1. Introduction

The Project Document of the UNEP/GEF Project “Russian Federation – Support to the National Action Plan for the Protection of Arctic Marine Environment” (The NPA-Arctic) included the component for the preparation and implementation of three demonstration projects that were to serve as a broader basis for the application of approaches and methods aimed at preventing environmental violations and at restoring environment in Russia and in the Arctic and non-Arctic states. The goal of one of them was to facilitate joint environmental management by the authorities, extracting companies and small-in-numbers indigenous peoples of the North. Project 2 concerned itself with environmental reclamation of the areas within the abandoned military facilities in order to convert them for civilian use. Project 3 was supposed to demonstrate the brown algae capacity of cleaning-up contaminated marine waters.

The Project Document also proposed to consider whether it would be possible to prepare additional demonstration projects.

As specified in the Project Document, all three demonstration projects were prepared and successfully completed as part of the NPA-Arctic Project. Also, 12 more pilot projects were prepared and completed supported by the Project Steering Committee.

The proposals for the additional pilot projects were prepared in close cooperation with the local administrations, in whose territory the proposed projects were to be implemented.  The geography of the selected projects covered the western, central and eastern part of the Russian Arctic. In some cases, local administrations co-financed pilot projects (Archangelsk Oblast). The co-financing partners included US EPA (the Franz-Josef Land Project and the Pesticide Project), the Island Ministry of Environment (the Tiksi Bay Project), and the Nordic Environment Finance Corporation (the Emergency Oil Spills Response Project).

All the proposals for the additional pilot projects were reviewed at the Steering Committee meetings. Out of the proposed list, the Steering Committee selected the most relevant and prepared projects and approved them for implementation. The selection process was based (i) on the importance of a given project for the enhancement of the environment in a given region, (ii) on whether it could be replicated in other Arctic regions, and (iii) on its geography. Following the selection process, the NPA-Arctic Project Management Team prepared the project documentation for the approved projects and selected contractors for each project through competitive bidding.

This publication offers a brief description of the outcomes and outputs of the demonstration and pilot projects outlining the project implementation timeframe, contractors and recommendations for further steps to develop the results.

The full version of the English and Russian language reports concerning all the demonstration and pilot projects are published on the NPA-Arctic Project Site (http://npa-arctic.ru) and are publicly accessible.