Social impacts of climate change and resource development in the Arctic

• Published in: Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy
• Main Authors: Arruda, Gisele M., Krutkowski, Sebastian
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Emerald 2017
• Subjects: Arctic; Canada; Greenland; Norway; Arctic Council; Climate change; inuit; sami
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/jec-08-2015-0040; https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JEC-08-2015-0040/full/xml; https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JEC-08-2015-0040/full/html

Purpose This paper aims to explore the socio-political implications of climate change as the melting ice ignites new debates over territorial sovereignty of Arctic coastal states. Previously ice-jammed waterways are now open, and a number of recent geological surveys have identified new potential sites with vast energy resources. Competition over resources causes states to question each other’s jurisdiction over specific parts of the Arctic. What used to be internal waters of one particular state can now be referred to as international waters by other actors interested in the benefits of resource extraction. Arctic indigenous groups, especially the Inuit, and Sami are directly affected by the current governance patterns that are fragmented across too many different bodies dealing with maritime navigation, tourism, fisheries and administration. Design/methodology/approach The paper uses a comparative study based on literature review combined with regional reports related to climatic and social impacts analysed jointly with live elements provided by international conferences discussions, workshops and direct conversations in “petit comités” style held in Norway, Greenland and Canada in the period of October 2014 until the first quarter of July 2015, with the representatives of Sami and Inuit communities. Findings The paper demonstrates that Arctic governance is currently fragmented and the largest inter-governmental organisation in the region, the Arctic Council, has only advisory powers, and although its norm-making method helps with the design, it is not effective to implement Arctic-wide policies for responsible management of energy resources. Research limitations/implications The research considered methodological aspects like the difficulty in measuring the elements researched mainly when dealing with the diverse nature of responses from the indigenous populations to environmental impacts and the varied nature of effects in different studied areas. Practical implications As the Arctic is set to become the ...