This became possible due to the international project “Barents Sea Leadership Training on Marine Litter”, partners of which are UArctic members: GRID-Arendal, Northern (Arctic) Federal University (NArFU), Kola Science Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences (KSC RAS),
as well as Open University of the Netherlands and UNEP.
A feature of the Russian-language course will be inclusion of practical cases for the Barents region: "Rusty fuel barrels in the European Part of the Russian Arctic" and "Plastic pollution in the Barents region of the Russian Arctic: from studying to teaching", prepared by a team of experts from NArFU; as well as the cases “Local Initiatives: Russian-Norwegian Cooperation in Coastal Cleaning”, “Towards Green Fishing and Caring for Future Generations within the International MARP Project” and “Dialogue with Fishermen” prepared by the Kola Science Center.
"We have included specific case studies from the Barents Sea region in the Russian MOOC highlighting ongoing efforts in combatting marine litter. However, we need to raise awareness and develop a comprehensive action plan in which all sectors and stakeholders are included to combat marine litter”, says Marina Kalinina, Advisor to the NArFU Rector for International Cooperation and UArctic Vice President Interregional Cooperation. She emphasized the significant role of cross-border cooperation and efforts of international research teams, NGOs, and volunteers to tackle the issue of marine litter regionally and globally.
Research Office of the University of the Arctic (NArFU, Arkhangelsk) participated in translating the course into Russian.
It is planned to continue work within the project which include assessment of activities against marine litter in the Barents region with the participation of stakeholders, and a seminar on marine litter with the participation of the UArctic Thematic Network "Arctic Plastic Pollution" in September 2021 in NArFU.
More information can be found on GRID-Arendal website.
You can register for the course here.