ARCTIC: India Refuses Russian Gas & more – 1st Oct 2024

st of October: 2024

Even countries as far from the Arctic as India are having a big impact on the region's future. On Friday the 27th, Pankaj Jain, India’s Oil Secretary, told Reuters that India will not buy natural gas produced from Russia's Arctic LNG 2 project. The gas project - intended to transform Russia’s energy industry into the world’s largest - has yet to sell a single shipment of gas due to international sanctions, and now India has dropped off the list of potential customers.

hest ever recorded. So far in: 2024

has been in dispute since the: 1825

The border agreement will be at the top of the list for the US’s first-ever Arctic ambassador, Mike Sfraga, who the US Senate confirmed on Thursday the 26th. Sfraga chairs the U.S. Arctic Research Commission and founded the Polar Institute, which makes him a well-qualified appointment to the new role. The US was the only Arctic nation not to have a dedicated ambassadorial position.

In other news, climate change is devastating Arctic communities. The Anchorage Daily News reported on Thursday the 26th that Newtok, erosion and melting caused by climate change destroyed an indigenous town in southwest Alaska.

Since twenty nineteen, the town’s 300 residents have been gradually relocating to a new village, Mertarvik. By next month, the final residents will have moved. Efforts to relocate began over two decades ago after governmental reports confirmed Newtok was one of over 140 Alaska Native Communities at risk of climate change damage. The lengthy process and high costs highlight how much faster and more efficient responses to climate change must be to protect vulnerable communities from losing their homes.

To read the full story of how this village completely moved to a new home, follow the link in the show notes!

Alaska’s land is eroding and the state’s oceans are having environmental protections removed. On Thursday the 26th, a federal judge ruled in favor of the state of Alaska, which sued the National Marine Fisheries Service in February, to have a massive swathe of Alaskan waters removed from critical protection status.

A plot of ocean the size of Texas had been granted protected status in twenty twenty-two to allow ringed and bearded seals to recover from dangerously low populations. But the state of Alaska believed this area to be too large, and has hindered economic development in the state. Since the two seal species were designated endangered in twenty twelve, local and federal governments in the US have been fighting over how to protect a species that lives in economically valuable habitats without stymying business interests.

The Indigenous people of the Arctic also need strong legal protection to be safe and prosperous. On Thursday the 26th, the Canadian MP Leah Gazan introduced a bill into the Canadian parliament that would criminalize residential school denialism, to help stop the harm caused toward survivors, their families and communities.

Residential schools forced over 150,000 native children to eliminate their Indigenous cultures and languages, with their awful treatment of the kids leaving at least 6,000 dead. If the bill is passed, people who condone, justify or downplay the impact of residential schools could be charged under the Criminal Code for promoting hatred against Indigenous Peoples.

More about the Arctic Indigenous people as the 4th annual National Day for Truth and Reconciliation was celebrated in Canada and Alaska on Monday the 30th. The day is a time to remember Indigenous children who died at residential schools, the survivors, their families and communities. According to news agency CBC news, on the 30th, some communities have employed trained mental health counselors at Truth and Reconciliation events in an attempt to ensure the day is not triggering for residential school survivors in the community or their families. Canada has been making progress in moving on from its tragic past, but the scars live on.

Finland’s Sami community has finally completed its parliamentary elections. On Monday the 23rd, the Sami Assembly of Finland confirmed that Pirita Näkkäläjärvi has been re-elected as Sami chairman until twenty twenty-seven. This election has been fraught with controversy after being initially held last year, but Finland’s parliament annulled the election results after it found sixty-five eligible people were purged from the voter roll. The Sami Parliament defended its decision but was only allowed to conduct a new election after they restored the eligible voters. The end result is the same as it was last year, with Näkkäläjärvi winning her leadership of the Finnish Sami.

Still in Finland, the private Ähtäri Zoo in central Finland announced on Wednesday the 25th that it has decided to return its pair of giant pandas back to China. The panda pair, Lumi and Pyry, were loaned to Finland from China in twenty seventeen to mark the Nordic nation’s 100 years of independence. But the high cost of maintaining a panda exhibit, estimated by the zoo at almost $2 million US dollars annually, and declining zoo visitor numbers made the animals too expensive to keep. Finland was the first Nordic nation to ever receive a panda from China, but they will also unfortunately be the first to send one back.

Next, a historic announcement in Norway. On Friday the 27th, Tore Sandvik, the Climate Minister, released the parliamentary report on biodiversity. It states that the government will begin to issue new environmental protections in order to have a third of Norway’s land under protection by twenty fifty, and will conduct an assessment of creating new marine protected areas.

However, the response to the report has been mixed. A statement from the Worldwide Fund for Nature says Norway’s plans won’t actually meet the necessary global conservation targets set by the UN, and that the budget of about $10 million US dollars for protecting nature is much too small to deliver effective environmental protections.

Change is afoot in Iceland too. On Wednesday the 25th, the Icelandic government published a press release saying that the country will soon release its first-ever comprehensive policy on immigrant affairs. According to Guðmundur Ingi Guðbrandsson, Iceland’s Minister of Social Affairs, the policy envisions Iceland as an inclusive society where immigrants have equal opportunities. The policy will work towards improving the integration of immigrants through better access to Icelandic language lessons and equal access to education, healthcare, and housing.

A ferry ride away, Greenland has made history this week. The government announced on Friday the 27th that they have appointed Dr Paneeraq Noahsen as the new national doctor at the National Medical Board. Her appointment as Greenland’s National Doctor means she is both the first ever native Greenlander and the first woman to be appointed to the role, with prior appointments always being Danish men. In the position, Noahsen will monitor the health of Greenland, oversee medical practices nationwide, and advise on national health policies.

Aaand that’s it for this week! Thank you for joining us!

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