Conflicts in Protected Natural Areas of the Arctic Region: Identifying, Analyzing and Finding the Solutions

The increased attention paid by the state and the public to the Russian Arctic in recent years has led to a new round of its economic development. Nevertheless, major features of the Arctic nature are its vulnerability and the difficulty of recovery after anthropogenic impacts. This fact, as well as the exceptional climatic, ecological and cultural significance of the nature of the Russian Arctic, predetermines the need for its careful protection and for preservation of its fragile ecological balance. The defining role in these processes belongs to protected natural areas (PNS). Our paper emphasizes that one of the main barriers to the development of the network of protected natural areas both in Russia as a whole and in its Arctic territories consists in numerous conflict situations and disputes related to the organization and existence of protected areas. In the framework of the study, we develop a universal algorithm for analyzing the conflicts related to the establishment and functioning of protected areas. The proposed algorithm was tested on the example of the Arkhangelsk Oblast – the largest region in the European part of the Russian Arctic. Using content analysis, systematization, expert survey and general scientific research methods, we identify 58 conflict situations in 35 currently functioning protected areas and in two protected areas that are planned to be created in the region; we classify the situations according to the parties, subject and phase of the conflict. On the basis of this work, we formulate a set of specific recommendations to address, prevent and reduce the number of conflicts in the protected areas of the Arkhangelsk Oblast