Relative information:

Written by: Agne Cepinskyte

Title: Adaptation to Climate Change in Repressive Regimes: Authoritarian Environmentalism in Russia

Publication: Arctic Yearbook 2020, pp. 112-114

Publishing language: English

Date: August 2020

ISSN: 2298–2418

Paper review:

The paper is written following the structure of geo-economic interests over the environment, suppression of environmentalists.

The author put environment into the position which prevail economic interest, and criticized Russia is not the only state placing geo-economic interests above environmental concerns. China, the world’s largest producer of coal, increased both production and consumption of coal in 2019. Prioritizing national interests, the US has exited the Paris Agreement. And further emphasized that civil society in general and environmental NGOs and activists in particular are allowed to contribute to a system of checks and balances, ensuring state accountability in environmental governance.

Particularly, author highly condemned Russia, because the increasing expansion of oil, gas, and coal infrastructure in the Russian Arctic will likely result in a clampdown on more environmental organizations and activists. Such policy, rooted in what can be labelled as authoritarian environmentalism, grossly undermines the role of civil society in addressing environmental and climate change issues, and it contradicts Russia’s international commitments.