DR. EICKEN: You’ve been emphasizing the importance of standards, at both the national and international level, to make sure there is a consistency and that companies are being held to whatever the stakeholders agree are the highest standards. But if you include that uncertainty --that unknowable aspect of potential impact -- how do you deal with that?
DR. ZOLOTUKHIN: That’s a very good question. How can you be confident about doing things right if you don't know anything about what the possible effect could be?
At present, we have an international team of experts who is working on international standards for Arctic development. But this group doesn't include environmentalists. They're technical people who know technical things, the technical side of events. Probably, the best people in the world.
But in addition to these specialists, you have to be a citizen of this planet; an environmentalist, not a technical person. Because we don't know how many side effects we can generate. So this team is working to establish international standards for development of the Arctic -- new types of materials, requirements for materials, the technology that could be used and so on.
You cannot specify more than that. Otherwise, it would not be a standard, but a direct guideline for development. And that's not the way technology works. These standards are definite progress, but there's a certain drawback. You cannot have internationally recognized standards, worldwide, for everything. Different areas -- even within the Arctic -- have different requirements. The Norwegian continental shelf, for example, which belongs to the Arctic environmental sector, has lower material requirements in terms of strengths and grade than materials used for Chukchi Sea development because the temperature there is minus 60 and ice could cover the ocean.
As another example, specific areas of the ocean could be less or more vulnerable. Shallow waters with small harbors could be worrisome and vulnerable. Areas with high energy exchange and oxygen, where there is some breeding, are going to be very active. So requirements should be tougher. But you cannot impose that same standard everywhere.
But we don't know the impacts. We have to think about them seven times, ten times before making a decision. And the more stakeholders participate in that, the better and safer will be the solutions. There should be consensus between all the stakeholders because they have a much better perception of nature because it's their natural habitat and they have their view and they should be actively involved making decisions. If they don't, then we all have a problem.
MR. KLICK: Arctic Council has its guidelines. Are they a worthy set of guidelines to emulate?
DR. ZOLOTUKHIN: Guidelines are recommendations given to you, but you are not required to follow them. Standards are somewhat different. You can't have two standards. That's something we observe in some of the countries. But there should be strict guidelines -- how to develop an area or how to develop a technology. You cannot constrain yourself completely. Then you are just trapped -- you cannot do that, you cannot do that, and so on. It's like going on the street in a car and getting only red lights everywhere. If you follow the rules, you cannot progress. You have to abandon the courage or do something different. There should be guidelines -- you can turn right here if you are careful. You need something like that for technology development. It's time to think about the integrated team approach, even for establishing standards. Next Back to contents |
