arctic resources since exploiting these hydrocarbons is necessary for Russia’s development. Ambassador Vladimir Barbin, Russia’s Senior Arctic Official, noted that the Arctic provides 10 percent of Russia’s GDP and 20 percent of its exports, and these figures are only likely to grow. Russia intends to use the Arctic as a resource base, developing its fossil fuel reserves and the Northern Sea Route. Russia’s environmental initiatives focus on preventing the pollution of Arctic shipping waters and introducing nuclear ice breakers, which have zero emissions.
Nevertheless, Sachs stressed that the science is clear – we need to dramatically reduce emissions of CO2. He stressed that it is not realistic to think that the US can continue fracking oil and gas while drilling continues in other countries without severe consequences. Even as Norway focuses on decarbonizing domestic policies, it is expanding fossil fuel exports to the rest of the world. Canada has the same problem. World leaders have adopted goals to reduce carbon and these countries are serious about their domestic situation. But they continue to sell to the world market. If all countries do this, climate change might be irreversible. Sachs stressed that “I am not a pessimist.” Science shows us that it is possible to replace fossil fuels and that we must do it.
Sachs stressed that the world’s low-cost supplier of hydrocarbons is Saudi Arabia and that the Middle East and Russia should run down their low-cost reserves before extraction begins in more remote areas. We should not invest billions in new developments, he said. Investing in hydrocarbons means that either you wreck the Earth or waste money since there is not a case for additional investment now. The problem is to figure out how to work with Middle Eastern producers like Saudi Arabia and Iran. This is geopolitically complicated. Sachs advocated turning Norway’s StatOil, which bills itself as the world’s largest off-shore operator, into StatWind.
Prime Minister Solberg responded that in terms of per barrel emissions, Norway outperforms oil production in Saudi Arabia and other Middle East countries. She also warned that the security problems associated with the Middle East were significant, which is why the US is now heading toward energy independence. Approximately 80 percent of energy consumed in the world is fossil fuels and Norway feels that it can make a contribution to addressing this demand.
Sachs noted that if climate change goes past certain thresholds it is irreversible and could leave to global disaster. At the same time, the Norwegian leader pointed out that we can’t make the Arctic a museum. Similarly, Alaskans often feel like sustainability policies are put in place to create a “snow globe,” a beautiful bauble, but one with little practical value. People live in the Arctic and they have to have jobs.
This debate is unlikely to be resolved any time soon given the various interests involved. However, at least one of the young people at the conference pointed the way forward. Ingrid Skjoldvaer, Head of Nature and Youth, Norway, which is the country’s largest youth environmental organization, noted that there was a test drilling rig in the Tromso harbor during the conference and it was destined for farther north. She stressed that it was necessary to ask those currently in a position to make decisions: What kind of development do you want for your children? Will you build Arctic communities that are based on renewable fuels or continue to invest in polluting fossil fuels which are depleting? In her opinion, it was necessary to say no to fossil fuels and yes to renewable resources in the Arctic. She noted that Norway’s politicians needed to think beyond the four years of the parliamentary term. She also stressed that usually when the Arctic is discussed, it is without young people. “Today I speak to you, two years ago I was outside the conference doors with a banner.”
Besides young people, pressure is likely to come from another source as well – China. The country has realized the advantages of alternative energy and is rapidly making strides in an effort to end its reliance on fossil fuels.
Last week the Arctic PIRE team was proud to reveal their official project logo! This logo will be used for visual branding and to increase recognition of project outputs related to the Arctic PIRE team both on social media platforms and on more traditional project returns.
The vast Arctic territory is rich in resources including minerals, hydrocarbons, and wildlife. However, high latitudinal regions receive little sunlight for several months each year, which severely limits the region’s ability to grow fresh produce. Many Arctic urban centers rely on long, complex supply chains to receive shipments of fresh fruits and vegetables from their southerly neighbors.
Alaska imports about 95% of its fresh produce, moving about $2 billion per year of grocery spending out-of-state. Produce destined for the Arctic has to be picked early and ripened in-transit to minimize rot during the long journey from farm to table. Such practices affect the quality of produce polar consumers can buy and drive up prices. Arctic residents often pay exorbitant prices for items as simple as a head of lettuce.
These problems have spurred interest in alternative farming methods in the Arctic, such as indoor farming using hydroponics and artificial lighting systems, sometimes called vertical farming (Figure 1).
In recent years, the use of vertical farming has grown in many urban areas, where land is scarce and people have become more aware of the environmental impact of long-supply chains. Urban indoor farms, or ‘plant factories with artificial light’ (PFAL) are expected to play a large role in agriculture during the coming decades, garnering interest from countries around the world. Recently a team of Japanese and American researchers published a comprehensive 400-page volume on the benefits and limitations of indoor farms in different climatic and economic environments.
The ability of PFALs to produce quality produce has been proven in a low cost and resource effective manner. For example, low-heat light emitting diode (LED) fixtures have been around since the 1980s, but recent studies have shown that advances in this technology have enhanced their brightness and energy-efficiency to the point where they are viable in commercial crop agriculture. As these global investments in urban farming continue, the resulting technological innovations could have a revolutionary effect on how Arctic communities source their fresh produce.
The unique environmental and economic conditions of the Arctic make it an attractive region to develop PFALs. Prices for imported fresh produce are high, while environmental conditions for local farming are poor. Moreover, communities in the Arctic are usually isolated, and their inhabitants tend to welcome innovations that increase self-subsistence and decrease reliance on imports.
Figure 2: One of Vertical Harvest Hydroponic’s Arctic-ready containerized growing systems being loaded onto a truck for delivery. Source: Vertical Harvest Hydroponics
Several start-ups have begun to fill this niche in the North American Arctic, among them Vertical Harvest Hydroponics. This company, founded in 2011 and based in Anchorage, Alaska, has designed and developed a “Containerized Growing System” in repurposed shipping containers using cutting edge technology (Figure 2). These containerized systems cost about $110,000 each to build and deploy. They are designed to withstand the harsh Arctic conditions, and are mobile—giving Arctic communities the ability to grow produce anywhere with potable water and power. Each unit can produce about 23,000 to 39,000 heads of lettuce per year.
Another Alaskan company, Alaska Natural Organics,has retrofitted an old dairy in Anchorage to house an indoor farm, which can produce up to 20,000 plants per month. The potential for expansion seems strong, as these companies are still young and operate on a relatively small scale compared to the mega-PFALs running in Japan, which can produce up to 10,000 plants a day (Figure 3).
Figure 3: An employee tending plants at Japan’s mega-PFAL, capable of producing 10,000 heads of lettuce per day. Source: National Geographic Magazine
Vertical farming in the Arctic has gained recent media attention due to its success. In 2016 several mainstream media outlets, including the New York Times, local CBS news stations, and farming magazines featured articles on indoor farming in the Arctic. Unfortunately, there is a lack of academic literature analyzing the practicality of PFAL systems and vertical farming in an Arctic-specific context, a subject which should be explored given the massive potential applicability of this technology in the region.
Interest in biological preservation and the development of agriculture in the Arctic is nothing new. In Svalbard, the Global Seed Vault is safeguarding a repository of all global plant seeds in an attempt to secure the genetic diversity of flora on this planet in case of a devastating disaster. The Norwegian government, which runs and administers the storehouse, has also taken steps toward increasing the study of sustainable agriculture in the region through the year 2021 with the BIONAER program. In Kirovsk, Russia, the Polar-Alpine Botanical Garden has been active since 1931, as a nursery, biological research institute, and tourist attraction. Interest in these new techniques is growing, with representatives of the city of Murmansk, Russia citing a planned project to convert abandoned industrial buildings into hydroponic farms during an interview. The Russian Arctic has many relatively isolated industrial and post-industrial urban centers, where the development of efficient PFAL systems could usher in a new era of sustainable agriculture. In all of these Arctic regions, the interest in using PFALs to increase the local quality of life is high, however there has been a lack of project feasibility studies and academic literature which could validate increased policy support for PFAL and urban indoor farming methods.
An employee stands outside an indoor vertical farm in Kotzebue, Alaska. The unit provides fresh kale, various lettuces, basil and other greens to a community of nearly 3,300. Source: Will Anderson via AP
Given the interest in indoor-farming across the circumpolar region, PFAL systems could play an important role in the future life of Arctic communities. The success of the Alaskan start-ups shows the potential for the organic growth of the industry. These systems have the potential to benefit Arctic communities by cutting out expensive and unreliable supply-chains and increasing self-reliance. Indoor farming greatly improves the quality of life for Arctic residents by giving them a realistic path towards regular access to fresh high quality produce. Additionally, localized food production and research in PFAL technology has the added benefit of creating jobs and opportunities for innovation in the region. Nevertheless, the PFAL industry faces significant challenges, including high initial investment costs, which could hamper growth in the coming decades. Hopefully, this hurdle will not be insurmountable.
There has been a lot in the news over the past few months about Russia’s military activity in the Arctic, with many media channels portraying these actions as part of an aggressive geopolitical strategy, with a revived Cold War narrative from both the Western and Russian side. These sensationalist stories should be interpreted with healthy skepticism, as military activity in the region by an Arctic state is not unusual or unprecedented, and because the Arctic is a region that has a history of beneficial and peaceful international cooperation. However, we should not ignore the recent uptick in military activity (Figure 1) in the region because military investment is a strong economic driver of growth for urban centers in the Arctic.
Figure 1: The Arktichesky Trilistnik (Arctic Trefoil) complex of the Nagursky military base, on Franz Joseph Island. The most northern military base in the world. Photo Credit: RT.com
The growing accessibility of the Arctic region due to climate change will likely increase activity in the region, both commercially and militarily. Therefore, it is important to analyze the best practices for sustainable growth affiliated with military investment and to prepare Arctic communities for the benefits and drawbacks of such growth.
Military activity in the Arctic is not a new phenomenon. In fact, it has a long history, especially in Russia where Arctic exploration and settlement has been happening for centuries. Due to the expenses associated with exploring such a large and remote territory, as well as the significant danger, the government was always involved, beginning with the earliest monarchies. Most explorers, Arctic or otherwise, were affiliated with their governments through their militaries. English Arctic explorer John Davis fought for England against the Spanish Armada in the 16th century, and Danish-born Vitus Bering, served under the flag of the Russian Imperial Navy during the 18th century. The militaries were often the only institutions with enough resources and experience operating in harsh conditions to support such wild and dangerous expeditions.
This trend of military involvement in Arctic exploration continued, and was not limited to Russian and European actors. Immediately following the purchase of the Alaskan territory in 1867, the US military
Figure 2: The Alaska-Canada Highway was constructed during World War II. Its purpose was to connect the lower 48 states of the US to Alaska through Canada. It begins in Dawson Creek, British Columbia, and runs to Delta Junction, Alaska. Photo Credit: Wikipedia
began to develop bases and send out geographical exploration missions. The development of Alaska continued throughout the early 20th century and was accelerated by World War II and concerns of a Japanese invasion into this northern territory. In 1942 US military needs resulted in the construction of the Alaska-Canadian highway (Figure 2), a 1,420-mile long road linking the continental United States with the Alaskan territory. This road was heavily used during World War II for the lend-lease program which saw the US deliver about 8,000 military aircraft to the Soviet Union using the Alaska-Canada highway and the Airbases around Fairbanks, Alaska (Figure 3). Following the war, the highway opened to civilian use and provides a vital overland route between urban centers such as Fairbanks and Anchorage and the rest of North America. The important highway remains in use today, and such infrastructure would never have been built without significant military investment. These are but a few examples of the effects of military activity in the Arctic, and how it can have a positive effect on the development of Arctic communities, given a climate of peace and cooperation.
Figure 3: A monument to the Lend-Lease Program during WWII, which saw the US transfer control of ~8,000 military aircraft to the Soviet Union. A poignant example of successful cooperation between two world-powers in the Arctic. Photo Credit: Dmitry Streletsky
in Tiksi, Anadyr, Vorkuta and Temp, and on the Kotelny Islands. As the North Pole represents the shortest air-route between Russia and North America, such investments have certainly not gone unnoticed by the US and their NATO allies, who have their own bases in the region (Figure 4). However, western media has greatly exaggerated the scope of these Russian military activities and has made considerable assumptions on Russia’s intentions when reporting on these issues. If the US military isn’t overly concerned, then the public should not be worried. The United States and its allies also maintain significant forces in Norway and other Arctic territories to balance out Russian military resources there. Moreover, the number and scale of Russian military operations in the Arctic remains well below Cold War levels. The fact is that as the Arctic warms and become more accessible, both in terms of resource extraction and the development of trade-routes, such as the Northern Sea Route, the region will take on a new significance in the global balance of power. Up until now, the permanent Arctic bases (Figure 4) that Russia has reopened have been support oriented, not being developed enough to support a full-combat presence.
Figure 4: A map of the various military bases either active or being reopened in the Arctic. Though Russia is increasing its presence, the new and renovated bases seem to be geared towards support and logistics for now. Map Credit: Business Insider
It is more likely that these bases will improve Moscow’s ability to keep tabs on activity in the Arctic, including the monitoring of conditions and ships on the Norther Sea Route, as well as serving as support bases to further develop the region. While these new military investments are strategic in nature and meant to assert control over Russia’s Arctic territory, they are not a viable platform for Russia to threaten the national security of the US.
Historically, military investment can result in the growth of large urban centers in the Arctic, and, more importantly, provide a significant economic boost to these cities. This was the case in Murmansk, Russia, a trading-post whose year-round ice-free harbor was strategically enticing to the Russian Empire in World War I. The construction of a railroad connecting the region to the rest of Russia resulted in the growth of the town and the construction of a port and naval base. The city continued to grow and was an important port during World War II and beyond, being nicknamed the “gateway to the Arctic.” The presence of the Northern Fleet of Russia’s navy in Severemorsk, just a few miles north of Murmansk, has continued to play an important role in the city’s economy, alongside the more traditional industries such as mineral extraction. Renewed investment in the Northern Fleet and the expansion of Russia’s nuclear ice-breaking fleet has resulted in the improved maintenance of infrastructure in the region, but has also supported the secondary economy with soldiers and officers representing a new and relatively well endowed customer base. Arctic cities in the United States also have benefited from military presence, with Fairbanks, Alaska playing host to several US Army and Airforce bases (Figure 5).
Figure 5: Fort Wainwright in Fairbanks, Alaska, is one of many US military installations in the Arctic region. Photo Credit: MilitaryBases.com
The military built its first base near Fairbanks in 1939 and its presence has continued to support the growth and sustainability of the city, both in terms of infrastructure development and the growth of a secondary economy based on spending by military personnel. Though the US has pondered reducing the size of its military in Alaska, such a move no longer seems likely in the context of increased Russian activity in the region. The major cities of Murmansk and Fairbanks will continue to benefit from an existing military presence, while the urban areas such as Tiksi, Anadyr, Vorkuta and Temp could see significant growth from investments in transport infrastructure and the influx of military and research personnel.
However, it is important to realize that military investment can also have negative impacts on Arctic communities. Though there is no overt reason for concern, whenever you have an increase in military presence in a region, there is a heightened risk of an accident or conflict. This is especially true given the state of the broader globally oriented geopolitical situation currently. While military investment in the Arctic itself has been focused on scientific and support activities, which can be hugely beneficial to Arctic communities, an actual flare-up would be devastating. Luckily, there are still many voices of reason among the global community of think-tanks and policy advice institutions. The Brookings Institution published a report in 2016 calling for increased cooperation between the US and Russia in the spheres of research, natural resource exploration, and search-and-rescue (Figure 6).
Figure 6: A US Coast Guard vessel CG Svalbard W303 and the Russian vessel “Arctic Princess” outside Svalbard. Russia operates a sizable Arctic Sea fleet compared to the US, which only has one active Polar-class icebreaker. Both countries remain open to opportunities for cooperation in search-and-rescue and research. Photo Credit: Torbjørn Kjosvold/Forsvaret
This kind of press promotes a climate of healthy and honest dialogue between the two countries, while helping soothe fears over an arms-race in the region. Kenneth Yalowitz, Director of the Conflict Resolution Program at Georgetown University, Global Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center, and former U.S. Ambassador to Belarus and Georgia, sees Russia’s military presence in the Arctic as defensive in nature, welcoming constructive Russian activity in researching climate-change, and supporting economic development. The Arctic region has long been an example of beneficial international cooperation and successful diplomacy, even in the face of broader geopolitical tensions, such as the peaceful resolution of the Russia-Norway Barents Sea territorial dispute (Figure 7). Therefore, it is imperative that all actors in the Arctic do their very best to conserve and further develop the precedent of strong cooperation in the High North, and not pay too much attention to the fear-mongering tales of aggression or tension in the region which have been propagated by the mainstream media.
Figure 7: 40 years of border dispute between Russia and Norway ended with the signature of a delamination agreement between the two countries. Another example of successful diplomacy between two Arctic states. Map Author: Luis Suter
This past weekend, we were delighted to host the inaugural annual meeting of the Arctic PIRE: Promoting Urban Sustainability in the Arctic project. Roughly 30 members of our international research network were in attendance, discussing issues including the framework for our Arctic Urban Sustainability Index, the selection appropriate sustainability indicators, and strategies for strengthening the outreach of our important research. We also discussed future research trips to the Arctic, cooperation with media organizations, such as Planet Forward to increase our accessibility to new audiences, and the creation of an educational resource database for Arctic Sustainability issues.
The conference culminated with a Public Panel discussion on Friday, October 21st, where over 50 members of the public visited The George Washington University to attend the event. Attendees included professors and students, as well as representatives of the National Science Foundation, embassies, and think-tanks based here in Washington DC. As our project builds momentum we will continue to look for more opportunities in research cooperation and outreach, in order to maximize the outreach and accessibility of our project. A full meeting report including notes and results will be published soon!
