Management of Natural Resources
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To consider that Indigenous Peoples and Arctic communities rely on the sustainable use of natural resources for their health and economic well-being. Increases in shipping, petroleum activities, fishing, mining, climate change and variability require that the management of resources is based on a holistic perspective.
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Item Good Practices For Environmental Impact Assessment and Meaningful Engagement in the Arctic(Arctic Council Secretariat, 2019-05) Sustainable Development Working Group (SDWG)Increasing economic activity in the Arctic, including a growing number of large-scale projects, provides the rationale for the Arctic Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) project. How to plan and design large-scale projects in a way that gives consideration and value to the voice and knowledge of Arctic inhabitants is a driving force behind the project. In detail, the project identified three current topics needing specific attention to improve EIAs in the Arctic: 1) Meaningful engagement 2) Utilization of Indigenous knowledge and local knowledge as complementary to scientific knowledge and 3) Trans- boundary impact assessments. The first two themes appeared consistently throughout the workshops of the Arctic EIA project with about 180 participants total. The third theme was valued as important by the Editorial Group of the project.Item Arctic Renewable Energy Atlas; Project Presentation(Sustainable Development Working Group, 2017-05-11) Sustainable Development Working Group (SDWG); Arctic Council SecretariatThe Arctic Renewable Energy Atlas (AREA) is an endorsed project of the Arctic Council's Sustainable Development Working Group (SDWG), intended to enhance knowledge of the best practices and local adoption of renewable energy within the Arctic.Item Proceedings: Arctic Transportation Infrastructure: Response Capacity and Sustainable Development(Arctic Council's Sustainable Development Working Group, 2012)The Arctic Maritime and Aviation Transportation Infrastructure Initiative (AMATII) serves as an initial platform for inventorying critical assets in the Arctic’s aviation and maritime environment. The Initiative facilitates ongoing and increased communication and collaboration throughout the Circumpolar North. It serves as a coordination point for future research and has the potential to facilitate technology transfer within the Arctic region. AMATII builds on and responds to past efforts and projects of two working groups within the Arctic Council—the Protection of the Arctic Marine E nvironment’s 2009 Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment Report and the Sustainable Development Working Group’s Circumpolar Infrastructure T ask F orce (CITF), which hosted the Arctic Aviation E xperts conferences in 2005 (Khanty-Mansiysk, R ussia) and 2006 (Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada). More directly, it follows on the strategic plan set forth at the 2010 Arctic Aviation E xperts Conference (AAEC) in Fairbanks, Alaska.Item Circumpolar Information Guide on Mining for Indigenous Peoples & Northern Communities(The Sustainable Development Working Group (SDWG) of the Arctic Council, 2011)The Circumpolar Information Guide on Mining recognizes that indigenous and northern communities are central stakeholders for a sustainable Arctic. The purpose of the Guide is to increase the ability of Indigenous peoples and residents of northern communities to understand, influence and participate in mining-related processes in order to maximize benefits and minimize negative effects on their lives, culture, land and the environment.Item Best Practices in Ecosystem-based Ocean management in the Arctic(Norwegian Polar Institute, 2009) Hoel, Alf HåkonThe objective of the project is to present the concepts and practices the Arctic countries have developed for the application of an ecosystembased approach to oceans management. By way of reviewing how countries actually put to use such concepts and practices, lessons can be drawn on how to effectively do ecosystem-based oceans management. The project addresses both the use and conservation aspects of sustainable development. Two sets of questions here address the substance and process of putting ecosystem-based oceans management to work, respectively: which practices and approaches have proved useful in moving towards effective protection and sustainable use of the Arctic marine environment? What are the main obstacles, and what are the important success elements in moving towards ecosystem-based oceans management? The issue of practices and approaches in ecosystem-based oceans management is addressed on the basis of descriptions provided by the Arctic countries on how they are actually doing this. Among the elements considered are how countries define ecosystem-based oceans management, the types of objectives that are formulated, the choice of policy instruments and organization of the work, for example in terms of how stakeholders are consulted and the geographical context for ecosystem-based oceans management, including existing transboundary agreements relevant to the management of Arctic marine ecosystems. The project is built around seven case studies of how countries develop and implement ecosystem-based oceans management in the Arctic. The seven cases – Canada, Denmark/Greenland, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia and USA – demonstrate that the Arctic countries indeed are implementing ecosystem approaches to oceans management. In addition, there is a chapter on indigenous issues.