Adaptation priorities on Russia's Kola Peninsula: climate change vs. post-Soviet transition

Abstract

Two decades after the end of the Soviet Union, the municipalities on the Kola Peninsula are still adapting to the effects of shifting to a market economy and to the end of the Cold War and the diminished emphasis on defense installations on the edge of the Arctic. The corresponding issues of climate change and the measurable effects of warming temperatures in the Arctic seem to take second place in the plans of cities in Russia's high north, compared to the challenges of population decline, shrinking labor needs, and aging infrastructure. Municipalities in the Murmansk Oblast are compared on dimensions of demographic trends, development goals and strategies, and climate change experience and adaptive planning. Findings reveal a continued decline in population from net outmigration and low or negative natural increase and the development issues related to market economy forces and monoindustrial cities outweigh climate change as current issues of importance in these municipalities.

Acknowledgements

This study is supported by National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs Grant ARC-0909191.

Notes

1. Repeated attempts to schedule interviews, either in person or by telephone or email were not successful. We, therefore, were limited to municipal web-based information, which did not reveal much about climate adaptation or experience in Kirovsk, Apatity, Pechenga, Zapolyarny, and Nikel.