Int'l media forum urges closer cooperation in Arctic

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Int'l media forum urges closer cooperation in Arctic

(Xinhua) 20:52, October 22, 2013

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A wide range of people with an interest in the Arctic called for closer cooperation to develop and preserve the region at a forum here Tuesday.

The Arctic is a unique region which requires special care for its nature, people and resources, according to a memorandum reached at the 1st Arctic Media Forum, which brought experts, journalists, interest groups and officials from the intergovernmental Arctic Council to this northwest Russian city.

"Ecological problems are currently the most acute in the Arctic," said Inna Kabanova, editor-in-chief of the Arctic-Info news agency, the organizer of the forum.

Meanwhile, "everyone has his own truth and mass media offer different solutions, depending on 'whose truth' they represent," she told the two-day forum at the Northern Arctic Federal University.

Journalists and experts sometimes disagreed on the merits and demerits of resources development in the Arctic, because "it is not always obvious whether the costs of their development balance the future profits," World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Russian bureau director Igor Chestin said.

He warned that, even in the warm Gulf of Mexico, clearing the BP oil spill took four months. "In the Arctic climate, a leakage will be impossible to clear."

Only peaceful negotiations between environmentalists and indigenous people on one side and companies on the other could bring benefits to both, echoed Angelina Ardeeva, chairperson of the Indigenous People Council.

Mass media must have their hands in that process, she said.

（Editor：DuMingming、Zhang Qian）