Legal Ecology Aspects of Sustainable Development: Potential of the “Arctic Hectare” Program

Introduction . The issues of economic and social development, determining the boundaries of the Arctic regions, interaction and differentiation of powers between the Federal centre and the subjects of the Russian Federation – these are the issues of prioritised scientific and practical interest whenever Russian Arctic is concerned. However, for ensuring the security of the country and reaching the goals of the national policy on sustainable development, the issues of environmental protection of the climate-forming Arctic part of Russia, the problems of land use, protection of the rights and legitimate interests of the Arctic scanty indigenous peoples are no less important. The aim of the study is to find and substantiate the legal ecology potential of the “Arctic hectare” program in the context of sustainable development of the Arctic Zone of Russia. Materials and Methods. The study was carried out using the dialectical-materialistic, dogmatic legal, and logical methods of scientific cognition, which made it possible to compare the available scientific data and research results to the provisions of the acting regulatory legal acts on sustainable development of the Arctic. Results . The legal ecology aspects were found to be the weak point in the Arctic Zone sustainable development: despite the bulk amount of the normative legal acts, the problems of distributing the territories of traditional nature management, reclamation of disturbed tundra lands, climate risks, preservation of the specially protected natural territories within the boundaries of the "Arctic hectare" allocation, etc. have not been solved yet. The topical legal ecology issues on improving the regulatory framework and successful implementation of the "Arctic hectare" program have been identified. Discussion and Conclusion . The study has revealed the shortcomings in the legal framework of the Russian Arctic development program, namely its bias towards the socio-economic sphere. The potential of the “Arctic hectare” lies in creation of the efficient legal ecology regime regulating the use and development of this territory from perspective of its environmental significance.