Anisimov, O. Impacts of Changing Climate in Permafrost Regions: the Russian Perspective. 2017.

In this report we attempt to gain insight into the complex interplay of the changes in the physical
parameters of the climate regime in Russian permafrost regions, impacts they have on the state
of the frozen ground and northern environment, and socio-economic consequences of such
impacts. The later include the public perception of the climatic and environmental changes and
legislative decision-making on regional climate adaptation policies. We strive towards placing
the multi-factual changes in Russian permafrost regions in the context of sustainable regional
development. The ultimate goal of this study is to assist efforts on developing effective climate
adaptation strategies and bridging the gap between the Russian and international environmental
policymaking in permafrost regions.
Our study synthesizes results and key findings from the scientific papers, national and
international assessment reports, including many of those published in Russian, which are not
available to the western scientific community. We start with the brief overview of the observed
climatic changes in Russia over the past few decades; zoom into permafrost regions and analyze
the observed and projected for the future changes in the state of the frozen ground. We continue
with the analysis of potentially detrimental processes associated with permafrost degradation,
such as landslides, coastal erosion, thermokarst, uneven ground settlement and loss of bearing
capacity, which may have destructive effect on the infrastructure and regional economy. And,
lastly, we place the findings of our assessment in the context of adaptation and decision making.