Enhancing indigenous food security in the arctic : through law, policy, and the arctic council

• Main Author: Cormier, Shaun
• Other Authors: fi=Oikeustieteiden tiedekunta|en=Faculty of Law|
• Format: Master Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: fi=Lapin yliopisto|en=University of Lapland| 2016
• Subjects: Arctic; Arctic Council; Climate change; Food security
• Online Access: http://lauda.ulapland.fi/handle/10024/62517; http://nbn-resolving.org/URN:NBN:fi:ula-201606291271

Food security has long developed since President Roosevelt determined it as the “freedom from fear and the freedom from want.” The concept surrounds four pillars: availability, accessibility, utilization and stability; a failure to provide all four is likely to result in an individual or group as food insecure. Indigenous Peoples, and especially those in the Arctic region, are deemed some of the most food insecure world-wide. This is a result from constant bombardment of challenges and threats that are facing them daily, including climate change, shipping, tourism, mining, forestry, oil & gas. These threats have impacted the Indigenous way of life andtheir environment, leading to a shift away from traditional foods towards more store-bought foods. These changes have resulted in tremendous health impacts on Indigenous Peoples through nutrition content and food contamination. On the other hand, a number of hard and soft law mechanismsare currently in place directly and indirectly aimed to promoting and protecting food security in the Arctic and associated rights, such as the right to food and the right to culture; however, there are gaps that still remain. Suggestions to address these gaps have formulated around both legally binding and soft law mechanisms, such as an international food security treaty and using the Arctic Council as a platform for protecting and promoting food security. Regardless, Indigenous Peoples, their rights and concerns all need to be taken into account when concerning food security.