ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the two parallel developments - international and domestic which are studied from the perspective of regional environmental governance, path dependency and environmental capacity-building. It argues that the state is an important environmental actor in the development, regulation and implementation of international environmental cooperation. The governance structure for international environmental cooperation in Northwest Russia is characterized by international environmental projects that are coordinated by multilateral political forums and funded by international funding agencies. The aim of regional environmental cooperation in general is to improve Russian environmental capacities to tackle the country's environmental problems, which are considered to be self-inflicted and in many cases a result of years of particular development policies. The political and economic organization of the regional environmental governance structure forms a particular institutional framework for international environmental cooperation in the region. The European Union (EU) was identified as the main partner in international environmental cooperation in the region.
