Issue № 90. February 2022

On the Issue of Economic Consequences of Environmental Management Conflicts in the Baltic Sea Coastal Zone

Valentina A. Kulakovskaya
Postgraduate student, School of Public Administration, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russian Federation.
E-mail: ivanenko.valy@mail.ru
ORCID ID: 0000-0001-6463-6858

Alexander Yu. Sanin
PhD, Senior research scientist, N.N. Zubov’s State Oceanographic Institute, Roshydromet; DSc student, School of Public Administration, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russian Federation.
E-mail: eather86@mail.ru
ORCID ID: 0000-0002-9171-4345

The study is devoted to identifying internal and international conflicts of environmental management in the Baltic region and their economic consequences. Several methods were used in the work, in particular the principal component method, which allowed determining Russia’s contribution to the Baltic Sea pollution, and a SWOT analysis of the region as a recreational facility. The main cause of internal conflicts between different types of environmental management is their competition for territorial resources. The most acute environmental problems of the Baltic Sea have been identified, primarily eutrophication. The economic damage caused to the marine ecosystem and the contribution of each country to causing this damage are assessed. The above contribution determines the amount of compensation of each country for the damage caused. Russia’s contribution is determined at the rate of 15% of the contribution to the pollution of the sea as a whole. SWOT analysis of the Leningrad and Kaliningrad regions as a recreational region allowed us to identify their strengths and weaknesses for the development of tourism. The main advantages of the regions include relatively well-developed infrastructure and high recreational potential; the disadvantages are climatic features. The study identified opportunities for tourism development in these regions and threats hindering development. Opportunities include improved transport accessibility and new types of tourism, in particular cruise and environmental. Threats include a drop in the standard of living of Russians and the redirection of tourists from Russian resorts to foreign ones. As a solution to internal conflicts of environmental management, mutual concessions of types of environmental management and identification of priority areas of economic activity for the coastal zone — recreation and the functioning of seaports are proposed. In order to resolve external environmental management conflicts, additional studies are needed to confirm the available estimates of Russia’s contribution to the Baltic Sea pollution and the insignificant role of the Nord Stream 2 in this pollution. For further research, it is also important to quantify the services provided by land and sea ecosystems.

Keywords

Baltic Sea, Nord Stream 2, conflicts of environmental management, recreation, the principle of «polluter pays», the structure of environmental management, the method of main components, eutrophication, environmental services.

DOI: 10.24412/2070-1381-2022-90-126-142