ИСТИНА

Murmansk region is one of the regions within the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation; and is one of the most heavily industrialized territories. Among other Arctic territories of Russia, region holds the first place by the number of single-industry cities (8: Polyarnie Zory, Kirovsk, Nikel, Zapolyarniy, Tumanniy, Monchegorsk, Revda, Kovdor). At present 23% of the region’s population (over 150000 people) live and work in single-industry cities and set up the greatest industrial potential for further socioeconomic and sustainable development of this area. The most part of regions’ single-industry cities has a mining profile. The resource role of the Arctic is strong and doubtless. Resource stocks are expansive due to the new exploration possibilities opened by the human-driven climate and environmental change. But resource markets dictate their own demands. These demands place the new economic reality to the industries allocated in the region. Some of the cities and mining communities (e.g. Nikel, Zapolyarniy, Monchegorsk) are connected to each other through the technological chains: mine site, processing plant and chemical enterprise. These chains make these cities along with other resource communities in the region even more vulnerable to any factors both socio-economic and environmental which influence their development and human capacity. The rapidly changing resource, political and military role of the Arctic and its economy nowadays brings in new challenges and benefits to the sustainable development of the region. An ineffective governmental strategy for social services, human capacity building, urbanization planning and protection of the environment are major milestones for sustainable development of the region and the mining communities of single-industry cities.