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OST-Øst-Europa-programmene

Measuring levels of oil and gas toxins in human populations and individual perceptions of health and security in the Komi republic

Awarded: NOK 0.22 mill.

With this application, the intention is to seek to plan a study which aims to strengthen the emphirical basis for debates on assessments of threats and security strategies in local communities in the Arctic. An important aim is to test how the Security-co ncept can fruitfully be included in the research work on questions of connections between oil and gas activities in the north, environmental threats to local communities as well as cultural and social change observed in the northwestern part of the Komi R epublic in Russia. The planning work shop in the small town of Izma in the Komi Republic will meet the need for an evaluation of methods and practical issues in the interdisciplinary study on the effects of oil spills in the region. The study focuses on three different, albeit connected themes: firstly, an epidemiological study focuses on the connections between dietary patterns and findings of oil compounds in blood; secondly, a questionnaire on what sort of information people have been given on the oil spills and how this has affected their basis for individual choices will be analyzed; and thirdly, the relationship between local perceptions and the production of scientific, objectifiable "truth" will be analyzed, seeking to understand the sublime and under-communicated connections between science (as producer of the category "nature" and as an extension, the producer of ?truth?) and politics. The complexity of this study means that there are a number of methodological and theoretical as well as practi cal challenges that will be new to many of the participants in the project. Typically, most of the staff involved in the practical sides of the study is well acquainted with the gathering of epidemiological data, but more inexperienced in the gathering of qualitative data. Therefore, there is a strong need for a work shop where practical matters as well as methods of data gathering are discussed thoroughly.

Funding scheme:

OST-Øst-Europa-programmene