Translation. Region: Russian Federal
Source: State University Higher School of Economics – State University Higher School of Economics –
Photo: Igor Rodin / Roscongress Foundation
The forum “Strong Ideas for a New Time” has concluded in Moscow. HSE researchers presented their projects in various fields. One of them, “Water Potential of Russia,” was among the top 10 and was presented by the head of the Scientific and educational laboratory of climate change economics HSE University Igor Makarov at a plenary session with the participation of President Vladimir Putin.
The forum “Strong Ideas for a New Time” was organized by the Agency for Strategic Initiatives (ASI) and the Roscongress Foundation, co-organized by VEB.RF. This year, the forum received more than 35 thousand initiatives, including from employees of the Higher School of Economics. The authors of the best ideas, Russian President Vladimir Putin, ASI head Svetlana Chupsheva and VEB.RF chairman, chairman of the ASI expert council Igor Shuvalov took part in the plenary session on July 3 at the Russia National Center.
At the plenary session, Igor Makarov, Head of the Scientific and Educational Laboratory of Climate Change Economics at the National Research University Higher School of Economics, spoke about his idea, which will allow Russia to become a water superpower.
More than one billion people in the world live in areas that suffer from water shortages, and by the middle of the 21st century this will be two-thirds of the population, Igor Makarov noted in his speech. “Russia has 20% of the world’s reserves of this strategic asset and has every opportunity to become a water superpower of the 21st century,” he believes. But for this, according to the scientist, a comprehensive strategy for using competitive advantages associated with the availability of fresh water and its rational use is needed. The strategy may consist of four points. First, the development of a mechanism for assessing the real cost of water and the introduction of an assessment of the “water footprint” of products.
“We must know how much water we spend on the production of a particular product,” says Igor Makarov. Secondly, creating incentives for rational water use, introducing water consumption standards. Thirdly, developing new developments and technologies in the field of water conservation and water purification. “Technologies are already appearing that not only use water without harming its quality, but even improve it: they return water to the reservoir cleaner than it was when it was taken,” explains Igor Makarov. The fourth point of the strategy could be the creation of mechanisms for joint investment in water management by the state, enterprises and citizens. “Such an approach could become the basis for water to become a new investment-attractive segment of the economy,” says Igor Makarov.
Vladimir Putin supported the HSE project, noting that although, according to international experts, Russia is one of the countries that has more water than it consumes, it is necessary to approach its use rationally. According to the president, when implementing the programs that will arise on the basis of the proposals made by the scientist, it is necessary to take into account the balance of water consumption.
“Because if we use this resource for industrial development, this is what we are talking about, then we must proceed from the fact that 50% of the total volume of water consumption goes specifically to industry. If we take these 50% as 100, 75% is energy. We just have to keep this in mind. For agriculture, let’s say, in my opinion, only 2%,” Vladimir Putin noted. He also emphasized that “we must be very careful when making any large-scale decisions.”
“We have huge amounts of fresh water, and the coastal zone creates unique opportunities for development… Together with the agency and the expert council, we will try to formulate this topic so that it sounds like an economy around water. There is currently a great demand for such questions – these are completely new aspects that have not been considered before, especially in terms of supporting and developing family businesses, which is certainly important and in demand,” said Igor Shuvalov.
Another HSE project, the creation of the National Climate Adaptation System, was included in the top 100 of the forum. The authors of the idea are employees Faculty of Geography and Geoinformation Technologies HSE University: Dean of the Faculty, Director Center for Digital Technologies for Natural and Climate Projects Nikolay Kurichev, who presented the idea at the forum, and Tatyana Aniskina, director Geodata Center.
Geographers from the National Research University Higher School of Economics propose creating an integrated national system for managing adaptation to climate change based on microdata. It is possible to launch such a system on the basis of the multi-level digital platform “Natural and Climate Risks and Adaptation to Climate Change”. HSE.Glavnoe will tell more about this project in one of its next publications.
The top 300 included the initiative of students of the GosVyshka platform, “A comprehensive program of academic and project-based student mobility for regional development.” “Today, it is sometimes easier for a student to go on an exchange to another country than to a Russian region,” says Maria Matveeva, head of the project “GosVyshka”, who presented the idea at the forum. “In Russia, there are formats for short-term student trips, such as expeditions and student tourism. But to get a full-fledged transformative experience, a student must stay in another region for at least 4-6 months, and, unfortunately, at the moment this is quite difficult.”
In order to form a unified educational space in Russia, the authors of the idea proposed a program with four tracks: academic (a student from an average regional university goes to a highly selective university to gain knowledge), scientific (theoretical research due to the specifics of the host region, for example, studying volcanoes in Kamchatka), social (in combination with the service learning program, work on NPO projects), and managerial (work on the tasks of executive authorities and senior officials of the regions in the format of workshops based at the State Higher School of Economics).
“We thank ASI for supporting our project and hope for further assistance in its implementation. In addition, we are looking for regional partners to receive project assignments for students within the framework of mobility programs,” said Maria Matveeva.
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