Permafrost Challenge, Murmansk Airport, and Mail Drones

Permafrost thawing is a major threat to the Arctic. According to Alexander Kozlov, the Minister for Natural Resources and Environment (Russia), the cost of potential damage dealt by thawing of permafrost to the Russian Arctic is estimated at 50 trillion rubles (about USD 670 billion). Urgent measures are to be taken to ensure effective monitoring of, and responding to challenges arising from, the process of permafrost thawing. In this light, Minister Kozlov suggested launching a comprehensive permafrost monitoring system to be supervised by the Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring.

As more and more people travel to the Russian Arctic each year, the Murmansk regional government takes steps to improve the capacity of the Murmansk airport. Governor Andrei Chibis announced today that the regional authorities and a private contractor, Novaport Holding, have signed an agreement to design and build a new airport terminal. Owing to the upgrade, the airport’s passenger traffic is expected to grow from the current 200 to 600 passengers per hour, or 2.4 million passengers per year.

Russian Post, the national postal operator, is implementing a pilot project aimed at improving its delivery services for remote communities. Chukotka, one of Russia's least populated Arctic regions with a population density of less than 1 person per 10 square kilometers, was selected as a testing ground for a new drone delivery system capable of serving sparsely populated polar areas. According to Russian Post, the first commercial flight of a delivery drone will take place this year, while in 2022, drones are expected to deliver about 450 tons of goods across the region.