Narrating Global Environment Change: Soviet Interventions in the Climate Change & Earth Science Debates of the Late Twentieth Century

This panel examines the role of Soviet/Russian scientists within the context of the international initiatives concerning global environmental change that emerged strongly from the 1970s onwards. It reflects upon the contributions made by Soviet scientists to the key debates around climate change and related geophysical phenomena both within the formalities of major international organisations/collaborations as well as less high-profile instances of debate and scientific exchange. To this end, Jankovic’s paper focuses on the ideas of the Soviet geophysicist E.K. Fedorov which were promulgated during the 1979 World Climate Conference. Taking advantage of his senior role within the organisation, he advanced a critique of Soviet and Western approaches to the climate change issue during the plenary session, drawing upon his wider understanding of society-nature interaction. In contrast to the prominent intervention by Fedorov, Amramina’s paper explores the quotidian activities of Soviet and US scientists under the auspices of the 1972 US-USSR Environmental Agreement which facilitated insight into the Earth’s geophysical systems through small-scale exchanges of personnel and collaborative initiatives. Shaw’s paper provides a constrast to this US-USSR interaction by focussing on Soviet activities in the Antarctic and their fruitful cooperation with both French and US scientists in advancing insight into long-term climate change at the global level. The final paper (Oldfield) explores the discussions around climate change and climate futures that were evident within the USSR during the 1980s. These understandings would emerge strongly on the international scene during the initial IPCC discussions at the end of the 1980s.