JANSROP-GIS
The technical possibilities of the NSR as an international commercial sea-lane were both developed and demonstrated by INSROP. This ended successfully and was most fruitful in its consideration of insurance and legal issues and concomitant suggestions for sensible improvements.
After the INSROP, however, a drastic transformation took place in the political and socio-economic situation in Russia and simultaneously circumstances around the NSR have been changing in response to world markets in natural resources. The OPRF then examined current Russian activity and world market trends in 2002, and decided to start a new project on the NSR and related issues from a new perspective in close cooperation with Russia. The new project, "JANSROP Phase II" was designed to be carried out in a three-year time frame, commencing in 2002, and facilitated once again with the kind support of The Nippon Foundation. The formal title of this project, "Development and Operation Program for Environmental Sustainability in East Eurasia", is, for the sake of brevity, named JANSROP Phase II. This characterizes the Japan-funded aspect of the project. JANSROP had been a domestic project carried out by the OPRF in the same time frame as that of the INSROP.
In contrast to the INSROP, JANSROP Phase II stresses the eastern part of the NSR including some regions of Siberia, Far East Russia and the Sea of Okhotsk. The primary objective of the Project is to stimulate the interest of Asian countries in the NSR through the presentation of up-to-date information on natural resources preserved in the regions, using development and transportation scenarios. The Project tries accordingly to draw up a scheme of their development and put forward scenarios of an effective infrastructure for ship operations and a transportation complex.
We certainly need a wide range of knowledge to develop concrete scenarios, such as, how people there are living, what weather conditions are like, what infrastructure exists, what environmental issues may arise, and so forth. The area having the greatest possibility to utilize the eastern part of NSR and the Sea of Okhotsk is not well known to people in Asia or even to Russian people living on the European side. It could be time consuming and tedious work to gather such data and look at several different factors projected on a single map. This JANSROP-GIS is designed to support this kind of work employing GIS (Geographic Information System). GIS has the benefit of combining several categories of data as users wish and project them on a detailed map. JANROP-GIS provides general geographic data, natural resources and environmental data through data bases with ArcIMS provided by the ESRI incorporation. Although North-east area in Russia is rich in natural resources, the area is less populated, experiences harsh weather and is poor in transportation systems. As the environment there is vulnerable and has weak self-generating mechanisms, we are requested to develop there with a close eye on creating a harmonious relationship with the environment. If we could find a development scenario which could overcome these environmental issues, the Russian North-east region would bring wealth to East Eurasia.
We also present flight information and fine pictures in the general geography section, so please enjoy a virtual trip though JANSROP-GIS.
The development of JANSROP-GIS is subsidized by The Nippon Foundation with
assistance funds derived from proceeds of motorboat racing. We extend our
gratitude their sincere support.
Disclaimer: The OCEAN POLICY RESEARCH FOUNDATION, whose official name is the Ship & Ocean Foundation, and the developers of JANSROP-GIS are not responsible for any damages or loss resulting from the use of JANSROP-GIS. (The "Ship & Ocean Foundation" is operating under the name of "Ocean Policy Research Foundation" from April 1, 2005.)
