Abstract
Abstract The global drive for a greener economy generates controversy in Russia, a country that is dependent on export of raw mineral resources. Debates are most heated in relation to the North, where resource extraction takes place. In an environment of high unemployment and low income ecological issues are priority for a few environmentalists. Russian politicians, who support the green economy in international fora, instead emphasize economic development at home and show little interest in environmental protection. This article focuses on the controversies over policies from the perspective of environmentalists and members of local communities in Murmansk Region who are struggling to establish a national park in the Khibiny Mountains. The initiative has been presented by some environmentalists as a contribution to the green economy, but it also demonstrates mechanisms of nature governance in Russia, as well as the limited possibilities for bottom-up participation of NGOs, scholars, and the indigenous community. The article also situates the green economy in Russia within critical analysis of the global green economy, which reveals common trends and problems. Russia replicates the common overemphasis on economic development and commoditization of nature rather than radical reformation of nature's value and use. Key words: Green Economy, Russia, Nature Conservation, Arctic, Indigenous Sami, Murmansk Region
Highlights
This article critically analyzes the green economy by engaging with empirical data from Circumpolar Russia, а region that has so far received limited attention
The Assessment of Assessments of Europe's environment emphasizes that green economy principles in different states give differing weights to the areas of action specified by the UNEP and other relevant programs (Environment 2011: 113-114; Rodionova and Lipina 2015; Zakharova 2015)
The positive long term result from the earlier phase of Arctic environmental cooperation has been the establishment of informal channels of exchange between Russian and international green movements and activists, which play an important role in the development of a bottom-up political process in Russia (Henry 2010; Stokke, Hønneland, and Schei 2006)
Summary
This article critically analyzes the green economy by engaging with empirical data from Circumpolar Russia, а region that has so far received limited attention. The political implications of increased privatization and commoditization of nature in conservation practices are briefly examined This introduction helps to connect international trends to the debate over the green economy in Russia. The Khibiny National Park project first attracted my attention as a rare instance in Circumpolar Russia of green economy discussions, and in particular its use by local civil-society organizations in a political debate. I connect the empirical study of the Khibiny Park to critical analysis of the global green economy, and its project of commoditizing nature In this broader framework, the case of Khibiny is revealing in many ways. It shows that the Russian authorities pick up some of the green economy rhetoric as a governmentality technique It provides a micro-level picture of some technologies of power for increasing economic and political inequality and discrimination. My broader interest in post-socialist transformation in the Russian Arctic, with particular interest in indigenous people and land use, is reflected in the article
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