Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
having suffered from the effect of modernization that destroyed their native cul-
tures, leading to high levels of unemployment, considerable substance abuse, lim-
ited education and feelings of despair. Yet some native peoples still manage to
practice traditional hunting techniques for meat and furs, using snowmobiles rather
than dog sleds in Canada, or herding reindeer as in northern Finland and Sweden.
However, the prejudices of southern societies, such as the European anti-fur and
seal campaigns and bans, have destroyed the market for many northern hunters. By
contrast the prospects for native artists, such as the soapstone carvers of traditional
Inuit themes, have improved, although most now use more modern technologies.
Despite these examples there is still a need for far more native peoples to be in-
volved in the burgeoning economic activities and in new housing or community
ventures in the far north. Some companies and governments are making determined
efforts to achieve these aims, but there is still a long way to go. The trend for more
involvement of native peoples in political affairs has been helped by the creation
of government decentralization in some areas, such as the new territory of Nuna-
vet in the eastern Arctic of Canada. This is providing the people in some northern
regions with a greater degree of self-government in internal affairs, adding to the
skills and confidence of the peoples, as well as providing a greater share of the
growing revenues from local resource projects which can help local development.
These governments are also having a greater degree of involvement in, or decisions
over, the many mining and resource developments being planned in northern lands.
Since many minerals are known to occur in these remote regions, they will become
more exploitable as ice levels recede and the seas become more open for longer
periods of the year, thereby extending the shipping season. Fortunately, the dangers
of potential oil or resource spills in these pristine northern regions is recognized,
ensuring that in most jurisdictions rigorous environmental impact statements have
to be produced before any industry can proceed, and there are examples of com-
munities rejecting resource development because of insufficient controls to prevent
such potential dangers. In towns and cities further south that are still affected by
severe winters some governments have recognized the developmental handicaps in
northern settlements and have initiated new projects to expand their economic op-
portunities, such as supporting tourism, to adding educational, medical and research
facilities in some of the larger northern centres. One of the best examples is Ume￤ in
North East Sweden, which has progressed from being an isolated northern regional
service outpost in Sweden to an educational and medical research centre. In the
1950s the Swedish government made Ume￤ the fifth repository in the country for
all topics printed in the country, providing the basis for a research library in the uni-
versity, which was followed by major investments to locate additional universities
and specialized schools, such as dentistry and design, in the city. It now has almost
40,000 university students, together with a current permanent city population of
80,000 inhabitants, almost 60 % higher than its population in the early 1960s before
the first university was established. The spin-offs from its educational facilities and
its average age of 38 years has led to a new vibrancy reflected in its many leisure
activities, inside and outside the city, perhaps why the city adopted 'Curiosity and
Passion' as its motto. Such is the strength of its cultural activities and its promotion
