ARCTIC: Environmental Protections & more – 23rd Apr 2024

Góðan daginn from BA! This is the Rorshok Arctic Update from the 23rd of April twenty twenty-four. A quick summary of what’s going down North of the Arctic Circle!

Let's start with some great news from Alaska. On Friday the 19th, the US Interior Department made two major announcements. First, the department halted plans for a 200-mile road that would have cut through protected areas to access copper mines —a move environmental groups applauded. Second, the Biden administration created robust environmental protections for 13 million acres, over 50,000 square kilometers, of the US's western Arctic land and sea, prohibiting new oil and gas developments in areas with substantial fossil fuel reserves. Many local Indigenous communities welcomed the decision, including Frank Thompson, Evansville’s Chief, who told Alaska Public Media on the 19th that he thanks the federal government for hearing his tribe's concerns and protecting their way of life.

Setting up new protections in the Arctic is brilliant, but existing threats need solutions too. On Tuesday the 23rd, there will be a UN summit in Ottawa, Canada, with 180 countries attempting to agree to a new global plastic pollution treaty. There will be representatives of Alaskan and Canadian Arctic Indigenous communities who will share their report entitled The Arctic’s Plastic Crisis, published on Monday the 15th by the International Pollutants Elimination Network. On Tuesday the 16th, Vi Waghiyi, the Co-author of the report, said in an interview with InsideClimate News that Arctic communities are some of the most contaminated on the planet but they are often forgotten in wider legislation. She hopes to make clear to the UN summit that the people of the Arctic need urgent action in order to prevent a serious health situation.

Maintaining the Arctic's health requires careful management and international cooperation, as potential environmental disasters pose a serious threat. As reported by The Barents Observer on Monday the 15th, concerns about radioactive contamination in Siberia's Tom River are rising due to severe flooding in the region. The Russian government has released very little information; it announced on the 15th that tens of thousands have been evacuated from the area but has shared little else. Aleksandr Nikitin, an exiled nuclear safety expert, told The Barents Observer that a nearby weapons-grade plutonium facility in Seversk could worsen the situation if flooding leads to nuclear waste pollution reaching the Arctic Ocean.

Protecting the Arctic comes with high costs, but Canada's newly released federal budget on Tuesday the 16th has sparked concern among Canada’s Arctic communities. A report by the Assembly of First Nations published in March twenty twenty-three indicates that the government needs to invest over $250 million US dollars by twenty-thirty to bring native settlements across Canada on par with the rest of the country. However, the twenty twenty-four federal budget includes only around $6 million US dollars for Indigenous development. Nunavut MP Lori Idlout expressed disappointment, arguing that the investment falls far short of addressing Indigenous challenges and could widen the quality of life gap in twenty twenty-four.

European countries have been divided on whether to purchase gas from Russia. Last year, EU countries spent over $10 billion on Russian energy, signaling a strong demand, but this could change soon. On Wednesday the 17th, the EU Parliament introduced new rules allowing individual member states to control the flow of Russian gas through their territories. For instance, before, if Spain were to purchase a gas shipment from Russia, it could pass through Belgium without Belgium's involvement. Now, under the new rules, intermediary countries that oppose facilitating Russian gas imports can temporarily restrict these shipments. Whether any country will exercise this option remains uncertain, but importing gas into Europe just became a more complex process.

Over to Iceland where Bjarni Benediktsson, the new Prime Minister, just won his first leadership battle. On Thursday the 18th. The People’s Party, the main opposition, put forward a motion of no confidence in Parliament against the ruling coalition government but was beaten with thirty-five votes to twenty-five. Even though the Parliament has voted in support of Benediktsson, a poll by polling agency Prósent revealed on Monday the 15th that he only has an approval rating of thirteen percent among Icelandic voters.

Another political controversy is stirring in Finland following the government's recent decision to annul the results of the Sámi Parliament elections. The election was annulled as the Sami Parliament removed sixty-five potential voters from the electoral roll. According to the Sami Parliament, the people removed were not of Sami heritage, so they did not qualify to vote in this election. On Monday the 15th, Pirita Näkkäläjärvi, the President of the Sámi Parliament, addressed the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, saying Finland's decision violates the Sámi people's right to self-determination and human rights. Näkkäläjärvi hopes that raising the issue with the UN will exert international pressure on Finland to renegotiate Sámi rights and allow the Sami to conduct elections without outside interference. In the meantime, new elections are scheduled for June.

Speaking of the Sámi, on Friday the 19th, Netflix is premiering its first-ever original production from the Sami region. The film titled Stolen is an adaptation of the award-winning novel by the same name. Director Elle Márjá Eira spoke about the movie during the Arctic Encounters conference in Alaska on Thursday the 18th, expressing her desire to reclaim the ownership of Sami stories and amplify Sami culture.

To promote the film, Netflix published a piece about the making of this story. To check it out, follow the link in the show notes!

In Norway, northern counties are pressing the national government for more investment. On Wednesday the 17th, Stig Tore Skogsholm of the Nordland County Council, along with politicians from across Arctic Norway, released a statement calling on the government to boost funding for crucial infrastructure in the Ofoten train line and Narvik's underground tunnel. These transport links are vital for moving goods, people, and the military into Northern Norway but have suffered from underinvestment. Last year, the Norwegian Railway Directorate halted all rail traffic into the north for two months due to train derailments, underscoring the system's fragility. The council urges the construction of a second rail line at a minimum to bring northern Norway up to par with the rest of the country.

Autonomous decision-making is vital to the welfare of Indigenous communities. On Wednesday the 17th, the organization that represents the Inuit in northern Quebec, Makivvik, released its climate adaptation strategy for the region. The plan highlights how the Inuit must develop their own climate strategies that differ from the rest of Canada in order to protect their unique culture and communities. The project underwent four years of collaboration with 150 traditional knowledge holders, local communities and scientific experts. They crafted a climate plan that aims to ensure the Inuit of Quebec adapt and thrive within a changing climate.

To learn more about the plan, click on the link in the show notes!

Finally, let's turn to Greenland. While tourism has long been considered significant to Greenland’s economy, there hasn't been reliable data to measure its impact accurately. In twenty twenty-three, Greenland's largest economic and tourism agencies joined forces to address this, and on Friday the 19th, they published a report titled The Economic Significance of Foreign Tourism in Greenland. The findings reveal that tourism plays a major role in the economy, contributing about a third of the value of Greenland's exports. The government welcomed the report and pledged to develop tools to measure tourism's full societal and financial impact. These efforts aim to improve jobs, wages, and overall satisfaction across Greenland's tourism industry.

And that’s it for this week! Thanks for joining us!

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