| Summary: | "Sustainable development is taken to encompass ecological, social and economic considerations of a given development activity. Growth of traffic and construction of transportation infrastructure impact all these sectors heavily, but are also central to the economic well-being of circumpolar peoples and regions. Until now, the Arctic Council has addressed the region’s economic development and transportation issues only marginally. The Finnish chair intends to bring the questions of sustainable transportation on the Council’s agenda. There is already a considerable volume of activity focused on transportation development in the Arctic area, albeit outside the Arctic Council framework. In Europe, one can mention INSROP and ARCDEV, which have provided valuable information of the Northern Sea Route (NSR). At present, there is the Barents Euro-Arctic Transport Area (BEATA) process underway as well as the proposed ARCOP, a follow up project of ARCDEV and INSROP. The EU/Tacis has supported transportation studies in North-West Russia. Similar projects and processes can also be found elsewhere. Particularly the ones in North America and Far East are essential for gaining full understanding of the activities (to be identified!). This paper addresses transportation in all its modes: road, rail, sea, and air. In the Arctic, however, transportation development is highly intertwined with the development of energy resources, including pipelines, as well as telecommunications. They are presented here only in passing. At a later date, a workable scope of the transport-energy-telecom regime must be defined." /./
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