MOSCOW, July 9. /TASS/. Russia's Eastern Center for State Planning (Vostokgosplan) developed a comprehensive plan for adaptation of the country's Arctic Zone infrastructure to permafrost degradation processes, press service of the Murmansk Region's governor said following a meeting of the State Council's Commission on the Northern Sea Route and the Arctic.
"Vostokgosplan's experts have developed it in compliance with the president's instructions. Today, a wide range of the commission's experts have discussed the plan. They have focused on the key issue of financing, which needs to be solved promptly. The main task is to work ahead of events so that to preserve stability of infrastructures and the comfort of Arctic residents for decades to come," said the Murmansk Region's Governor Andrey Chibis, who chairs the State Council Commission on the Northern Sea Route and the Arctic.
The draft plan contains 20 measures and covers regulatory improvements, the formation of a permafrost monitoring system, the development of professional competencies and implementation of pilot adaptation projects. The document relies on climate trends across the Arctic sectors with data for almost 40 years, and uses RCP (Representative Concentration Pathways) scenarios to predict temperature changes in the Arctic up to 2050.
Permafrost is considered differentially: zones with different stability, and regions are ranked by risk levels. An institutional core would be a Single Permafrost Center - to maintain a federal database of monitoring data and to coordinate involved organizations.
During the discussion, experts noted necessary supplements to the plan to list specific measures to protect infrastructure facilities, as well as to provide for a transition from a general assessment of regional risks to targeted solutions for specific territories and facilities.
The meeting participants prepared proposals for finalizing the plan. For example, to supplement the document with a general assessment of necessary resources and to identify possible financial sources, including government programs and public-private partnership contracts with subsurface users. Besides, the experts stressed necessary links between specific infrastructure adaptation measures and identified risks.
About permafrost
Permafrost degradation is the process of gradual thawing of perennially frozen soils under the influence of climate change and economic activities. In the Russian Federation's Arctic Zone, it may lead to deformation and destruction of buildings, pipelines, roads, and energy facilities. The state of infrastructures in conditions of thawing permafrost affects directly the population safety, the production efficiency, the logistics costs, and the region's investment attractiveness.