The Ministry of Natural Resources plans to develop a draft law on state environmental monitoring along the Northern Sea Route (NSR) by August, head of the department Alexander Kozlov said during a roundtable discussion on the problems of the Arctic and Antarctic, organized as part of the Nevsky International Environmental Congress.

“Together with Rosgidromet and Rosatom, we have prepared a draft concept for the state environmental monitoring system in the NSR. It should provide all interested users with reliable and complete information about the environment and pollution as well as updates and alerts on natural phenomena. By the end of July, we will develop and submit a draft federal law on this topic,” the minister said.

Earlier, Kozlov noted that there was environmental monitoring on the NSR now, but it was necessary to expand the covered waters and the volume of parameters measured. The Ministry and experts are also discussing the requirements for vessels passing through Arctic seas.

In his speech at the roundtable discussion during the Nevsky congress, Kozlov recalled that the first station of the state system for background monitoring of the condition of permafrost was recently opened in Salekhard. It was a well about 25 m deep with 32 sensors. It is planned that an integrated permafrost monitoring network will be deployed throughout the territory of the permafrost zone within the Russian Federation within three years (from 2023 to 2025). During this time, 140 stations will be installed. Based on the data obtained, scientists will be able to predict the consequences and learn how to prevent accidents in the permafrost.