Environmental report strategic environmental assessment of the Russian territory CBC Kolarctic 2021-2027 / V. A. Masloboev, E. M. Klyuchnikova, E. A. Borovichev [et al.]. - Apatity : FRS KSCRAS, 2022. - 62 p.

C H A P T E R 2. D E S C R IP T IO N O F T H E R U S S IA N P R O G R A M M E A R EA The Kolarctic 2021-2027 Programme area includes the following countries and regions: -Russian Federation: Murmansk Region, Arkhangelsk Region, Nenets Autonomous District; -Finland: Lapland region; -Sweden: Norrbotten region; -Norway: Nordland. Troms and Finnmark counties. The Russian programme area represents 34 % (909,000 sq m) o f the entire programme area. The Arctic zone o f the Russian Federation includes Murmansk Region. Nenets Autonomous District and northern parts o f Arkhangelsk Region. The Russian programme area has a land border with the Republic of Finland and the Kingdom of Norway. There is also a sea border with the Kingdom of Norway. The Barents, White. Pechora and Kara seas border three Russian regions. They are marginal seas of the Arctic Ocean, with the exception o f the White Sea, which is an inland sea. Arctic regions are distinguished by harsh natural and climatic conditions. Global climate change puts an additional stress on the programme territory. For more details on its consequences and possible solutions, see Section 7 “Climate change". The population of the Russian part of the programme area is 48 % (1.9 million people1) of the total population of the Kolarctic region. The population is constantly decreasing due to the migration outflow. Migration growth is observed only in Nenets Autonomous District, which has no effect on the general picture of the Russian regions due to the District's small population of 44.3 thousand people. The migration outflow is mainly represented by the working-age population and young people who seek to move to large and economically developed cities, such as Moscow and St. Petersburg. The natural population decline is caused by the high percentage of the aging population. There is a high level of urbanization in the regions, about 90 % of the residents live in cities. Federal and regional universities, as well as research institutions are located in the regional centers. Educational and research institutions have an infrastructure to develop innovative technologies and train professionals for the Arctic. The Russian programme area is home to indigenous peoples o f the Far North: Sami. Nenets, Komi and Komi-Izhma peoples. Thus, such traditional nature management practices as reindeer husbandry, fishing, hunting and gathering are not forgotten and are practiced in the regions. The Russian programme area has all the features o f the Arctic periphery, in particular, the presence of a significant number o f hard-to-reach and remote settlements and local communities (more than 100). This leads to the fact that organizations located in regional centers mostly participate in the Programme s projects, and. as a result, recruiting new participants to join the Programme in remote communities is a definite challenge. In addition, this circumstance makes it difficult to fully exploit the potential of the entire Russian programme area. For example, coastal communities, being the territories with high potential of renewable energy use (e. g. wind energy, tidal power) or of green infrastructure development, are almost not involved in cross-border cooperation. The Programme's activities are mainly visualized in four Arctic cities: Murmansk. Apatity. .Arkhangelsk, Naryan-Mar. 'As of 01.01.2021: Murmansk Region 732.864 residents, Arkhangelsk Region 1,127.051 residents, Nenets Autonomous District 44.389 residents 14