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International audience; The European non-Arctic states – the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Poland, and Switzerland – are mostly experienced Arctic explorers. From the very beginning, their attention to the Arctic was driven, firstly, by an interest in finding the shortest trade routes from Europe to Asia and, secondly, by scientific research. At the end of the twentieth century, the participation of European non-Arctic countries in Arctic governance began to be institutionalized – this group of countries received the status of observers in the AC. The range of their interests in the region has expanded significantly: from scientific research to security issues. Most of these European countries are members of the European Union (EU) and provide the idea of including the EU in the Arctic governance system. The national roadmaps of the EU Arctic member states and observers are mainly driven by the EU Arctic policy framework. This chapter provides an analysis of strategic documents and a summary of the main common interests of the non-Arctic European states and the EU in the region and their activities in the Arctic.

International audience; Several drought indices are commonly used to quantify the severity and magnitude of agricultural drought. A comprehensive assessment of temporal and spatial convergences is important. This study evaluates the spatio-temporal concordances of eight drought indices, between October and April, over the period 2003 to 2021 under the semi-arid conditions of two watersheds in Morocco. These include three monovariate, two bivariate, and three composite indices. Taylor diagram, linear regression and Random Forest clustering were used to evaluate and compare the overall performance of the indices. The results indicate that spatio-temporal variability and spatial heterogeneity of the different agrosystems have little influence on the concordances of composite indices while TCI and VCI have a variable spatio-temporal concordance depending on the spatial extent considered. Nevertheless, depending on the spatial extent considered and the agroclimatic characteristics of each agrosystem, the seasonal correlations between the composite indices and precipitation anomalies, net primary productivity and cereal yield anomalies vary from 0.52 to 0.79, 0.23 to 0.78 and from 0.33 to 0.73, respectively. The correlations between the simple indices and precipitation anomalies, net primary productivity, and cereal yield anomalies range, respectively from 0.33 to 68 0.13 to 0.72, and from 0 to 0.84. In general, the composite indices showed the best agreement between them and reference indicators but the VCI seems better suited for the assessment of the seasonal profitability of studied agrosystems.

International audience; Permafrost landscapes are one of the most sensitive ecosystems that humans inhabit. Geocryological conditions determined by the presence of ice content, the genetic type of sediments, and the active layer are one of the most important variables for classifying the vulnerability of an ecosystem to disturbances in vegetation and soil cover. These variables indicate cryogenic processes that can be activated during the degradation of permafrost. Cryogenic mapping is an important parameter for assessing the state of permafrost and infrastructure design in permafrost landscapes. However, the methods of remote sensing spatial modelling for understanding the distribution of cryogenic processes in the Arctic Siberian mountainous areas with continuous permafrost are still insufficient. The cartographies at the regional scales of 1:500 000 are inexistent. We need for permafrost landscape maps is increasing with the development of the North-East Siberian Arctic for the infrastructures and urban centres' risk assessments. Orulgan Ridge in North-East Siberia is one of these territories. This study examines the Orulgan Ridge region, as a case area, where we developed maps of the distribution of cryogenic processes based on the detailed landscape structure (including classification of environmental variables, vegetation covers and genetic type of sediments) with time-series Sentinel 2 MSI and Landsat 8 OLI, and stereogrammetric digital elevation model of the ArcticDEM data. The combination of Random Forest classifier and geomorphological GIS terrain analysis has successfully distinguished 6 classes of boreal mountain taiga and 3 classes of arctic tundra and mountain desert. Based on the indicator parameters of the interrelation of ecological variables (such as vegetation and topographic position) adopted in permafrost-landscape cartography, we carried out the regionalization of cryogenic processes. We made a classification of the genetic type of deposits, which determines the likelihood of the development of dangerous cryogenic processes. Only 5 zones of high risk have been identified according to the prevalence of thermokarsts, thermoerosion, frost cracking, soil suffusion, thermodenudation, and their combinations.The assessment of the sustainability of mountain permafrost landscapes integrates two scenarios using GRID modelling based on the annihilation of the vegetation by the mining industry and forest fires. To determine the sustainability of permafrost landscapes, median values were calculated, an indicator of variation (standard deviation) of environmental variables - elevation, vegetation association bio productivity, slope, aspect, average temperatures of July and January, and precipitation. We established the ranges of ecological potential values: optimal, suboptimal, and pessimal. The ecological potential models within which the landscape can maintain its characteristic structural and functional features. The low sustainability potential is characteristic of the zones with the development of thermokarst and soil suffusion. This state creates many environmental restrictions in the field of environmental management associated with the quality of human security. The analysis of cryogenic processes and the sustainability assessment give good potential modelling for the territorial planning, and the environmental restoration, and provide a quantitative method for achieving landscape sustainability in Arctic urban and industrial centres.

The purpose of this article is to determine the relevant indicators for compiling an environmental security index of the Arctic Zone of the Russian Federation (AZRF) and ranking (compiling a rating) of the regions of the AZRF on its basis. We have developed our own methodology for constructing this rating.The ecological block of indicators includes three groups of parameters: impact on atmospheric air and water environment, as well as waste management. In the ecological-economic block of indicators, characteristics, such as the expenditures on environmental protection and investments in this area per capita, are described. The socio-ecological block includes two main parameters: the comfort of living in Arctic cities (index of the quality of the urban environment; the share of the population in regions and cities with high and very high levels of pollution; provision of the population with clean drinking water) and the state of urban infrastructure(degradation of the infrastructure in areas such as water supply, sewerage, waste collection and disposal, pollution control activities, and the degree of housing improvement).The first and second places in the AZRF environmental security rating belong to the Nenets and Chukotka Autonomous Districts. They have high indicators in the ecological and ecological-economic blocks of indicators. The outsider of the rating is the Krasnoyarsk Province, which occupies the last positions in almost all groups of parameters—ecological (waste management, impact on the water and air environment), economic (expenditure on and investments in environmental protection) and socio-ecological (comfort of the urban environment and the state of urban infrastructure).This rating can have practical application in the work of federal, regional and municipal authorities involved in planning and implementing the strategy for sustainable development of regions and cities of the Russian Arctic, as well as in the activities of scientific and non-profit organizations that monitor, analyze and evaluate the effectiveness of this strategy.

This paper aims to examine how Russian north-western regions and municipalities use their marginal/border position as a resource to build a sustainable development strategy Theoretically, this study is based on the marginality theory which states that border or remotely located subnational units are able to turn their marginality from disadvantage to a resource and transform themselves from depressed and provincial territories to attractive places hosting intense international flows of goods, services, capital, technologies and people A number of venues for the EU-Russia cross-border cooperation are explored: the European Neighborhood Instrument, Northern Dimension partnerships, Euroregions and city-twinning The authors conclude that despite some problems with establishing a proper division of labor between above programs and project implementation cross-border cooperation proved to be a valuable instrument not only for successful development of the marginal/border actors but also for establishing mutual trust and collaborative relations between Russia and neighboring EU countries

International audience; The political, economic, and social changes associated with the collapse of the Soviet Union at the end of the 1980s led to major land cover and land-use changes in the southeastern Baltic Sea coastal regions. These changes (demilitarization of the coasts, end of collective ownership, specialization of economic activities, etc.) are characterized by a fast process of coastalization with the growth of urban areas, coast suburbanization, and the decrease of agricultural land. At the same time, we observe the implementation of protected natural areas at the regional level and through cross-border cooperation with international organizations (UNESCO, European Union [EU], etc.). Both processes have an important impact on the management of the coastlines of Latvia, Lithuania, and Russia. The analysis of the coastal changes is based on the use of Landsat remote sensing data series from the 1980s to 2020 combined with EU geographic databases and the land-use plans. The comparative analysis of the land cover changes in the Oblast of Kaliningrad, Lithuanian, and Latvian coastal zones allows us to understand the impacts of the three different planning policies since the end of the 1980s. The territorial dynamics are modelled using the GEOBIA package with object-oriented classification and machine-learning algorithms (maximum likelihood, minimum distance to means, parallelepiped classifiers) applied to the Landsat 5 TM and Landsat 8 OLI satellite multispectral images. The produced land cover maps are compared with the Climate Change Initiative Land Cover of the European Space Agency from 1995 to 2015.

International audience; For the past ten years, energy issues – alongside the policies implemented to address them – have once again been at the heart of development issues in the Arctic and circumpolar regions. The reasons for this situation are based on the intensification of the exploitation of natural resources, for which the impacts of climate change (warming) are perceived as opportunities, thereby accelerating economic development and the reterritorialization of the Arctic space. The policies linked to the energy transition are driven by both ecology and the need to have autonomous production unit grids reinforcing the interrelations between territorial development and energy. Energy production units – whether wind, solar, gas, coal, nuclear, or sometimes hydroelectric – are key drivers of economic development in the Arctic and circumpolar space, determining the exploitation of future natural resources and human security. Without energy planning, there can be no economic growth, no human development, and no territorial development. Energy safety is fundamental for the territorial development of the Russian Arctic. The analysis of the Russian Arctic space by remote sensing shows intense urbanization processes accompanying the exploitation of natural resources.

International audience; Over recent years, the Arctic has become a key focus for the Russian Government, not only for the region’s strategic importance but also for the economic potential that remains largely untapped due to poor accessibility of large parts of the territory and their detachment from major transportation and energy systems of the country. At the same time, considering the vulnerability of the Arctic ecosystem and the global trends toward energy transition and decarbonization, Renewable energy systems will likely need to play a key role in realizing the region’s potential. Renewables have experienced exponential growth in recent years, as governments and societies are starting to understand the long-term implications of continued hydrocarbon reliance and the need for diversification and sustainable solutions for the future. The long-term sustainability of the economic development of the Arctic regions will be influenced by global environmental and climate regulation, as well as the ongoing transformation of energy markets. As more and more of Russia’s economic partners are stepping on the path of carbon neutrality and increasing their goals to reduce emissions through improved energy efficiency measures and integration of green energy sources, Russia will need to consider embracing these global trends and begin incorporating the necessary policy changes in order to stay relevant and competitive in the long-term. Now is the perfect time to adopt the necessary incentives and prioritize resilient investments to help drive the country towards overcoming future economic and climate challenges and turn some of these potential hurdles into growth opportunities.

International audience; In the last twenty years, the Metropolis of Yakutsk has experienced significant changes characterised by intense urban growth, densification, and urban structure changes in a complex geographical environment: extremely low temperature during six to seven months, impacts of permafrost dynamics and relative melting, seasonal exposure to ice breakup on the suburban areas. The urban structure and land-use changes conditioned by the urban growth and environmental impacts are analysed at two geographic scales: the meso-urban level with the use of the Landsat-5 TM, Landsat-8 OLI, and Sentinel-2 MSI satellites images covering the period from 2010 to 2020; and at the regional level with the DMSP-OLS PL (1995-2013) and VIIRS-DNB (2015-2020) sensors. The recognition of the urban structures and land use transformations at both scales are based on the use of combined machine learning data processing. The simulations of the urban structures and land use evolutions to 2030 at the meso-urban and regional scales by Markov chain cellular automata give comparable results of the future trends of the Yakutsk metropolis: reduction of vegetation, forests areas (due to forest fires) and agriculture zones; the increase of bare soil, water surfaces and new urban areas.

International audience; In recent years, Latvian, Lithuanian, and the Oblast of Kaliningrad coastal zones have been experiencing a particularly intense and rapid anthropisation of the coastline due to political, social, and economic changes at the end of the Soviet period. These pressures are exerting on a highly sensitive environment, which has remained relatively untouched by any major development due to the militarisation of the coasts. The human stakes increased considerably in the coastal zone of the southeastern Baltic with tourism, industrial development, and urban expansion. The environmental impacts and issues of the post-soviet anthropisation are analysed in this article through a bibliographic compilation related to the evolution of the coastal management policies reconciling environmental protection and economic development.

Cet article est le fruit de réflexions au fil du temps d’un groupe de recherche sur les interfaces. Après avoir rappelé les principales formalisations auxquelles le groupe a abouti, les auteurs démontrent ici, dans une démarche conceptuelle confrontée à une réalité empirique l’intérêt de raisonner en interfaces de type multi-échelles, en prenant appui sur l’exemple de l’interface littoral niçois, interface physique entre la terre et la mer, mais également interface avec une forte mise en tourisme, tellement prégnante qu’elle organise non seulement l’économie de la ville mais aussi, et surtout, son urbanisme. Nous verrons comment les deux composantes principales de cette interface qui sont de natures différentes (géologie et société) interagissent à de multiples échelles qui doivent simultanément être prises en compte pour mieux comprendre le fonctionnement de cet espace. This paper is the outcome of a think-tank on interfaces. After expounding the main formalizations, the group has come to, the authors demonstrate in a conceptual approach faced to an empirical reality, the interest of reasoning in multiscale interfaces, based on the example of the Nice coastal interface – a physical interface between land and sea, but also a cultural interface with a strong emphasis on tourism, so strong that it determines not only the town’s economy but also, and above all, its planning. We will analyse how the two main components of this interface (geology and society) interact at multiples scales which should be simultaneously considered to better understand the functioning of this geographic space.

International audience; This presentation presents the objectives, organisation, political decisions, and issues of the French Arctic Policy. A focus is made on the scientific interests and contributions to the Science-diplomacy.

International audience; The process of metropolisation of Yakutsk is one of the most unique geographic phenomena. Since the end of the Soviet Union, the city of 193000 inhabitants growing fastly to cross in 2021 up to 33000 people covering today almost 1 million square kilometres in the extreme Arctic environment and climate. The population of the Yakutsk metropolis developed strategies of adaptation we are going to analyse. Scenarios of possible transformations of the metropolis including the impacts of global warming have been developed at different scales and temporalities (Landsat Series, Sentinel 2, DMSP, and VIIRS) based on machine learning and deep learning processing.

International audience; The post-soviet coastalisation of the South-East Baltic is an intense dynamic increased by the political, social, economic and cultural changes with the end of the SSSR and the integration in the European Union. The spatial modelling of the coastal land-cover changes of the South-East Baltic provides a global geographic diagnostic of environmental and territorial impacts. A comparative analysis between spatial modelling of land-cover changes and the land-use policies between the Kaliningrad Oblast, Lithuania, and Latvia implemented for the coastal environment management help us have a comprehensive idea of theirs impacts.

International audience; For the first time, the geoinformation modelling and machine learning approaches have been used to study the vegetation cover of the mountainous part of North-Eastern Siberia – the Orulgan medium-altitude mountain landscape province. These technologies allowed us to distinguish a number of mapping units that were used for creation and analysis of 1:100 000 scale vegetation map of the interpreted key area. Based on the studies, we decided upon the basic principles, approaches and technologies that would serve as a methodology basis for the further studies of vegetation cover of the large region. Relief, slope aspect, genetic types of sediments, and moisture conditions were selected as supplementary factors to the vegetative indices for differentiation of both plant communities and vegetation map units.

International audience

Russian Arctic is a highly urbanized region, with most towns built in the Soviet era to facilitate extraction industries as well as provide and maintain military facilities. Global environmental and developmental changes, as well as national political decisions open up Russia’s Arctic to massive investment, industrial and socioeconomic development. How do Russian Arctic cities, towns, and municipalities reflect on new opportunities in terms of designing their climate change adaptation strategies at a local level? Starting with theoretical discourse on urban climate change adaptation strategy, this research examines state-of-the-art, challenges and trends in planning for adaptation measures in Russia’s Arctic industrial centers. Special attention is given to a comparative analysis of the cities’ climate change adaptation strategies. The role of civil society institutions and business community in the adaptation strategy planning process is explored. Moreover, conflict sensitive approaches to ensure participatory processes for designing and implementing adaptation measures are discussed. The field component of research is based on cities of Apatity, Arkhangelsk, Murmansk, Norilsk, Salekhard, Severodvinsk and towns of Monchegorsk, Nickel and Vorkuta. The study concludes that in spite of significant challenges identified, the total “balance sheet” of the Arctic cities’ efforts to enhance their adaptive capacities is quite positive: Russian northern urban settlements do their best in addressing existing challenges via planning for sustainability approach. However, there is more to do and municipalities should learn from one another’s experiences, as the different approaches can be helpful in developing adequate climate change adaptation strategies at the local level.

International audience; One of the challenges of human security in the Arctic regions, and more specifically in the Eastern Siberian Arctic regions, concerns the assessment of inhabitants’ exposure to recurrent environmental risks for the urban population in a geophysical environment characterized by notable change dynamics. The latter is known as permafrost degradation, water flooding (river, geomorphologic canals, and plateau erosion flooding) and ice breakup, erosion, and forest fires. Urban centers and villages are confronted with a multiplicity of natural hazards. However, the evaluation of their exposure is partial or non-existent; hence there is the need to create indices of potential exposure to environmental risks. They are built by spatial analysis of survey data on the perception and knowledge of the local population and remote sensing that are integrated into Geographic Information Systems. Knowledge and understanding of how local people perceive the natural and anthropogenic environment in the context of climate change and its consequences are some of the key factors in creating effective urban planning strategies for the cities in the high-risk zones of environmental hazards. The urban region of Yakutsk is the test study area for the construction of these indicators of human security in the Siberian Russian Arctic. The large urban area with more than 350,000 people in one of the coldest regions in the world is confronted by the acceleration of global warming and urbanization on a recurrent and seasonal basis. This hazardous occurrence is combined with the risks of forest fires, erosion, floods, and permafrost degradation affecting infrastructures, settlements, industrial and agricultural areas.

International audience; The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented changes to the global economy and has thoroughly shaken the energy industry. The recent collapse of oil prices has underlined the fragility of the fossil fuel sector and has emphasized the importance of economic and fuel diversification. Considering the overwhelming role that fossil fuels and fossil fuel-driven industries play in Russia’s economy, particularly their prevalence in the Russian Arctic region, this sectoral shock should come as a wake-up call for the country to reconsider its strategy and the role that decarbonization and renewable energies need to play in it.The long-term sustainability of the economic development of the Arctic regions will be influenced by global environmental and climate regulation, as well as the ongoing transformation of energy markets. More robust incorporation of RES would not only provide a more sustainable route for the economic development of the region, but it would also deliver significant health benefits for local populations and regional flora and fauna. This becomes especially important as studies have been showing a correlation between poor environmental factors and viral susceptibility.As more and more of Russia’s economic partners are stepping on the path of carbon neutrality and increasing their goals to reduce emissions through improved energy efficiency measures and integration of green energy sources, Russia should strongly consider embracing these global trends and begin incorporating the necessary policy changes in order to stay relevant and competitive in the long-term. Now is the perfect time to adopt the necessary incentives and prioritize resilient investments to begin changing the country’s economic structure to help drive the country towards overcoming future economic and climate challenges and turn some of these potential challenges into growth opportunities.

International audience; The Arctic region has a scared population, but its urbanization rate is quite high, especially in the Arctic Zone of the Russian Federation (AZRF). Considering environmental and human security, the Arctic region poses many challenges: pristine and vulnerable natural environment, the urban environment is often tainted with accumulated environmental damage, global climatic changes impose additional stress, and great uncertainty. The localization process means considering and implementing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals at a local regional, city, or community level. Sustainable Development Goals offer a quite an interesting framework to consider environmental security issues, which is the focus of this presentation. Obtained research results to date consider an ecological block of indicators and three groups of parameters: impact on atmospheric air and water environment, as well as waste management, and ecosystem services. The socio-ecological block includes two main parameters: the comfort of living in Arctic cities (index of the quality of the urban environment; the share of the population in regions and cities with high and very high levels of pollution; provision of the population with clean drinking water) and the state of urban infrastructure (degradation of the infrastructure in areas such as water supply, sewerage, waste collection and disposal, pollution control activities, and the degree of housing improvement).