№ 4 (24). С. 42–45.

Политические науки и регионоведение

pdf-версия статьи

Научная статья

УДК 327.7

2021

Ходченкова
Анастасия Сергеевна

Петрозаводский государственный университет
(Петрозаводск, Российская Федерация),
anastasiakhodchenkova@mail.ru

Environmental cross-border cooperation between Karelia and Finland

Научный руководитель:
Черненкова Елена Ивановна
кандидат исторических наук
доцент
Рецензент:
Шлямина Анастасия Алексеевна
Статья поступила: 08.12.2021;
Принята к публикации: 12.12.2021;
Размещена в сети: 23.12.2021.
Аннотация. The article is aimed to examine the cross-border cooperation between the Republic of Karelia and Finland in the field of environment. The research helps to prove that the Republic of Karelia and Finland have an effective environmental cooperation due to the mechanisms and methods of working they use. Besides, the article provides the information about the program of cooperation in Karelia, what institutes of power are involved and what legal framework is used.
Ключевые слова: cross-border cooperation, environment, Finland, the Republic of Karelia, the European Union, Russian Federation

Для цитирования: Ходченкова А. С. Environmental cross-border cooperation between Karelia and Finland // StudArctic forum. № 4 (24), 2021. С. 42–45.

At  the   present stage,  interregional  cooperation  plays  an   important  role  in  the   development  of  any   state. Interregional  cooperation  provides  a  framework  for joint  action  and  policy  exchanges between national,  regional  and local actors. Cooperation contributes to the harmonious economic, social and  territorial development of the countries.

Currently,  the  environmental  sphere has a  great   influence  on  the  development  of  interregional  cooperation. National states that  strive to preserve their native nature and  take  care  of it understand that  together they  will achieve great  results in the issue of ecology. The same can  be said about  the Karelia region and Finland.

Historically  Karelia  and  Finland  had  close  relations  due  to  the  territorial  situation.  Modern  relations  betweenRussiaand Finlandare  developing in the  field of economic cooperation due  to the  growth  of cross-border business. At the  same time,  countries  pay  special  attention  to improving  living  and  working  conditions.  They  strive  to preserve the environment  and  create a  diverse  and  unique  culture.  Karelia  and Finland  are  the  two most environmentally  friendly regions, and  this is the main reason why governments seek to interact and  help each other  in environmental matters.

During the  research the  main question was what mechanism countries can  use for cooperation and  solving joint problems.

The   aim   of  the   research  is   to  find  out   and   analyze   main   mechanisms   and   principles   of  interregional environmental cooperation on the example of Karelia and Finland.

To achieve this goal, it is necessary to perform the following tasks:

To learn the main information about  the interregional cooperation between Karelia and Finland

To determine the main actors and  institutions in the process of interregional environmental cooperation

To learn and  analyze the legal framework that is used to adjust the cooperation

The object of research is the process of interregional cooperation in the field of environment. The subject of research is the mechanisms and  principles of cooperation work.

The research method comparative analysis with the use of functional elements.

The  literature  review  shows that  the  boarder-cooperation  in  the  Republic  of Karelia  is  quite  developed  topic. There  are  works which are  dedicated to the main cooperation programmes. For instance, it is E.A. Shlapenko and  K. V. Verkholantseva’s  works.   These  articles  contain  the  information  about   the  history  of  region  cooperation,  the  main information   about   participants,   structure  and   the   functions.   Besides,   these  articles   touch   the   perspectives   of cooperation. However, it was found out that  there  is a lack of articles about  the  mechanisms of working and  methods which  help  Russia  and   Finland  to  have   an  effective  partnership.  The  Euroregion  “Karelia”  is  famous  as one   of successful  cooperation  projects  that  helps  to solve  problems  and  improve  the  living  conditions,  so it is  significant  to understand how two countries work jointly.

Media  materials,  documents of cross-border cooperation  programmes, constitutions  of Russia  and  Finland  and other  regulatory legal acts, information from the websites of official authorities were  used as data  sources.

According to the  official information, the RepublicofKareliais involved in two significant programmes. The  first one  is  Euroregion  «Karelia».  It  is  a  geographical  region  in  the  Republic  of Karelia  and  Finland  united  by  common interests in economic development, nature protection, preservation and  development of culture. The Karelia Euroregion is  located  on  the  border   of  Russia  and  Finland  and  includes  the  provinces  of  Kainuu,  Northern   Karelia,  Northern Ostrobothnia  (Finland)  and  the  Republic  of Karelia  (Russia).  The  main  aim  of the  Euroregion  «Karelia»  is  a  common desire  to  improve  the   living  conditions  of  the   population  on  both  sides  of  the   border   through   cooperation.  The Euroregion  «Karelia»  analyzes  strengths and  weaknesses, as well  as opportunities  and  threats to their  activities  and makes a programme of actions. The  main spheres of the  Euroregion «Karelia» activities are  economy and  the  welfare production, but also the region is quite interested in environmental problems and  joint cooperation for solving them.  The main prospective result will be visa-free regime at the territory of the region. [Verholantseva, 1-2].

When  the  region  was only  at  the  stage of creation,  one  of the  authors of the  idea  of creating  the  Euroregion

«Karelia», former Minister of External Relations of the  Republic of Karelia, ex-chairman of the  Executive Committee of the  Euroregion  «Karelia»  Valery  Shlyamin  noticed  one  important  thing.  He  said  that  they  learnt  the  experience  of different regions and understood that each territory developed its own principles and mechanisms of cooperation. [ Verholantseva, 2].

The   second  programme which  is  involved  more   in  environmental  cooperation  is  cross-border  cooperation Karelia. The programme has a lot branches of activity in economic, cultural and  migration policies but also it develops in cooperation in sustainable exploitation of natural resources and  environmental protection. For instance, this programme has the  projects like «Improving water  quality for local use of water  resources and  ecological status of transboundary rivers»,  «Green  schools»,  «BIOKARELIA»,  «ECODIVE  -  Diverse  and   clean  forests  -  successful  bioeconomics»,

«EDUWATER  – Education for sustainable water  use» [CBC Karelia joint operational programme]. The  analysis of the distribution of projects by spheres makes it possible to identify trends in the development of cross-border cooperation, to identify the main social groups to which the results of cross-border interactions are  directed, and  the range of problems that the border  municipalities of Karelia solve together with neighboring territories [Shlapeko, 21]

Speaking about  the  main institutes which are  involved in cooperation process there  are  local, regional, national and   supranational   levels   of  power.   By  supranational   level   of  powers,  the   European  Union   is   considered.   The conservation  of marine  biological  resources under  the  common fisheries  policy  is  also  should  be  mentioned  as the European Union is also involved in cooperation and  fishery policy is connected with environmental sphere. According to Treaty  on the  Functioning of the  European Union, it is exclusive competence of the  EU. This means that  only EU has the right to act within the limits of the competences conferred upon  it by the EU countries in the Treaties [TFEU, Article 3]. So,  the  supranational institutes like the  European Parliament, the  Council and  the  European Commission can  also be  involved in projects. The  environmental sphere is the  shared competences of the  EU, so either the  Member  States or the EU can  act. [TFEU, Article 4].

These programmes have  great  hierarchies of different institutes. After the  researching, it can  be  concluded that the  main decisions are  usually made at national and  regional levels, as the  representatives of the  Republic of Karelia and  Finland regions are  also involved in different committees.

For  effective  cooperation,  region  has created the  legal  framework.  It is  based on  the  main  legal  acts, treaties, concepts, regulations  of the  Russian  Federation,  Finland  and  the  European Union.  For  instance,  the  Concept for the Foreign Policy of the Russian Federation, the Strategy for the Social and  Economic Development of the North-Western Federal  District  of the  Russian  Federation  until  2020,  Commission  Implementing  Regulation  (EC)  No 897/2014 of 18

August 2014  laying  down  implementing  rules  for cross-border cooperation  programmes (CBC IR).  [CBC Karelia  joint operational programme]

Finally, the  main question of the  research can  be  answered. Due  to the  information mentioned above, it can  be concluded  that  the  cross-border cooperation  is  complex  process. For  effective  work, countries  use different  methods. For  instance,  there  are  public  hearings  of projects  at  CBC  Karelia.  Environmental  projects,  firstly,  are  orientated  on people,  so the  more  people  joint  public  hearings,  the  more  ideas  of development  the  programme has. During  the research «Environmental issues in Local Welfare Production and  Governance» between Petrozavodsk State University and  Tubingen University, it was noticed that  intercultural awareness is important. It is necessary to involve new  people for exchanging ideas and  using different skills of professions. Minor things can  play a big role for others. Besides, there are  different  core  topics  and  interests  that  can  be  conflicting.  So,  this  method is  essential  in  border   cooperation. Moreover,  the pandemic also influenced on the development of partnership and  made it more  complex. Fortunately, the new  methods  of  virtual  joint  work  were   also  found.    Not  only  the  meetings  were   in  virtual  format,  but  also  new technologies  for experiments  were  used. For  example,  drones were  used to take  samples  of water  from  rivers  and lakes. Thus, it can  be  summarized that  even  there  are  some barriers for joint work, countries are  looking for new  ways of cooperation for solving the ecological problems. [Official website of the CBC Karelia]

To  summarize,  it  must  be  written  that  today   there   are   two  main  programs of  cross-border  cooperation between the  Republic of Karelia and  Finland. They  are  aimed to work together for economic growth  and  to solve joint problems.  Environmental  sphere is  also  included  and  one  of the  main  spheres of working  nowadays. Environmental cooperation needs multilevel governance. Almost all levels of power  are  involved in working process. The  main actors are  national and  regional authorities, but, for instance, the EU also plays an important role in this cooperation. As this is cooperation of two countries, the legal framework is also different. The legal acts, treaties, concepts of the Russian Federation,  Finland  and   the  EU,  as Finland  is  a  member state  of  the  Union  and   the  environment  is  a  shared competence, are  all used. As it was mentioned above, there  are  a lot of ways in use for cooperation and  the Republic of Karelia and  Finland are  still searching for new one  to continue work together.


Список литературы

Consolidated version of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union which adopted the Treaty of Lisbon, signed on 13 December 2007, in force 26 October 2012, Official Journal of the European Union C 326/01

CBC Karelia: joint operational programme 2014-2020 // CBC Karelia. 2015. P. 1—79.

Official website of the CBC Karelia – URL: https://www.kareliacbc.fi. — (accessed: 01.10.2021).

Shlapeko, E. А. The Republic of Karelia in the projects of cross-border cooperation // Ojkumena. Regional researches. 2019. № 1. P. 17—25.

Verkholantseva, K. V. The experience of participation of Russian regions in European cross-border spaces (on the example of the Euroregion «Karelia») // Power. 2009. № 3. P. 70—73.



Просмотров: 765; Скачиваний: 122;