The impact of climate risks on Russia’s economic development: example of the North Caucasian Federal District

This article presents an analysis of climate risks’ structure and effects on the Russian Federation's economic development. Despite the existed theoretical background, it is not clear about the leading risk factor, human adaptation to it, and the subsequent effect on the economy. This happens since some climate risks can be controlled; therefore, their impact on the regional economy is minimal. Thus, we are interested in the scope of certain climate risks affecting the Russian Federation’s economic situation. We have selected the North Caucasian Federal District because it is strongly susceptible to the most severe climate risks as droughts and floods. Considering the complexity of the climate risk formation process, we use mixed-methods. It allows identifying the quantitative component and analyzing the object in the framework of the existing theoretical background. During our research, we determined the cause of climate risk formation in the Russian Federation. With the collected empirical data for 2010-2013 regarding the level of drought, precipitation, and crop productivity, we have compared the region's economic situation with climate risks. It was determined that despite the clear manifestation of climate risks in the North Caucasian Federal District, the economic damage to the region is minimal due to the high level of the region's resistance to the existing threats and their localization. Nevertheless, guided by the theoretical and methodological basis of the topic under study and revised data on the migration loss of the region, we can assume that the North Caucasian FD’s climate risks are expressed in the concept of climate migration, and this process has an increasing dynamic.