Social and environmental change in the Arctic: emerging opportunities for well-being transformations through stewardship (original) (raw)
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Climatic Change, 2012
The social and cultural dimensions of arctic environmental change were explored through Canada's International Polar Year (IPY) research program. Drawing on concepts of vulnerability, resilience and human security, we discuss preliminary results of 15 IPY research projects (of 52) which dealt with the effects and responses of northern communities to issues of ecological variability, natural resource development and climate change. This paper attempts to determine whether the preliminary results of these projects have contributed to the IPY program goal of building knowledge about well-being in the arctic. The projects were diverse in focus and approach but together offer a valuable pan-northern perspective on many themes including land and resource use, food security, poverty and best practices of northern engagement. Case study research using self-reported measures suggests individual views of their own well-being differ from regional and territorial standardized statistics on quality of life. A large body of work was developed around changes in land and resource use. A decline in land and resource use in some areas and consequent concerns for food security, are directly linked to the effects of climate change, particularly in coastal areas where melting sea ice, erratic weather events and changes in the stability of landscapes (e.g., erosion, slumping) are leading to increased risks for land users. Natural resource development, while creating some new economic opportunities, may be compounding rather than offsetting such stresses of environmental change for vulnerable populations. While the IPY program has contributed to our understanding of some aspects of well-being in the arctic, many other issues of social, economic, cultural and political significance, including those unrelated to environmental change, remain poorly understood.
Human/nature relations in the Arctic: changing perspectives
Polar Record, 1992
Differing conceptions of the relationship between humans and the environment shape policies regarding Arctic development and protection. From the fifteenth century to the early twentieth century, conquest and colonization perspectives prevailed. While vestiges of these views still color Arctic policy, the dominant approach of governments today is balanced development. On the horizon, alternative conceptions are gradually changing both policy decisions and decision-making processes in the Arctic. These include sustainable and regenerative development, rational ecology, ecofeminism, and indigenous perspectives. Contents Introduction Conquest and colonization Balanced development Sustainable and regenerative development Rational ecology The ecofeminist perspective Indigenous perspectives The future: beyond rational development Acknowledgements References
Resources, Social and Cultural Sustainabilities in the Arctic
2019
Introduction: the Arctic as the world's new energy province? In popular, political and scholarly debates alike, the Arctic region is seen as about to become the world's new energy province. A significant share of the world's unutilized oil and gas resources are estimated to be located in the Arctic (USGS, 2009). The international interest in the region's energy endowments has heightened in the interplay of various overlapping and interconnected developments. The expected growth of global energy demand (IEA, 2017), dwindling reserves at existing production sites (cf. Owen, Inderwildi and King, 2010; Di Muzio and Salah Ovadia, 2016) and anxiety over the impacts of political events on energy supplies (cf. e.g. Liuhto, 2009; Paillard, 2010) all play an important role, as does climate change. Together with technological developments, the thawing sea ice is expected to make previously inaccessible areas available for energy production and transportation activities (cf. e.g. Loe and Kelman, 2016, p. 25; Kristoferssen, 2014, p. 56).
Arctic environmental governance: challenges of sustainable development
Climatic change, 2024
The Arctic is one of the key regions in relation to global climate change, experiencing radical transformations in environmental governance as well as challenges in terms of its ecological protection. The region is witnessing a number of irreversible climatic shifts, such as melting permafrost, rising sea levels, contamination of the Global Ocean, and changes in the lives of indigenous people. The Arctic is a global hot spot in climate change where international cooperation (scientific, environmental, diplomatic, etc.) should be a priority to overcome existing ecological challenges. This article provides detailed analysis of these issues from cross-disciplinary perspectives, bringing insights from economics, history, anthropology, international relations, and political science from the perspective of literature on environmental regionalism. The article analyzes a selection of heterogeneous actors, many of whom have contradictory rules, norms, and priorities. Analysis of the Arctic through the lens of regional environmental governance aspires to contribute to understanding of the complexity of existing challenges and their potential solutions. This article offers an analysis of the major findings in this topical collection. It contributes to the development of cross-disciplinary approach to the studies of the Artic and outlines a research agenda.
Arctic Sustainability Transformation 2023
2023
We have entered a new phase in how we consider and seek to govern the fate of the planet in these increasingly unpredictable times. Everywhere in the world, relationships within societies and environments, and between humans and nature, are rapidly changing. The notion of “sustainability transformation” generally captures both the challenges of these disrupted relations and profound solutions to restore them at a global scale, but the Arctic in particular is seen either as a hotspot for hope and possibilities, or as a social and ecological flashpoint under increasing pressure of resource use. What, then, is Arctic sustainability transformation? And what can or does it need to be? This booklet, with contributions from researchers working in the Arctic and with Arctic issues, is a result of our collaboration within the Arctic Five Chair initiative and has come to form a central part of our work of reflecting on Arctic sustainability transformations. The Arctic Five is a collaboration among five Nordic universities, namely Luleå University of Technology and Umeå University in Sweden, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, and the University of Lapland and University of Oulu in Finland. Our work on Arctic transformations is conducted within the Future Challenges in the Nordics program and the research project Peripheral Visions, jointly funded by the Society of Swedish Literature in Finland, Riksbankens Jubileumsfond, the Finnish Cultural Foundation, the Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland, Stiftelsen Brita Maria Renlunds Minne, and the Kamprad Family Foundation for Entrepreneurship, Research & Charity.
2013
In this editorial essay I discuss how changing arctic landscapes and seascapes are presently construed in two dominant science and policy narratives, one regarding the vulnerability and resilience of remote communities, and the second focusing on economic development of emerging opportunities. I discuss whether these two narratives limit the overall discourse on arctic change, reinforcing one another and creating a scenario of winners and losers that benefits those with the resources to capitalize on new and emerging opportunities while locking others, primarily local residents, into a posture of victimization. I suggest that these two narratives are counterproductive to efforts that seek to resist and reverse the impacts of anthropogenic global warming, and also to efforts to improve human well-being in arctic communities more gener-ally. Arctic landscapes and seascapes, I argue, are artifacts flush with the influence of the values and actions of a now global civilization; as changes are borne out in the future we need to recognize that these changes are not outside of our control and will endure as a testament to our societies' values regarding basic human rights and social and environmental justice.
Introduction: Circumpolar Dimensions of the Governance of the Arctic
The Palgrave Handbook of Arctic Policy and Politics, 2019
Over 20 years ago, noted Arctic scholars Gail Oscherenko and Oran Young published a book with the compelling title The Hot Arctic. If the Arctic was hot at that time-and in comparative terms it was-it is a raging inferno now. Consider just a small subset of the issues currently at play: unchecked climate change, the largely unmoderated introduction of transformational technologies, the near collapse of traditional languages and severe cultural erosion among some Indigenous peoples, the redevelopment of Arctic spaces into playgrounds for wealthy outsiders, the rapid outmigration of northern residents, including Indigenous peoples, continued economic marginalization, the decline in harvestable wildlife, tragic levels of Indigenous suicide, local violence, HIV AIDS, and many other social, cultural and environmental challenges. There are offsetting and more positive developments, to be sure, including the rise of Indigenous internationalism, the continued success of the Arctic Council, the rapid growth in Indigenous economic development, greater stability among the Arctic non-Indigenous settlers, the continued growth of the Far Northern research and development capacity, more supportive southern interests in the region, international concern about northern ecological vulnerabilities, global interest in Arctic ecological sustainability, community engagement with renewable energy systems and the sustained rise of regional political voices. These are complex, promising and troubling times.
Twenty-three researchers representing eight natural and social science disciplines and four partner communities -Aklavik, Fort McPherson, Old Crow, and Arctic Village -examine how the combined effects of climate change, oil development, tourism, and government cutbacks might change the sustainability of Arctic villages. We would like to thank our partner communities for joining us on this study. We worked together to incorporate research and local knowledge-based understandings in a common tool -a SYNTHESIS MODEL -to examine the sensitivity of relationships and assess levels of uncertainty. We discussed possible futures, local policies, and the limitations of science and local knowledge in predicting the future. We modeled vegetation changes, caribou population dynamics, local labor markets, mixed subsistence and cash economies, and oil field-caribou interactions.
Introduction: Sustainability as a Political Concept in the Arctic
The Politics of Sustainability in the Arctic, 2018
Introduction to the book Politics of Sustainability in the Arctic, which sets out a theoretical framework for understanding and analysing sustainability as a political concept, and provides a comprehensive empirical investigation of Arctic sustainability discourses. Presenting a range of case studies from a number of Arctic countries including Greenland, Norway and Canada, the essays in this volume analyse the concept of sustainability and how actors are employing and contesting this concept in specific regions within the Arctic. In doing so, the book demonstrates how sustainability is being given new meanings in the postcolonial Arctic and what the political implications are for postcoloniality, nature, and development more broadly. Beyond those interested in the Arctic, this book will also be of great value to students and scholars of sustainability, sustainable development, identity and environmental politics.
Arctic Futures: Conceptualizations and images of a changing Arctic
Polar Geography, 2012
Peter Arbo; Audun Iversen; Maaike Knol; Toril Ringholm; Gunnar Sander. The future of the Arctic is an issue of increasing concern. During the last five years, a large number of reports, books, and articles have appeared which directly focus on what happens in the Arctic. This article summarizes the findings of an assessment of more than 50 such studies. It aims to identify the basic assumptions, analytical approaches, and future images that characterize current thinking about the Arctic. The article shows that the studies are diverse in thematic scope and background. Different methodologies are applied to envision the future of the Arctic. The future images range from boom to doom, from escalating conflicts to peaceful collaboration. There is a strong agreement that the Arctic is subject to profound change, driven by developments outside the region. Simultaneously, the studies display the many uncertainties that the future of the Arctic is imbued with. This article does not attempt to sketch an alternative version of the future of the Arctic, but rather to highlight how future studies can stimulate debate, create preparedness for change, offer direction, and inform policy.