Suchergebnisse

Use of dispersants requires assessment of which environmental values are at stake. In the Barents Sea this issue is of high concern as large oil spills can cause transboundary pollution, affecting the interests of two neighbouring countries. The Joint Contingency Plan in the Barents Sea does not set any specific requirements for use of dispersants and lets Norway and Russia follow their national procedures. The Plan emphasizes that in case of transboundary pollution the decision to use dispersants shall only be undertaken upon common agreement. The paper presents a comparison of the national regulatory approaches of Norway and Russia to using dispersants. The research is based on the analysis of legislative documents and interviews with oil companies, oil spill responders and relevant national authorities. The research reveals that in both countries use of dispersants requires preliminary authorization of the national agencies. In Norway the pre-approval procedure and the algorithm of dispersants involvement in response to a real accident are clearly documented and are regularly tested. This has made the process of approval for using dispersants more efficient. In Russia the lack of practical experience in using dispersants and well-established approval procedures can result in a long and unclear permitting process for each oil spill case. This could seriously hinder the use of dispersants to combat transboundary pollution in the Barents Sea, even if it is considered to be beneficial. We conclude that the development of a harmonized approach for dispersants use in the Barents Sea should be thoroughly assessed.Keywords: Oil spill; Arctic; Barents Sea; dispersants; Norway; Russia.(Published: 15 April 2015)Citation: Polar Research 2015, 34, 24326, http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/polar.v34.24326

The task of paramount importance for any state is the preservation of its sovereignty and territorial integrity, the sustainable development of territories. Globalization, which has affected all spheres of social life, has exacerbated the problem of the loss of a person's identity to the local. In conditions when the state, under pressure from the external environment, needs to maintain sovereignty and create conditions for development, universalists, for whom sovereignty is not a value, carry a protest potential, which under certain conditions manifests itself in conflict forms of interaction with the authorities.
The purpose of the study is to identify the environmental capabilities of the territory in strengthening the connection of the individual with the place of residence, to identify the resources of collective integration at the level of local communities with the prospect of reaching wider social institutions.
It is determined that the objective condition that ensures the stability of society in the context of the transformation of the social structure is the presence of consolidation — the social cohesion of its citizens, their identity with the place of residence.
The conceptual basis of the study is a socio-territorial approach that contributes to an objective analysis of the processes occurring in local communities under the influence of globalization processes. Within the framework of the approach, interrelations and interdependencies between economic, moral, ethical, institutional processes observed on the territory of local communities in the context of globalization are established.
The properties of global processes that level out local specifics are named. Theoretically substantiated social practices of forming a person's commitment to the place of residence, in particular, one of the solutions is the accumulative effect of horizontal connections, the network principle of interaction between residents of the local community.
The study of local communities in the context of globalization expands the possibilities of modeling the possibilities of the local as a field of resistance to the global.