This report has been realized with support from the unit for policy planning in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation in accordance with art. The opinions in this report are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and ISPI. ACAP Arctic Contaminants Action Program AMAP Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program AZRF Arctic Zone of the Russian Federation BRI Belt and Road Initiative.
CADGAT Central Asia Data Collection and Analysis Team CBAM Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (EU) CIS Commonwealth of Independent States. COP Conference of the Parties CSOs Civil Society Organizations DRC The Democratic Republic of the Congo EAEU Eurasian Economic Union Eastern Partnership between the EU and the East.
Introduction
In fact, only about 20% of Russia's energy income comes from pipelines and liquefied natural gas (LNG). Russia's diversification strategy has had an effect, and today the share of oil and gas (including contributions to other sectors) of GDP has been declining. Russia's green shift is not simply about adapting to rules devised elsewhere, but about playing an active role in making the rules.
This strategy not only damages Russia's environment, but also undermines its credibility as a responsible member of the international community. Trees are at the heart of Russia's climate commitments, so Russia was one of 130 countries that pledged to stop deforestation by 2030. Skeptics argue that Russia's policy change amounts to little more than "greenwashing" for protect its industrial giants against external influences. threats.28 The.
War and Decarbonisation
EU-Russia Energy Relations in Crisis
Food as a “Silent Weapon”
Russia’s Food Security Strategy
How Is Climate Change
This chapter provides an overview of the environmental challenges and opportunities presented by the BRI in Central Asia. There are methodological and data limitations in research on BRI and the environment in Central Asia. Aminjonov et al., “BRI in Central Asia: A Review of Chinese Projects,” Central Asia Regional Data Review, vol.
The following section will take a closer look at the sectors that BRI is promoting in Central Asia. China has made significant investments in the hydrocarbon sector in Central Asia both within the framework of the BRI and on the basis of bilateral agreements. Aminjonov et al., "BRI in Central Asia: Mineral and Petroleum Exploration, Extraction and Processing Projects", Central Asia Regional Data Review, vol.
However, an important project under the BRI is the expansion of the Central Asia-China gas pipeline. Aminjonov et al., “BRI in Central Asia: Energy Connectivity Projects,” Central Asia Regional Data Review, vol. Perhaps the key sectors for the BRI are transport and logistics, and in Central Asia it is the most transformative sector.
Eshchanov et al., "Renewable Energy Policies of the Central Asian Countries", Central Asia Regional Data Review, vol. Eshchanov et al., "Wind Power Potential of the Central Asian Countries", Central Asia Regional Data Review, vol. This chapter has explored the environmental challenges and opportunities arising from the development of the BRI in Central Asia.
However, most BRI projects in Central Asia will inadvertently contribute to increased carbon emissions in the region.
Climate change has since led to land desertification problems in the Aral Sea basin and the regions around the Caspian Sea. Kazbekov, “History of Water Management in the Aral Sea Basin”, in S. Eds.), The Aral Sea Basin: Water for sustainable development in Central Asia, Routledge, 2019, pp. Drought in the Aral region also has a significant impact on the overall food security of the CA region.
The CA coastlines of the Caspian Sea are arid steppe in the north (Atyrau, Kazakhstan) and arid desert in the south (Mangystau, Kazakhstan into Turkmenistan), with little surface water, elevated soil salinity, and high susceptibility to desertification . Desertification in the Caspian Sea basin is mainly related to climate change in Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, driven by pronounced warming and drought trends. The subsoil in the Caspian basin is largely salinized and salinization is one of the main causes of land degradation.
The Caspian Sea is the largest inland body of water in the world and functions as a transport route for goods. The decline of the water resources in the Caspian Sea can become as devastating as that of the Aral Sea as the surface drops about 7 cm every year, as shown in Figure 6.5. Transboundary aspects in the Caspian Sea region In this region, transboundary issues have only developed since independence.
Attempts to establish Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) in the Caspian Sea region have not been successful. Abdullaev, “Paradigm shifts in water management in the Caspian Sea region: overview and prospects,” Journal of Hydrology, no. The communities around the Aral Sea were severely affected, with significant impacts on their health, livelihoods and general well-being.
Domestic changes alone are not enough; work needs to be done on better international integrated water management in the Caspian Sea.
Conclusions
For example, Dmitry Trenin, former director of the Carnegie Center in Moscow, eloquently emphasizes that Russia should reconsider the green deal in light of the dramatic change in the international scenario. Now it is necessary to move from retaliatory measures to initiatives that will strengthen Russia's position in the all-out economic war declared by the West, allowing it to inflict significant damage on the enemy. In this regard, a better alignment of state efforts and business activities is required, as well as the implementation of coordinated policies in sectors such as finance, energy, metallurgy, agriculture, modern technology (especially with regard to information and communication) , transport, logistics, military exports and economic integration – both within the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union and the Union State of Russia and Belarus, and taking into account the new realities in the Donbass and Northern Black Sea region.
These words – written by a scholar who has traditionally tended to engage in dialogue with the West but seems to be shifting to a more confrontational stance in today's climate – serve as a clear indication of the radical political change unfolding before our eyes. This is particularly true of relations between Russia and the West, but also has important implications in Asia, where the unfolding domino effect has potentially dramatic – and currently unpredictable – effects. 3. War has devastating consequences not only in humanitarian and political terms, but also for the environment.
Trenin, "How Russia Must Reinvent Yourself to Defeat the West's 'Hybrid War'", Russia in Global Affairs, 24 May 2022. Given the current situation, concepts such as environmental policy in the Eastern Neighborhood or EU-Russia are "green" . However, this very issue could provide an important opportunity for the urgent restoration of political relations with Russia at the end of the conflict.
At the moment, this may be the only possible – and necessary – area for cooperation in light of the shared interests in this area and the transnational nature of the issue. First of all, this applies to the policies aimed at the countries of the Eastern Partnership, many of which are deeply integrated in the EU common market, but also in Central Asia.6 This is essential in order not to make the Green Deal of EU and foreign environmental policy. another victim of this war. Zasiadko, Polluted to Death: The Untold Environmental Consequences of the War in Ukraine, ISPI Commentary, ISPI, 29 May 2022.
Tafuro Ambrosetti, “The 'climate dimension' of EU foreign policy in the neighbourhood", Valdai Discussion Club, December 17, 2020; K.
About the Authors
Elena Maslova is an Associate Professor at the Department of International Studies at the Higher School of Economics (HSE) in Moscow and a Senior Researcher at the Department of Black Sea and Mediterranean Studies, Institute of Europe, Russian Academy of Sciences. She is also a contributor to the Valdai Discussion Club and the Russian Council on International Affairs. Jessica Neafie is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Nazarbayev University.
Richard Sakwa is a Professor of Politics at the University of Kent in Canterbury, a Senior Researcher at the Higher School of Economics (HSE) in Moscow and an Honorary Professor at the Faculty of Political Science at Moscow State University. After graduating in History from the LSE, he obtained a PhD from the Center for Russian and East European Studies (CREES) at the University of Birmingham. He lectured at the Universities of Essex and California, Santa Cruz, before joining the University of Kent in 1987.
Marco Siddi is a Montalcini Assistant Professor at the University of Cagliari (Italy) and Senior Research Fellow at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs. Previously, Marco was a Marie Curie Fellow at the University of Edinburgh and DAAD Fellow at the Institute of European Politics (IEP) in Berlin. She previously served as a Marie Curie Fellow at the Middle East Technical University (METU) in Ankara, Turkey, where she also earned a doctorate in International Relations.
She worked as a researcher at the Brussels office of the Foundation for International Relations and Foreign Dialogue (FRIDE) and as a research assistant at the Center for International Affairs in Barcelona (CIDOB). Aliya Tskhay is a Research Fellow at the School of Management, University of St Andrews, UK. He then did research on climate change and agriculture in South Asia, based at the Norwegian Institute for Bioeconomics (NIBIO), and worked as the head of the Water and Energy Security Unit at the office of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in Tajikistan.
Since January 2020, he has been Adjunct Senior Research Fellow in the Institute of Water Policy at the National University of Singapore.
