International Expert Group Plans to Monitor Northern Sea Route Environment and Biodiversity

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The International Expert Group (IEG) plans to monitor the state of the environment and biodiversity in the waters of the Northern Sea Route. The experts have addressed the results of the second phase of the project to develop a comprehensive program for monitoring.  

Alexander Shestakov, Ph.D., expert of the Scientific Research and Development Directorate of Lomonosov Moscow State University Marine Research Center who presented the results, said that the development of the program will allow experts in the near future to introduce environmental monitoring of the NSR in accordance with Russian and international standards.  

“For a comprehensive elaboration of all sections of the program, we have invited a large number of organizations as reviewers, including state organizations such as the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of Russia, a number of institutions which are part of the Hydrometeorological Service of Russia in charge of environmental monitoring in Russia, as well as research institutions and non-governmental organizations," Shestakov said during the final online meeting at Lomonosov Moscow State University Marine Research Center on June 13.  

The Northern Sea Route in the Arctic is an important transport route for sustainable international logistics. More than 38 percent of sea traffic passes through it, making it the shortest sea route between the Asia-Pacific region and northern Europe. Reducing the distance and travel time will reduce fuel consumption and the carbon footprint of maritime transport. 

The development of the route has been the main concern of IEG, an international group that was created in 2021 with the assistance of Rosatom State Corporation as a voluntary advisory body to ensure the development of shipping along the route. 

The IEG has been an important platform for sharing experiences and future coordination of the monitoring program with existing environmental data collection platforms in the Arctic. The group consists of leading experts from international environmental research institutes and non-governmental organizations, specializing in birds, zoo- and phytoplankton, benthos, marine mammals, fish, and abiotic components. 

More than 20 representatives of Russian and foreign research centers, including those from Malaysia, India, and Turkey, discussed the results of comprehensive studies in the waters of the Northern Sea Route, conducted from September 2022 to June 2023, and the final report - Integrated environmental monitoring program for the Northern Sea Route. 

The results of the work were presented by Alexander Shestakov, Ph.D., expert of the Scientific Research and Development Directorate of Lomonosov Moscow State University Marine Research Center and coordinator of the IEG, Maria Pogozheva, Ph.D., Head of the Environmental Monitoring Laboratory of the N.N. Zubov State Oceanographic Institute, and Maria Gavrilo, Ph.D., leading researcher of the Arctic Shelf Laboratory of the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute. 

During the discussion of the results of the project, the members of the IEG noted the scale and detail of the plan of complex monitoring, which is especially important for such a large-scale region as the Arctic. 

Dr. Mohamed Said, a Professor at the National Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries of Alexandria, Egypt, praised the level of data and parameters chosen to form the Integrated Program while emphasizing the need to use modeling when observing sea currents and seawater movements. 

While Dr. Idris Izwandi, Head of the South China Marine Repository and Reference Center at the Institute of Oceanography and Environment, University of Malaysia, noted the frequency of monitoring for some parameters can be adjusted based on the initial results. 

“Also, for biotic components, in some cases, it is not necessary to isolate them to the species level. Nevertheless, special attention should be paid to specific species, especially those sensitive to the disturbance of navigation,” Izwandi said. 

The results of the IEG showed the need for continued international cooperation in the development of the NSR monitoring system, taking into account the international experience of each expert to ensure the sustainable development of navigation along the Northern Sea Route.

INFO TEMPO

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