Moscow Diary: Changing climate

Apart from dismaying fans of winter sports, climate change could alter the whole of Russia's traditional way of life, the BBC's James Rodgers reports. His diary is published fortnightly.

BBC News - 3 June 2008

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A Change Of Outlook?

"Go out into the street and see!"

Russia's Deputy Economics Minister, Andrei Belousov, was talking to reporters ahead of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum, which begins later this week.

Could Russia's famously fierce winters become a thing of the past?

I had asked why climate change was one of the items topping the agenda - Russia isn't a country where the issue gets much attention in public debate.

Two consecutive warm winters have dismayed Muscovites. Conditions for skiing and skating can no longer be counted on as once they could.

But, on the other hand, Moscow's pavement coffee shops and bars have been opening earlier in the year.

Away from the cafe society of the capital, climate change could alter the whole of Russia's traditional way of life.

If its famously fierce winters do become milder on a permanent basis, there are implications for agriculture, and for oil and gas extraction.

Lord Nicholas Stern, a British economist who presented a report to the UK government in 2006 on the economics of climate change, will be among the speakers at the forum.

"In higher latitude regions, such as Canada, Russia and Scandinavia, climate change may lead to net benefits for temperature increases of 2 or 3C, through higher agricultural yields, lower winter mortality, lower heating requirements, and a possible boost to tourism," the Stern review concluded.

There was a warning, too.

"But these regions will also experience the most rapid rates of warming - damaging infrastructure, human health, local livelihoods and biodiversity," the report added.

Perhaps because of the massive social and political changes which have rocked Russia over the last two decades, many people here seem content to live for today.

Who can blame them? If your country has gone from a superpower to an economic wreck and then an energy giant in the space of 20 years, it's pretty hard to be confident that the break-neck drive through history is over.

The St Petersburg forum's interest in climate change shows that Russia has changed too - into a country thinking about the longer term.

No Small Change

I couldn't tell how much cash there was.

From the way it hit the pavement, so close to my foot that I almost stepped on it, it sounded like quite a lot.

Foreign tourists are frequently targeted by conmen in the Russian capital

It was a fat wad of US dollars wrapped in a see-though plastic bag.

I walked on briskly.

Someone over my shoulder shouted: "Young man!" (one of the common forms of address in a country where Communism swept away less direct ones), but I couldn't tell if that was directed at me or at the person in front.

It was he who had rather theatrically dropped the cash as he hurried past.

I didn't stick around to see what happened. I was partly amused, partly annoyed.

Let me explain. I think I avoided becoming involved in one of the more common scams perpetrated on visitors to the Russian capital.

This is the idea. The first crook drops the money. The unsuspecting tourist picks it up and tries to get his attention, thinking he has let it fall by accident. The conman heads off so quickly that the would-be good citizen can't catch up.

Then crook number two appears. He suggests you split the money. While the bewildered newcomer decides what to do, crook number one reappears, counts the cash, and announces that some is missing.

In the deluxe version of the scam, someone in police uniform even turns up to take the conman's side in the dispute. The hapless victim is forced to "repay" the missing money from his or her own wallet.

I was amused because it was the first time I had actually seen somebody try the trick.

I was disappointed because after years of living and working in the Moscow, I apparently look as savvy as if I've just stepped onto the streets of the Russian capital for the first time - and as if I might, perhaps, believe they were paved with gold.

© MMVIII

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