Polar GeographyPub Date : 2020-01-02DOI: 10.1080/1088937X.2020.1713546
Andreas Raspotnik, Ragnhild Grønning, V. Herrmann
{"title":"A tale of three cities: the concept of smart sustainable cities for the Arctic","authors":"Andreas Raspotnik, Ragnhild Grønning, V. Herrmann","doi":"10.1080/1088937X.2020.1713546","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1088937X.2020.1713546","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This article considers established metrics for smart city development and evaluates their suitability for implementation in Arctic urban settlements. To do this, the article first surveys smart city literature and the standardization of ‘smartness’ metrics, with particular interest in the International Standards Organization’s (ISO) categorization efforts. It then proposes a northern framework of measurement to evaluate smart cities that adjusts smart metrics from current non-Arctic scholarship to the relatively low populations, peripheral development, remote locations, and harsh climate conditions of the circumpolar north. To test this argument of a new smart framework, the article moves to examine the strategies of three circumpolar cities at different points of smart development: Anchorage (United States), Bodø (Norway) and Oulu (Finland). The article concludes by identifying areas of success and shortcomings for each city analyzed. Smart cities can be a crucial step towards a sustainable future in the circumpolar north, contributing to a ‘smarter’ approach to economic, social, and environmental development. Exploring this is important because these frameworks have implications for how policymakers in northern regions choose to plan and implement their city strategies.","PeriodicalId":46164,"journal":{"name":"Polar Geography","volume":"91 1","pages":"64 - 87"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2020-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83785670","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Polar GeographyPub Date : 2020-01-02DOI: 10.1080/1088937X.2019.1707321
Gaëlle Crête, T. Herrmann, Cloé Fortin, Elke Schüttler
{"title":"Public perceptions of non-native plant species on a Chilean sub-Antarctic island","authors":"Gaëlle Crête, T. Herrmann, Cloé Fortin, Elke Schüttler","doi":"10.1080/1088937X.2019.1707321","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1088937X.2019.1707321","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Humans are the main drivers of the introduction, establishment and spread of non-native species worldwide but they have traditionally been excluded from management. Nowadays, the social component of non-native species is increasingly considered. In this paper, we investigated understanding, perceptions and attitudes towards management of non-native herbaceous plant species on Navarino, a remote Chilean sub-Antarctic island. Overall, our study showed a general understanding of the non-native species concept among the interviewees but revealed a lack of consciousness regarding non-native plants species in the local context. Interestingly, our study also revealed many positive values associated with non-native plants species on Navarino, particularly the esthetic value. Whilst some non-native plants were strictly associated with positive values, such as common daisy (Bellis perennis) and white clover (Trifolium repens), most species were associated with conflicting values. As a key result, our study lastly showed that most interviewees were indifferent about the management of the non-native herbaceous plant species. We, therefore, suggest (i) increasing the awareness of stakeholders with respect to non-native plants, (ii) incorporating stakeholder’s values into future management decisions and (iii) considering the strategic location of Navarino Island as a potential stepping stone for the dispersion of non-native plants species towards the Antarctic.","PeriodicalId":46164,"journal":{"name":"Polar Geography","volume":"16 1","pages":"46 - 63"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2020-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81302205","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Polar GeographyPub Date : 2020-01-02DOI: 10.1080/1088937X.2019.1679269
B. Kaltenborn, Willy Østreng, G. Hovelsrud
{"title":"Change will be the constant – future environmental policy and governance challenges in Svalbard","authors":"B. Kaltenborn, Willy Østreng, G. Hovelsrud","doi":"10.1080/1088937X.2019.1679269","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1088937X.2019.1679269","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Svalbard will gain increased strategic importance in the future development of the Norwegian Arctic. We argue from a perspective of international relations that the current Svalbard policies inadequately reflects the environmental, economic, social and political changes facing the archipelago. We ask what will be the paramount environmental management challenges facing Svalbard in the future, and how the governance system can deal with these? With the backdrop of climate change, developments throughout the Circumpolar Arctic suggest that the Polar region as such will experience increasing exploration and exploitation for natural resources, growth in marine traffic, different forms of tourism and militarization. Due to the structure of the Svalbard treaty, all policy measures and management interventions must be carefully balanced in the context of global geopolitics. Changing public values, climate change, oil- and gas exploration, marine harvesting, securitization, and expanding infrastructure and logistics will characterize the future. There is a need to develop expanded emergency response systems, an improved knowledge base for management including social science data, and better mechanisms for integrating science in policy- and decision-making. Environmental policy goals should also be revised to reflect the dynamic and uncertain state of social and environmental drivers of change already impacting Svalbard.","PeriodicalId":46164,"journal":{"name":"Polar Geography","volume":"1 1","pages":"25 - 45"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2020-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"72846397","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Polar GeographyPub Date : 2020-01-02DOI: 10.1080/1088937X.2019.1685020
M. Bonamy, T. Herrmann, A. Harbicht
{"title":"‘I think it is the toughest animal in the North’: human-wolverine interactions among hunters and trappers in the Canadian Northwest Territories","authors":"M. Bonamy, T. Herrmann, A. Harbicht","doi":"10.1080/1088937X.2019.1685020","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1088937X.2019.1685020","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The wolverine (Gulo gulo), a carnivore species of ‘Special Concern’ for its western population and ‘Endangered’ for its eastern population, is of special management concern in Canada. Hence understanding human-wolverine relationships and human perceptions toward this carnivore species has become important. Moreover, wolverines are harvested for fur in northern Canada, thus hunters and trappers who live in the vicinity with this species are key stakeholders. Using semi-structured interviews and questionnaires we analysed human-wolverine interactions and perceptions among Dene and Métis hunters and trappers in the Canadian Northwest Territories. We found that hunters and trappers had comprehensive knowledge about wolverine ecology and behavior. Values associated with this species ranged from respect for their tenacious character and strength, to describing the wolverine as a trickster. Stories emphasizing the wolverines’ mischievous nature were also common. Dene and Métis hunters and trappers acknowledge the importance of the wolverine in the socio-ecological system and have observed the cumulative impacts that climate and human-induced landscape change have had on wolverine habitat and population dynamics. Listening to hunters and trappers is one path towards more insightful management options in situations involving conflicts with wolverines.","PeriodicalId":46164,"journal":{"name":"Polar Geography","volume":"2 1","pages":"1 - 24"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2020-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82084481","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Polar GeographyPub Date : 2019-10-29DOI: 10.1080/1088937X.2019.1679271
R. Bronen, D. Pollock, J. Overbeck, D. Stevens, S. Natali, C. Maio
{"title":"Usteq: integrating indigenous knowledge and social and physical sciences to coproduce knowledge and support community-based adaptation","authors":"R. Bronen, D. Pollock, J. Overbeck, D. Stevens, S. Natali, C. Maio","doi":"10.1080/1088937X.2019.1679271","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1088937X.2019.1679271","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The Arctic is in the midst of unprecedented and accelerating environmental change and will not return, for the foreseeable future, to a reliably frozen climate of recent past decades. Climate-forced population displacement, including community relocation, will be one of the greatest climate adaptation challenges for Alaska Native communities and the tribal, state and federal governing entities responsible for protecting community residents and providing technical assistance and resources. A new governance framework, based in human rights principles, must be created that can allow institutions to shift their efforts from protecting people in the places where they live to creating a relocation process when environmental and social thresholds are surpassed. Determining which communities are most likely to encounter displacement will require a sophisticated assessment of a community's ecosystem vulnerability to climate change, as well as the vulnerability and adaptive capacity of its social, economic and political structures. In Alaska, understanding the rate of environmental change through the integration of indigenous knowledge with physical and social science is essential. The article describes how this coproduction of knowledge is the foundation for this new governance framework and for transformational climate adaptation in Alaska.","PeriodicalId":46164,"journal":{"name":"Polar Geography","volume":"76 1","pages":"188 - 205"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2019-10-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88974597","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Polar GeographyPub Date : 2019-10-02DOI: 10.1080/1088937x.2019.1679272
Nadir Kinossian
{"title":"Russia’s Far North: The Contested Energy Frontier","authors":"Nadir Kinossian","doi":"10.1080/1088937x.2019.1679272","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1088937x.2019.1679272","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":46164,"journal":{"name":"Polar Geography","volume":"18 1","pages":"287 - 289"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2019-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84779899","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Polar GeographyPub Date : 2019-10-02DOI: 10.1080/1088937X.2019.1686082
Luis Suter, D. Streletskiy, N. Shiklomanov
{"title":"Assessment of the cost of climate change impacts on critical infrastructure in the circumpolar Arctic","authors":"Luis Suter, D. Streletskiy, N. Shiklomanov","doi":"10.1080/1088937X.2019.1686082","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1088937X.2019.1686082","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The Arctic is experiencing pronounced climatic and environmental changes. These changes pose a risk to infrastructure, impacting the accessibility and development of remote locations and adding additional pressures on local and regional budgets. This study estimates the costs of fixed infrastructure affected by climate change impacts in the Arctic region, specifically on the impacts of permafrost thaw. Geotechnical models are forced by climate data from six CMIP5 models and used to evaluate changes in permafrost geotechnical characteristics between the decades of 2050–2059 and 2006–2015 under the RCP8.5 scenario. Country-specific infrastructure costs are used to estimate the value of infrastructure affected. The results show a 27% increase in infrastructure lifecycle replacement costs across the circumpolar permafrost regions. In addition, more than 14% of total fixed infrastructure assets are at risk of damages due to changes in specific environmental stressors, such as loss of permafrost bearing capacity and thaw subsidence due to ground ice melt. Regions of Northern Canada and Western Siberia are projected to be particularly affected and may require additional annual spending in the excess of 1% of annual GRP to support existing infrastructure into the future.","PeriodicalId":46164,"journal":{"name":"Polar Geography","volume":"142 1","pages":"267 - 286"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2019-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85376348","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Polar GeographyPub Date : 2019-08-16DOI: 10.1080/1088937X.2019.1648582
W. Bernauer
{"title":"Land rights and resource conflicts in Nunavut","authors":"W. Bernauer","doi":"10.1080/1088937X.2019.1648582","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1088937X.2019.1648582","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The 1993 Nunavut Agreement was intended to help resolve disputes over resource extraction and facilitate responsible development in Nunavut. However, conflicts have persisted. In the Kivalliq region, debates over uranium mining and mining in caribou calving grounds have caused divisions between different representative organizations created by the Nunavut Agreement. Scholars have explained these conflicts with reference to the structures created by the Nunavut Agreement, especially the corporate structure of the territory's Inuit organizations. While this is an important factor driving these conflicts, I argue that the system of land rights created by the Nunavut Agreement, especially the extinguishment of Aboriginal title, is also an important causal factor in these disputes. I begin with an overview of the concept of Aboriginal title and its extinguishment in British-Canadian law. Next, I discuss the Nunavut Agreement's provisions for land rights, especially the exchange of Aboriginal title over a large territory for fee-simple ownership over relatively small parcels of land. This is followed by an examination of the conflicts over uranium mining and mining in calving grounds. I conclude that the provisions of the Nunavut agreement intended to provide ‘certainty’ for capital investment have in some cases had the opposite effect by fueling ongoing conflicts.","PeriodicalId":46164,"journal":{"name":"Polar Geography","volume":"76 1","pages":"253 - 266"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2019-08-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79988645","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Polar GeographyPub Date : 2019-08-09DOI: 10.1080/1088937X.2019.1648583
A. Nilsson, M. Carson, D. Cost, B. Forbes, Riina Haavisto, A. Karlsdóttir, J. Larsen, Ø. Paasche, Simo Sarkki, S. Larsen, A. Pelyasov
{"title":"Towards improved participatory scenario methodologies in the Arctic","authors":"A. Nilsson, M. Carson, D. Cost, B. Forbes, Riina Haavisto, A. Karlsdóttir, J. Larsen, Ø. Paasche, Simo Sarkki, S. Larsen, A. Pelyasov","doi":"10.1080/1088937X.2019.1648583","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1088937X.2019.1648583","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Participatory scenario methodologies are increasingly used for studying possible future developments in the Arctic. They have the potential to contribute to several high-priority tasks for Arctic research, such as integration of indigenous and local knowledge in futures studies, providing a platform for activating Arctic youth in shaping their futures, identifying Arctic-relevant indicators for sustainable development, and supporting decision-making towards sustainable futures. Yet, to achieve this potential, several methodological challenges need to be addressed. These include attention to whose voices are amplified or silenced in participatory research practices, with special attention to diversification and the engagement of youth. Given the historic and potential future role of disruptive events for Arctic development trajectories, methods are needed in participatory scenario exercises to include attention to the dynamics and consequences of such events and regime shifts. Participatory scenarios can also be further improved through approaches that effectively combine qualitative and quantitative information. Finally, there is a need for systematic studies of how the results of scenario exercises influence decision-making processes. This article elaborates on ways in which attention to these aspects can help make scenarios more robust for assessing a diversity of potential Arctic futures in times of rapid environmental and social change.","PeriodicalId":46164,"journal":{"name":"Polar Geography","volume":"4 1","pages":"75 - 89"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2019-08-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81620747","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Polar GeographyPub Date : 2019-08-06DOI: 10.1080/1088937X.2019.1648581
A. Abramov, S. Davydov, A. Ivashchenko, D. Karelin, A. Kholodov, G. Kraev, A. Lupachev, A. Maslakov, V. Ostroumov, E. Rivkina, D. Shmelev, V. Sorokovikov, O. Tregubov, A. Veremeeva, D. Zamolodchikov, S. Zimov
{"title":"Two decades of active layer thickness monitoring in northeastern Asia","authors":"A. Abramov, S. Davydov, A. Ivashchenko, D. Karelin, A. Kholodov, G. Kraev, A. Lupachev, A. Maslakov, V. Ostroumov, E. Rivkina, D. Shmelev, V. Sorokovikov, O. Tregubov, A. Veremeeva, D. Zamolodchikov, S. Zimov","doi":"10.1080/1088937X.2019.1648581","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1088937X.2019.1648581","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This study summarizes seasonal thawing data collected in different permafrost regions of northeast Asia over the 1995–2018 period. Empirical observations were undertaken under the Circumpolar Active Layer Monitoring (CALM) program at a range of sites across the permafrost landscapes of the Yana-Indigirka and Kolyma lowlands and the Chukotka Peninsula, and supplemented with 10 years of observations from volcanic mountainous areas of the Kamchatka Peninsula. Thaw depth observations, taken using mechanical probing at the end of the thawing season, and ground temperature measurements, were analyzed with respect to air temperatures trends. The data from 24 sites (16 in the Indigirka-Kolyma region, 5 in Chukotka and 3 in Kamchatka) reveal different reactions of the active layer thickness (ALT) to recent changes in atmospheric climate. In general, there is a positive relation between ALT and summer air temperatures. Since the early 2000s positive ALT anomalies (compared with mean data from all sites) prevail in the Kolyma and Chukotka area, with only one alas site showing a negative ALT trend. The only active site in the Kamchatka Mountains shows no significant thaw depth changes over the period of observation. Two other Kamchatka sites were affected during a volcanic eruption in 2012.","PeriodicalId":46164,"journal":{"name":"Polar Geography","volume":"71 1","pages":"186 - 202"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2019-08-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83927032","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}