International cooperation for the protection of mankind from natural disasters is a component of “The Concept of the Foreign Policy of the Russian Federation,” released on March 31, 2023. (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1g-_EfrjUz-0PzWEnBZSLC2fDBD11mScBpQm98ytNrlA/edit)
Coming out of discussions beginning in 2007, the Russian institution International Global Monitoring AeroSpace System (IGMASS, known in Russian by its acronym МАКСМ), was formed and has organized conferences and done outreach for planning a coordinated international defense against global threats, such as asteroids and comets, intense solar activity, earthquakes and tsunamis.
Language in Russia’s new foreign policy document supports this approach:
“34. For the purpose of reducing, in the territory of the Russian Federation, the risks that arise from the natural and man-made disasters occurring beyond it and enhancing the robustness of foreign countries against them, the Russian Federation intends to give priority to:
“1) strengthening the organizational and legal framework and improving the mechanisms for bilateral and multilateral interaction in the area of the protection of population from natural and man-made emergencies, building capacity for early warning and forecasting of such emergencies, and overcoming their consequences;
“2) providing the practical assistance to foreign states in the area of protection from natural and man-made emergencies, including the use of unique Russian technologies and experience in emergency response.”
For more on IGMASS, see “Toward Collaboration in the Defense of Mankind” and other articles in the Fall/Winter 2012-2013 issue of 21st Century Science & Technology: http://21sci-tech.com/Subscriptions/Subscription_2012_4.html
