The Arctic Messenger - The Changing Arctic Environment: The Arctic Messenger - page 12

indigenous peoples are, quite simply, an intimate part of their natural Arctic ecosystem.
However, they do not enjoy an existence disconnected to the rest of the globe, and for the
last 60 years, they have faced an incremental tide of environmental dangers flooding from
the industrial world.
Early tangible and visible dangers faced by the Arctic environment and its peoples
began to appear in the 1960s from such northern resource development as hydrocarbon ex-
ploration and production and mining. By “tangible”, I mean that one could see the activ-
ities themselves and make mental connections to any visible environmental degradation
that may have occurred. Arctic peoples could possibly make a stand against such activities
in their homelands, as happened with the proposals for a Canadian Mackenzie Valley oil
pipeline in the late 1970s and of certain historical hydroelectric power development pro-
jects in northern Norway. Alternatively, one could argue that most of the potential envir-
onmental impacts from northern development would be local and with proper management
and regulation could be effectively mitigated. If Arctic peoples themselves could invest in
and be genuinely involved in Arctic resource management, perhaps such activities could
occur with strong local economic benefit and social, cultural and environmental impacts
could be controlled even if in practice this may be difficult. For example, the settlement of
comprehensive land claims in much of Canada above the tree line has greatly strengthened
the role of Arctic peoples in deciding if and how their northern resources may be deve-
loped. Issues of Arctic economic resource development remain current today, but we will
say no more about them here. Instead, we will concentrate on the agents of a changing Arc-
tic environment that are not tangible, not visible and whose origins lie in human activities
originating far from the Arctic. Figure 2.1 will help orientate us as we embark on the Arctic
story.
Figure 2.1
Political and geographical map of the Arctic