The Arctic This Week Take Five: Week of June 28, 2021

Thawing Permafrost Poses Threat to Over 40% of Northern Russian Buildings

Melting permafrost is expected to cause unprecedented damage to infrastructure and buildings throughout Russia, many of which are built upon degrading ground, Arctic Today reported on Tuesday, June 29. Temperatures in the northern region of Russia beat records this week; Saskylah, a town in the Arctic Circle saw temperatures reach 31.9 degrees Celsius, eclipsing its previous record which was observed in 1936. Minister of Natural Resources, Aleksandr Kozlov confirmed in a roundtable discussion in late May that more than 40 percent of all buildings in the northern region are facing structural damages, and railway and road construction is becoming increasingly fraught. Thawing permafrost is the cause of up to 23 percent of technical failures in the region, as well as 29 percent of closures of oil and gas production facilities. (Arctic Today, Barents Observer)

Take 1: Since the transfer of the chairmanship of the Arctic Council to Russia, reporters have observed that one of the few areas that Russia and the United States agree to engage on is climate change, and its impact on the Arctic. Russia has been increasingly vocal about the impact of climate change on its northern regions, and has taken steps to combat the effects of melting permafrost with the institution of a permafrost monitoring program. However, this statement from Kozlov is incredibly significant, not only to infrastructure but also to the future of Russia’s economic prosperity. 65 percent of Russian territory is within the permafrost zone. However the geographic isolation of this region means that it will be difficult for immediate action to take place to mitigate structural damage. As Russia depends on its oil and gas production to stimulate its economy, permafrost thaw poses risks not only to human health, but also Russia’s economic future.

Nunavut Government to Host Women’s Leadership Forum This August

The Government of Nunavut will host a leadership forum in August of this year, to help build capacity amongst the women of Nunavut, Nunatsiaq News reported on Tuesday, June 29. The four-day event, called Arnait Tulliningit, or “Women’s Trail”, will be held in Rankin Inlet from August 23 through August 26. It aims to empower Nunavut’s women and girls with a combination of traditional knowledge, skills, and encouragement. In a press release on June 28, the Department of Family Services stated that attendees will work to build progressive steps forward, to further social, economic, and political opportunities, and set the foundation for social change and gender equality in Nunavut. The workshops will be incorporating traditional knowledge into the running of the event, particularly Pilimmakharniq/Pikariuquarniq, the Inuit emphasis on developing skills through observation, practice, mentoring, and effort. (Arctic Today, Nunatsiaq News)

Take 2: As governments, cultural institutions, universities, and research stations alike are starting to focus on decolonizing their research and methodologies, more and more emphasis is being placed on the efficacy of traditional knowledge practices. The combination of traditional knowledge and western research is gaining traction in a number of educational disciplines; however, traditional knowledge is already increasingly used in leadership workshops and community building exercises within the Arctic Circle. This forum is just one example of how governments and state departments are looking to Indigenous communities for knowledge and leadership, and is particularly encouraging for its incorporation and capacity building for women. Pervasive Western patriarchal ideology has resulted in women being excluded or discouraged from engaging in and pursuing governmental roles; where Indigenous knowledge systems often encouraged and emphasized the importance of women within the community. Utilizing Inuit knowledge frameworks to both empower and encourage women therefore not only demonstrates the efficacy of these systems, but continues to bring their benefits not only into the Arctic but the Southern world.

Alaskan Find Suggests Dinosaurs Lived In The Arctic Year-Round

Arctic Today reported on Friday, June 25, that a recent fossil discovery adds to evidence that dinosaurs nested in the Arctic year-round. Researchers from the University of Alaska Museum of the North, including director Pat Druckenmiller, unearthed fossils in the northernmost region of Alaska from at least seven types of dinosaurs, either still in eggs or in the early stages of their life cycle. Using data gathered from a 30 year long field program, as well as microfossil analyses in the Cretaceous Prince Creek Formation (PCF) of northern Alaska, the researchers recovered numerous small skeletal remains and teeth, while also reconstructing an approximate chronology of reproduction instances for these dinosaur species. Using these fossils, the researchers were able to strengthen the hypothesis that the Arctic was a hotbed for certain kinds of dinosaurs year-round. The study suggests that given the nesting sites present on the Colville River, dinosaurs lived full-time in the Arctic and therefore could not be fully cold-blooded. The findings were published on June 24 in Current Biology and is the first to find nesting sites so far north. (Arctic Today, Current Biology, Sci News)

Take 3: Most of us likely grew up reading books about dinosaurs, or visiting museums full of fossils that are the only remnants of these ancient creatures. Due to the process of fossilization, most of a dinosaur’s body is lost to history, leaving only the bones that are studied by our modern paleontologists. These can teach us a great deal about the creature’s life, including diet, motion, and habitat; however, there is still a lot that is yet to be discovered. The sheer amount that paleontologists do not know about dinosaurs makes this discovery, one that entirely questions one of the more commonly-known theories about dinosaurs, all the more exciting and significant. Winters in the Arctic are largely deprived of sunlight. If dinosaurs, like modern reptiles, required the sun’s light to warm their bodies, the northernmost region of Alaska would not be the ideal area to nest. The nesting sites found by researchers from the University of Alaska Museum of the North, as well as Southern Methodist University, suggest that not only did dinosaurs exist in this area year round, but they had at least a degree of endothermy. This study signifies that the field of paleontology is constantly evolving in response to growing evidence, and the dinosaurs many of us grew up knowing were actually quite different to what we imagined.

Members of United States Congress Introduce Bill to Resource Defense Strategies in the Arctic

Various members of the United States Congress introduced legislation to establish a five-year-plan to resource Arctic strategies proposed by the Department of Defense, High North News reported on Wednesday, June 30. Earlier this month, Senators Dan Sullivan (R-AK) and Angus King (I-ME), as well as Representatives Mike Gallagher (R-WI) and Elaine Luria (D-VA) proposed the Arctic Security Initiative Act of 2021. This bill intends to establish an Arctic Security Initiative (ASI) with a five-year plan to fully fund the Department of Defense, as well as individual strategies for the Arctic previously introduced. The legislation would also require the Department of Defense to lead an assessment of the Arctic from a security standpoint, led by the U.S. Northern Command and in partnership with the U.S. Indo-Pacific and U.S European Commands. According to Sullivan’s press release published on June 24, the Arctic Security Initiative will focus on four key areas: Readiness, Sustainment, Training and Doctrine, and Multilateralism. The several members of Congress hope that the introduction of this legislation will help secure and protect the United States’ interests in the Arctic. (High North News, Sullivan for Senate)

Take 4: The numerous Arctic States, as well as various Arctic Observer States across the globe, consistently update and release Arctic Strategy documents for public record and viewing. These documents help to guide each nation’s activity in the Arctic, as well as illustrate the state’s interests and goals for development. Although not all of these Arctic Strategies are published by their respective nation’s Department of Defense, the United States’ Arctic goals are primarily guided by its defensive interests. Thus, the Department of Defense oversees the publishing of the United States’ Arctic Strategy. However, this doesn’t mean that other departments of the US Government are excluded from publishing specific strategies that outline their Arctic interests. After this strategy was published in 2019, several other branches of the US government released their own strategies, including the US Air Force, the Navy, the Army, the Coast Guard, and the Department of Homeland Security. The introduction of this piece of legislation, however, is significant in that it will allow any of these strategies to be fully funded, encouraging an increased militarized presence in the Arctic part of the United States. With the Arctic becoming an increasingly geopolitically central region of the globe, the Arctic Security Initiative allows the Department of Defense to have free reign to bolster its military presence, which is concerning for those who wish to keep the Arctic free of military tension.

UN Analysis Points to Climate Change as Major Threat for Indigenous Food Systems

On Tuesday, June 29, Thomson Reuters Foundation reported that Indigenous traditional food gathering techniques are under threat by increased anthropogenic climate change. An analysis by the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization published last Friday in Rio de Janeiro indicates that these food systems, which are considered among the world’s most sustainable in terms of efficiency and waste mitigation, are being hit by drought, wildlife reduction, and the disappearance of wild plants. Dramatic weather patterns and changes in seasons are also impacting these food systems, forcing Indigenous communities and the wildlife they depend on to shift their migratory patterns. The report analyzed the impact of climate change on a number of Indigenous communities, from Cameroon, India, the Solomon Islands, Mali, Colombia, and Guatemala, but in particular it cited Finland’s Sami herders in the Arctic as a prime example of the negative impacts of climate change on traditional food systems. The FAO stated that the loss of ancestral expertise of these communities will deprive the rest of the world of much-needed knowledge of sustainable food production. (Arctic Today, FAO, Thomson Reuters Foundation)

Take 5:When scientists and politicians discuss climate change, one of the chief recommendations they give the public to lower their carbon emissions is to look at their food consumption. Global food production relies on large-scale factory farming, trawl fishing techniques, or processed foodstuffs to feed a growing population. These have a dramatic negative impact on not only global carbon emissions, but also local environments. By contrast, traditional food systems utilized by Indigenous communities, like the Arctic Sami people, are highly sustainable, relying on the seasons and natural weather patterns to govern food production and minimize waste. Often the public perception assumes that Indigenous communities are removed from the impacts of these large-scale food production techniques; however, this report demonstrates that actions from developed nations have a pronounced effect on these communities, and is rapidly diminishing animal and plant life necessary to sustain these food systems. As the world attempts to minimize its carbon output and deal with the effects of climate change, it is necessary to look at and learn from the sustainable food systems in the Arctic in order to preserve our planet. Climate change’s threat to traditional food production is devastating not only in the loss of age-old knowledge, but also in the loss of the potential for the rest of the world to benefit from these methods of food production.