Introduction - Environmental and Human Security in the Arctic - page 4

a Multiple Securities Perspective (GAPS) (2006-2012), which examined the
relationship between hydrocarbon extractive activities and the people liv-
ing in the regions where these activities are taking place. This relationship
has been examined through a multiple security approach (Hoogensen Gjørv
2012), whereby security is understood comprehensively (see also Heininen,
this topic), including but reaching beyond solely state interests, making vis-
ible processes by which individuals, communities, states and the international
community ensure that that which they value in life, that which defines life
for them, is maintained in the future. The GAPS project team examined the
ways in which hydrocarbon extractive industries have affected/influenced the
future expectations/security of communities in the Arctic, focusing in particu-
lar in northern Norway (Lofoten), northern Canada (Northwest Territories)
and in Russia (Komi Republic).
Perhaps one of the most significant results of the project was the extent to
which the project extended out to communities in an attempt to bridge a gap
between communities and academia. The extensive collaboration that took
place between scientists and community members ranged from participation
by Grade 7 school children researching impacts of oil and gas development for
their community (at the annual Forskningdagene in 2009), to talking with
people in oil and gas impacted regions about their health (Komi Republic)
and listening to people about the potential effects of oil and gas development
in communities with long traditions connected to nature and the seas (Lofoten
and fisheries; Dale 2012). Security in the Arctic has been demonstrated to be
much more than 'states and borders'.
It is our general hope that this topic will act to strengthen further develop-
ment of multi-actor-based debates towards complex challenges facing Arctic
peoples, communities and the environment today, with a special space for the
voices of ordinary people living in the Arctic.
Overview of the topic and its contents
As it was envisioned by the editors' team from the beginning, this topic is a
forum, in which all have come to share their thoughts, experiences and research
results that have a bearing upon understanding security in the Arctic. The con-
tributors to this topic come from different disciplines, ranging from political
science and philosophy to engineering and ecology, and from different nation-
alities, including Russian, Canadian, Norwegian, American and Finnish,
as well as indigenous and non-indigenous. This results in a combination of
works that understand security from different vantage points. Some authors
concentrate more on the concept of security itself, while for others it lies in
the background of the topic they are exploring. Taken together, the topic pro-
vides one glimpse into an emerging security dynamic that is developing in the
Arctic and how this is discursively conceptualized and practically developed,
organized and delivered by multiple security actors, both state and non-state.