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24 I Companies & Markets bne June 2021
degrees Fahrenheit) in mid-May, a measurement Scottish meteorologist Scott Duncan called “truly exceptional for any time of the year but mind-boggling for May,” as cited by Tass.
According to state meteorological service Roshydromet, the heat anomaly originates from south-western Siberia and has spread throughout most of central Russia.
In settlements near the Arctic Circle like Naryan-Mar, Arkhangelsk and Salekhard, the temperature has been hovering around 25-30C for several days, the Barents Observer reported. And from Siberia to Alaska, forest fires have also become a problem.
Weather anomalies have been recorded further south as well. St. Petersburg recording its hottest May 12 (26.7C) in 58 years just days after it saw snowfall, while Moscow and several other Russian cities broke all-time heat records on May 20.
Extreme weather events in Russia have doubled in frequency in the last 20-25 years, Roshydromet head Roman Vilfand said in an interview with the Ura.ru news website last year. UN scientists, who have observed a similar trend worldwide since 2000, concluded that climate change is the likely cause.
Arctic Council summit
The Arctic heat wave comes just as foreign ministers gather in Reykjavik, Iceland, for a meeting of the Arctic Council. Russia takes over this year to head the council for two years. However, the meeting was overshadowed by the meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his US counterpart, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, on May 20 as Washington and Moscow attempt to thrash out the terms of
a new relationship.
Russia has thrown a lot of effort into developing the Arctic region as the retreating ice reveals vast amounts of new mineral wealth it can exploit. Currently the region is estimated to host over a third of Russia’s recoverable oil deposits and three quarters of its gas, not to mention the mineral deposits believed to be in the ground.
The Kremlin’s priorities as the council’s chair are socioeconomic development and protecting the Arctic against climate change as outlined in its Arctic Strategy 2035, published last year. However, the region is becoming increasingly politicised as rivals eye the riches in the ground.
"We are committed to advancing a peaceful Arctic region where co-operation prevails on climate, the environment, science and safety," Blinken told his Arctic Council counterparts from Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia and Sweden.
"The Arctic as a region for strategic competition has seized the world's attention" but "rule of law" must be ensured so that it remains "a region free of conflict where countries act responsibly," he added.
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The statements were thinly-veiled warnings to China, which, although only an observer on the council, has made no secret of its interest in the vast and rich territory.
Russia has steadily beefed up its military presence in the Arctic in recent years, re-opening and modernising several bases and airfields abandoned since the end of the Soviet era. The Arctic Council was set up 25 years ago to deal with issues like the environment and areas of international co-operation, and its mandate explicitly excludes military security.
Deserts in the south
Putin used to joke that rising temperatures were not a problem for Russians who would “not have to spend so much on fur coats,” but the Kremlin is laughing less hard these days.
The rising temperatures are already turning large swathes of what was arable land into deserts in Russia’s south. This has not impacted Russia’s agricultural output yet, but it did affect Ukraine’s last year. It had a poor harvest due to drought.
While the land along Russia’s border with China could become arable and vastly increase Russia’s agricultural output in
the next two decades, it will also destroy the agriculture in Russia’s “black earth” regions, some of the most productive land in the world.
In the remote north of Russia’s Caucasian Dagestan region, rich grasslands once sustained hordes of humans and animals alike, but in the last three decades they have been turned into desert dunes by the changes in the climate.
The problem is not new. Academic papers were written on the problem over a decade ago identifying millions of square metres of land in southern Russia and stretching into Central Asia that were in danger of desertification thanks to the poor management of land and badly designed irrigation systems. These are the regions that most intensively produce Russia’s wheat crop, with only minor production along the long border with China.