The Arctic This Week Take Five: Week of 27 March, 2023
Norway Announces Priorities for Upcoming Chairship of the Arctic Council
As reported by High North News on March 28, Norway has officially released its priorities for the upcoming chairship of the Arctic Council. Norway’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Anniken Huitfeldt, announced to the press that the overall objective for Norway’s chairship will be to promote ‘stability and constructive cooperation’ in the region. In doing so, it is hoped that Norway will ensure the Arctic Council maintains its role as the leading international forum for addressing the most pressing cross-border challenges facing the Arctic. (High North News)
Take 1: The transfer of the Arctic Council chairship from Russia to Norway will be a delicate diplomatic exercise this May. Following the outbreak of war in Ukraine in February 2022 seven Arctic Council Member States announced they were pausing participation in all Council meetings. A limited resumption of work on projects that do not involve Russia occurred in June 2022, but this interim measure did not mean a return to the Council’s usual model of consensus-based operation. The rift in circumpolar collaboration created by the Ukrainian conflict is unmistakable given the transfer of chairship is expected to be a virtual event limited to lower ministerial levels. Nevertheless, the recently published Norwegian program’s refocus on the environmental agenda may serve as an effective platform for Russian re-engagement with other Member States. The four key thematic priorities outlined in the document include the oceans; climate and environment; sustainable economic development; and people in the north. These priorities are framed by the understanding that the Arctic region is currently experiencing a dramatic pace of climate change, which has far-reaching implications for global climate systems and ecosystems. Historically, multilateral cooperation on circumpolar environmental issues was the basis for the Arctic Council’s establishment. However, Russia’s focus on domestic environmental interests in their amended Arctic strategy suggests that a restoration of cooperation will not be without challenge. Events following the transition of the chairship may prove pivotal to the future institutional survival of the Arctic Council. (Bloomberg UK, Government of Norway, High North News, Politico, Reuters, The Arctic Institute)
Greenlandic Women Consider Legal Action Against Danish Government for Historic “Coil Campaign”
As reported by Arctic Today on March 29, a group of 130 Greenlandic women are preparing court cases against the Danish government for the physical and psychological effects of its historic coil campaign. As part of the Danish government’s birth control practice between 1966 and 1970 approximately 4,500 Greenlandic women and adolescent girls had an intrauterine contraceptive device (IUD) inserted into their uterus. Documents and testimony by women subjected to the campaign indicate that medical practitioners did not seek their informed consent prior to the procedure. Greenland’s government only took control of health policy from Copenhagen in 1992. (Arctic Today)
Take 2: Public outcry over the coil campaign resurfaced in May 2022 when the Danish Broadcasting Corporation aired a podcast series uncovering much of the available evidence and testimony. It has been established that the zigzag-shaped Lippes Loop-coil was used by predominantly Danish physicians on women and female adolescents as young as 13 years. Reportedly, only the larger size Lippes Loop coil was available in Greenland at the time, indicating that some women suffered severe pain and long-term complications such as infertility. Legislation was amended by the Danish parliament in the early 1970s to allow practitioners to legally apply IUDs without parental consent for girls aged 15 years and older. However, the application of IUDs to girls under 15 years who had never been pregnant was illegal, the responsible doctors may now face prosecution. Motivation for the policy is unclear, but documents suggest the rapid population growth in Greenland, the rising number of single mothers and an accompanying hike in public expenditure were influential. The UN’s Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples added the coil campaign to his report for the UN’s Human Rights Council. A joint impartial investigation by the Naalakkersuisut and Danish government, expected to conclude in spring 2025, will investigate the campaign alongside a wider probe into all controversial Danish deeds in Greenland since World War II. A group of Greenlandic women are also preparing court cases and demands for tangible compensation from Denmark, which some have described as an important part of reclaiming bodily autonomy. (Arctic Today, BBC News, KNR, Sermitsiaq AG)
Government of Nunavut Changes Position on Caribou Protection and Supports a Development Ban in Calving Areas
As reported by CBC News on March 28, the government of Nunavut has undertaken a major reversal on its policy towards the development of caribou calving grounds. In a recent submission to the Nunavut Planning Commission (NPC) for the 2021 Draft Nunavut Land Use Plan, the territorial government supported a ‘prohibition of development within calving grounds with seasonal restrictions on activities in post-calving grounds.’ (CBC News)
Take 3: The Nunavut Land Use Plan is expected to create a territory-wide framework determining which types of development can happen and where environmental protection is an overriding priority. The Nunavut government’s original submission to the NPC in 2014 called for no development on caribou calving grounds and key migration corridors, but in 2016 the government amended their position on development to a case-by-case basis. Following the NPC’s fifth and final public hearing on the plan, where stakeholders and community members stressed the need for protecting calving grounds, the government returned to its original 2014 submission. The government’s new position on caribou calving grounds, which allows for a degree of off-season development in post-calving areas, is reflective of the region’s competing interests. The indigenous value of culture, tradition and the health of the landscape and its wildlife is counterbalanced with high levels of unemployment in areas of considerable natural resource wealth i.e., oil, minerals and gas. Significantly, the government’s submission only applies to the areas in which the government has data on calving grounds, which will mean significant gaps in Qikiqtaaluk. The territorial department of environment stated their intention to resolve such data gaps through collaboration with Indigenous hunter and trapper organizations. However, the present feasibility of such working partnerships is questionable given the tension created by the government’s apparent dismissal of Indigenous organisations’ preference for mobile protections measures whilst advocating a position based on community feedback. (CBC News, Nunatsiaq News, The Narwhal)
Population of the Northwest Territories Shrink as the National Population Grows
As reported by CBC News on March 27, the population of the Northwest Territories (NWT) decreased by 0.5% between January 2022 and January 2023. A net loss of 900 interprovincial migrants during the period contributed to the population shrink. The territorial government said it is encouraging population growth by focusing on creating more affordable housing, training and education to meet labour shortage demands and support employers in recruiting foreign nationals. (CBC News)
Take 4: The consumer price index shows inflation in Yellowknife reached 7% in 2022, triple the inflation rate of the previous year. The cost of food, transportation, fuel oil and other fuels were the most significantly affected. The implications of the cost-of-living crisis can be seen in increasing reliance on food banks and other help from non-profits such as the Salvation Army. The increasing cost of food products is exacerbated in the North, which absorbs additional costs for trucking and shipping goods to remote communities. In a motion for a new NWT strategy to match Canada’s population growth, member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) Caitlin Cleveland suggested the strategy ought to analyse the reasons people move north and why they stay, and should include a plan to address the rising cost of Northern living. The government’s response has been that the 2015 population growth strategy acts as a sufficient guide for the territorial government, and a new strategy would refocus resources away from the work already undertaken by departments to advance the overarching goal of population growth and economic sustainability. However, the failure of the government’s strategy to account for the unprecedented socio-economic events following the covid-19 pandemic and outbreak of tuberculosis in Arctic communities is problematic. Moreover, the government’s argument that territorial population growth could create challenges for community resources and infrastructure fails to appreciate how a growing NWT population has the potential to drive down the price of energy, increase the diversity of businesses in the territory, reduce labour shortages and increase federal transfer payments from the government of Canada. (Cabin Radio, CBC News, True North)
Greenland Ice Sheet Melting Beyond Help
As reported by phys.org on March 27, a new study published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters found that carbon emissions are halfway to a tipping point, after which 6 feet of sea level rise from the melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet would be unstoppable. Climate scientists used the CLIMBER-X computer system to model the evolution of the Earth over long time periods for more accurate results. (phys.org)
Take 5: The Greenland Ice Sheet covers 1.7 million square kilometres of Arctic area. If it melts entirely, global sea levels would rise by about approximately 23 feet. Rising global sea levels pose a serious threat to coastal life around the world. Consequences include increased intensity of storm surges, flooding, and damage to large coastal population centres and fragile coastal habitats. Populations from low-lying islands nations may become displaced, and communities further inland will be affected by saline contamination in soil and groundwater. A new study by researchers at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research found that releasing 1000 gigatons of carbon into the atmosphere will cause the southern portion of the ice sheet to melt; about 2500 gigatons of carbon means permanent loss of nearly the entire ice sheet. Currently we have emitted roughly 500 gigatons of carbon. Measuring the melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet is challenging due to long timescales and inconsistent pace of the melt. To more comprehensively model how the ice sheet’s response to climate could evolve over time, the study used a complex model of the whole Earth system which included all key climate feedback processes, paired with a model of ice sheet behaviour. Sets of simulations were run for 20,000 years with carbon emission ranging from 0 to 4,000 gigatons of carbon. Notably, the further the Earth overshoots the first tipping point of 1,000 gigatons of carbon emissions, the faster the Greenland Ice Sheet will melt. The research highlights the urgency underlying international carbon emission reduction targets. (CNBC, National Geographic, The New Scientist, The Washington Post)