Climate change impacts, adaptation, and the technology interface - Environmental and Human Security in the Arctic - page 125

and fires. In some communities, run-of-the-river hydro developments can
be developed economically without negative impacts on water levels or fish
habitat. Electrical generation using solar energy through photovoltaic cells is
becoming more and more common in remote locations, especially for operat-
ing low-power communications devices.
Technology transfer joint ventures
A second suggestion, a crucial one, is to establish best practices for consul-
tation processes between industries and communities to enable beneficial
technology transfer partnerships and joint ventures, and beneficial long-run
sustainability in the communities involved. Such practices could be devel-
oped as a matter of government policy, not to hinder industrial investment,
but to maximize its effectiveness, and to minimize costly time delays due to
public intervention and environmental impact enquiries, while at the same
time optimizing the particular cost/benefit scenarios for the communities
involved.
Regional economic development networks
A third area for study is to work with communities and regions in the North
to form regional economic development networks. The Mid Canada Research
Institute has been active in this area. For example, the many small commu-
nities spread across the boreal north face similar problems: isolation from
centres of economic generation, remoteness from resources and a lack of access
to knowledge and expertise in strategic economic planning and coordination.
Yet these communities may differ widely in culture, history, demography,
corporate knowledge and sophistication of business infrastructure.
By establishing regional economic development networks among commu-
nities, value-added linkages can be created in which the 'products' of one
community's business or industry become the 'feedstock' for the industry of
another community (Bastedo 2009; Malcolm 2010). Such value-adding 'pro-
ductivity chains' help overcome barriers to economic growth and employment
facing smaller centres and isolated communities. These linkages are especially
appropriate for the boreal region of Canada because of their proximity to the
productive lakes and mineral resources in that region.
It should be possible to identify a 'cluster' of communities - one adjacent to
a forestry resource, but lacking a technically skilled workforce; another with
a better-educated, but unemployed, labour pool; and a third, remote from
natural resources but close to business and transportation links. Separately,
these communities are unlikely to have the capacity to overcome the barriers
to joint action.