Environment ministry suggests implementing Northern Sea Route's state monitoring
MOSCOW, October 30. /TASS/. Russia's Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment drafted a bill on amendments to the national environment law. The authority suggests making the system of ecology monitoring along the Northern Sea Route (NSR) part of the state environmental monitoring, the ministry's press service said.
"Russia's future depends on the Arctic territories' development, and this is not doable without the implementation of the Northern Sea Route development program. The main purpose of monitoring its water area is to identify the impact of Arctic shipping on marine ecosystems and to respond promptly to emerging threats, thus to minimize the impact on the environment and biodiversity. Our task is to cover this territory as fully as possible with environmental monitoring. Both in terms of distances and in terms of parameters to register," the press service quoted Minister Alexander Kozlov as saying.
The national environmental monitoring system presently contains 16 subsystems covering all components of the environment. The monitoring includes regular observations, storage, processing, analysis and distribution of received information. A separate subsystem to monitor the Northern Sea Route waters will provide comprehensive and up-to-date information on environmental changes, and will offer options to forecast their conditions.
The Northern Sea Route is a key national transport direction, the shortest sea route from Russia's European part to the Far East, and to Asia. Additionally, it connects the biggest energy and mining projects in the Arctic.
