Irina Barakaeva, Natalia Batugina & Vladimir Gavrilov
Existing approaches of state support of fuel and power delivery to the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug and Polar regions of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) are discussed in the article. Considerable attention is focused on remotely located regions of Yakutia which are in more difficult conditions and have special features of goods delivery. Complicated transportation-logistic schemes of fuels delivery, difference in the launch and completion of river and marine navigation, ice roads, thousand kilometer length of the routes lead to a significant increase of time and costs of goods delivery and thus to deterioration of its quality. Since 2003, subventions from the Fund of Financial Support for the Russia’s Federal Subjects have not any longer been targeted. A general transfer is allocated by the federal budget subsidize Russian regions. Fiscal support of delivery of freights is carried out by means of transfer of subsidies from to the budget of the Sakha Republic and Chukotka as subsidy by an authorized operator of the governments, annually selected in bidding and performing goods delivery to the north. The advantages and disadvantages of the current system of fuel and power delivery to the Arctic regions of Yakutia and Chukotka are evaluated in the article. An effective way of strengthening energy safety in Yakutia and Chukotka and decreasing expenses is an arrangement of fuel mining locally to replace fuels transported from other regions.
Leah Beveridge, Mélanie Fournier & Ronald Pelot
The Canadian-German project PASSAGES (Protection and Advanced Surveillance System for the Arctic: Green, Efficient, Secure)1aims to: (1) determine the needs of Canadian stakeholders for better maritime situational awareness; and (2) design a maritime monitoring system adapted to Arctic conditions. Although the system could be deployed in the circumpolar region as a whole, the geographical zone of interest is the Northwest Passage within the Canadian Arctic archipelago. In its first phase, PASSAGES has created a database by collecting and cross-referencing contextual information and interacting with potential users of such a system (government agencies, shipping companies, communities etc.). Exploring the Canadian stakeholder network is a necessary part of understanding how operations are planned for and conducted. The sources of this information, however, remain fragmented and difficult to locate.
The objective here is to take a new approach to sharing stakeholder information through a visualization tool. The goal is to go beyond traditional bibliographies and indexes to provide a comprehensive account of the major stakeholders in the Canadian Arctic, including an evaluation of their scale(s) of operation, their interests, and interactions.
Adrienne M. Davidson
How do we understand the evolution of sub-national governance in the North American Arctic? In what ways are Indigenous policy actors empowered and organized? Discussions of circumpolar regionalization often focus on the increasing role of state, provincial, or territorial governments in policy development, in international relations, and in managing the future of the north. However, these institutions do not constitute the only form of regionalization that the Arctic has experienced. Over the past 40 years, the North American Arctic has also seen rapid political change at the sub-national level. The land claims movement, which emerged in the 1960s in Alaska and in the 1970s in Canada, shifted policy authority into new regional institutions and empowered local indigenous populations. This has meant that the northern territories and the state of Alaska have moved toward becoming their own quasi-federal systems, and has heightened the complexity of northern governance. This paper presents a comparative study of regional models of governance in the North American Arctic. The paper pays specific attention to regional models that emerged in a policy vacuum, prior to the pre-1990s period that saw both US and Canadian federal governments reaffirm notions of Indigenous sovereignty. However, due to policy legacies and path dependency, some populations do not (and may never have) Indigenous self-government. The paper explores the layered development of governance, focusing on the Northwest Arctic and North Slope regions in Alaska, and the Inuvialuit and Gwich’in regions in the Canadian Northwest Territories. This paper explores how differences in institutional structure influence shape regional policymaking, and how these institutions are poised to affect the future political, economic, and social development of Arctic Northern America.
Erica Dingman
When the United States assumed the Arctic Council chairmanship in 2015 they came with the intent to promote full implementation in all Arctic states of the Black Carbon and Methane Task Force recommendations. Reduction of these short-lived climate forcers (SLCFs) would have multiple benefits for environmental and human health, and reduce emissions that are a cause of global warming. Yet, with a history of pollutants migrating to the Arctic from elsewhere, and inherent limitations at the Arctic Council, is to suggest that a paradigm shift is in order. Thus, to the extent that the U.S. has the capacity to exert influence, implementation of emission reductions must start at home and likely requires robust engagement of outside actors. This article will address how the U.S. is demonstrating an intent to tackle SLCFs, specifically black carbon, through policy and regulation; the role of renewable energy sources in Alaska; and why an engaged private sector is critical. To engender change will require a multi-level cross-sector approach.
Marc Jacobsen
This paper demonstrates how different Greenlandic governments have exploited a narrative of a unique Greenlandic identity to shape and strengthen a foreign policy autonomous from Denmark. Central to this narrative is, on the one hand, the widespread anticipation of more independence in the future and, on the other hand, the notion of a common cultural core formed in the past. The three main elements of this core are the Greenlandic language, hunting traditions, and a particular relationship to nature. While the status of the three elements is often disputed in specific domestic policy debates, such as the commissions exploring future Greenlandic constitution and reconciliation with Denmark, on the international policy level there is a remarkable agreement about the narrative. Here the three elements are understood as a matter of societal security. They need to be protected from external threats in order to uphold the current Greenlandic society. In several cases, the elements are securitised. Hereby the nomination of external threats is used to successfully legitimise extraordinary rights, such as whaling, while the strive for independence substantiate more favourable CO2-reduction requirements. These different rights do, on the one hand, enhance Greenland’s individual position in the world, and hence also strengthen the nation-building process, while, on the other hand, making visible a paradox where increased CO2-emissions have negative implications for the traditional way of living. These implications mirror the complexity of the identity narrative, as the cultural core and the anticipated future independence sometimes contrast each other.
Thierry Rodon & Aude Therrien
The Canadian Arctic is seen as a resource-rich territory and attracts many developers however, at the institutional level, it is a very complex region. Arctic Canada is formally under the jurisdiction of the federal government, yet a devolution process initiated in the sixties has led to the creation of responsible territories in Yukon, the Northwest Territories and ultimately the Nunavut Territory in 1999. At first this devolution didn't include the management of natural resources, but recently the Yukon (2003) and the Northwest Territories (2014) have signed a natural resources devolution agreement with the federal government and Nunavut is negotiating a similar agreement. Furthermore, all of the Canadian Arctic territories have a significant indigenous population which has attained constitutional recognition through multiple court decisions, leading to the conclusion of land claims settlements. These agreements involve the creation of regional or local governments and various boards and organizations tasked with such responsibilities as making recommendations on natural resource management, and environmental and social assessments of resource development. In addition, all recent land claims settlements require developers to sign Impact and Benefit Agreements with local or regional Indigenous organizations.
This has led to complex governance arrangements that offer a good example of vertical and horizontal multilevel governance but that are often denounced by developers and some federal policy-makers as a balkanization of decision-making. This paper will map the formal and informal powers and the interaction of the different regulatory institutions from the local to the federal level. The authors will then analyse the federal effort to streamline environmental governance through the Action Plan to Improve Northern Regulatory Regimes and assess how it impacts the MLG scene in the Canadian Arctic.
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