An Economic Model of Sustainable Development in the Russian Arctic: The Idea of Building Vertical Farms

Alexander Tanichev,Sergei V Kulik,Nikolay Didenko,Igor Ilin,Djamilia Skripnuk,Vitally Cherenkov

doi:10.3390/agronomy11091863

Abstract

The main aim of the article is to find out the key factors of sustainable development of the Russian Arctic, which is strategically significant for Russia. The academic literature was reviewed to find out the time dynamics of the references to the economic models suitable for achieving the goals of sustainable development, and there has been hyperbolic growth in the attention paid to similar problems all around the world. The article compares three relatively new economic models in order to understand which of them is the most applicable to the promotion of sustainable development in the Russian Arctic: (a) bioeconomy, (b) green economy and (c) circular economy. The analysis of the relevant sources shows that the model of the circular economy is preferable for the Russian Arctic. Most of the article is dedicated to understanding the sources and mechanisms of the circular economy. The schematic description of vertical greenhouses and possibility of using vertical farms are presented in the paper as an example of organization of local food production according to the principles of the circular economy. The article considers a modeled project of creating a vertical farm in the Russian Arctic and a simulated indicator—profit of the vertical farm.

Highlights

The Arctic region of Russia has an important meaning for the country, both from the economic and geopolitical point of view [1,2,3]
Along with the opportunities that are so good for sustainable development, there is a point of doubt, skepticism and criticism [26,47,48,49]
In order to obtain a more diverse picture and understand the idea of the circular economy with the use of various approaches, as well as to evaluate the relatively low level of its current conceptualization, we present Table 4

Summary

Introduction

The Arctic region of Russia has an important meaning for the country, both from the economic and geopolitical point of view [1,2,3]. Russia is in the process of updating its Arctic strategy [4]. It is far from easy to find a detailed analysis of the new official government documents concerning the fundamental policy of the Russian Federation in the Arctic until 2035, apart from some projections [6], conference reports [7], research notes [3,8,9] and news commentaries [10,11]. The comparison of Russia’s national interests in the Arctic, as they are put in the 2020 Main Principles and 2035 Main Principles [12], respectively, demonstrates the influence of the latest amendments to the Constitution of the Russian Federation. The main attitude and trends of the above review are quite well reflected in the following quotation: “Today’s Russian Arctic strategy pursues two goals: to outline the national interests of Russia in the Russian Arctic zone and identify the threats or challenges to the national security of Russia in the region” [13] (p. 2)

Methods

Results

Conclusion