Some issues of the implementation of the environmental impact assessment procedure in the Arctic region

There is a trend that recently the effectiveness of the Environmental impact assessment (EIA) has been called into question throughout the world, and this is especially evident in the Arctic region. We identify, reveal and actualize the priority areas in the field of Arctic EIA. To one of the areas under consideration we assign the development of more meaningful and regionally specific social and economic indicators to support the practice of EIA. In addition, we indicate the need for increased attention to the direction consisting in a thorough study of the working and administrative relations between agreements concluded privately (for example, agreements on the benefits of exposure) and the processes governing EIA. We state that despite the fact that the eight arctic states adopted the Guidelines for EIA, they were not fully integrated into the national EIA systems. A separate area should be the study of the consequences of recent changes in the processes, regulations and legislation in the field of EIA. We conclude that environmental assessment should play a key role in planning the impact of environmental, social, and economic changes and in developing response measures that will allow Arctic communities in the best way take into account new opportunities and deal with the inevitable major changes.