Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-ws8qp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T15:30:54.160Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

When opportunity lags: human development policymaking in Arctic regions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 July 2015

Matthew Klick*
Affiliation:
Arctic and Mountain Regions Development Institute, University of Denver, 3511 W. 45th Avenue, Denver, CO 80211, USA (matthew.klick@du.edu)

Abstract

The popular narrative of Arctic development continues to dwell on melting sea ice, untapped oil and gas reserves, an icebreaker arms race and the perils and potential of rapid industrialisation. Rarely is the welfare of Arctic populations considered in a holistic sense and with a precise call for policy change. The recently released Arctic human development report II, echoing the more widely distributed human development reports generated by the United Nations, does just this. Unfortunately, despite the laudable efforts of the authors to embrace the more systemic drivers of poverty and marginalisation, the report fails to account for governmental and policy shortcomings which continue to limit health and opportunity, while obscuring tangible pathways to prosperity for Arctic populations. This comment is intended as a call, amongst the fervour of Arctic exploitation, to refocus attention on the unmistakable disparities in public health and well-being that persist in the Arctic regions of otherwise wealthy countries, and to incorporate globally practised perceptions of human development, including the role of social and political marginalisation in explaining health and prosperity discrepancies, which have been largely lacking in Arctic development discourse, and practice.

Type
Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Council of Canadian Academies. 2014. Aboriginal food security in northern Canada: an assessment of the state of knowledge. Ottawa: Council of Canadian Academies.Google Scholar
Larsen, J.N. and Fondahl, G. (editors). 2015 Arctic human development report: regional processes and global linkages. Copenhagen: Nordic Council of Ministers.Google Scholar
Larsen, J.N. and Schweitzer, P. (editors). 2010. Arctic social indicators – a follow-up to the Arctic human development report. Copenhagen: Nordic Council of Ministers.Google Scholar
Lee, R.S., Radomski, N., Proulx, J.-F. and others. 2015. Re-emergence and amplification of tuberculosis in the Canadian Arctic. Journal of Infectious Disease 212 (1). DOI:10.1093/infdis/jiv011Google Scholar
Olsen, D. 2014. On the frontline of the fight against TB. The Arctic Journal. URL: http://arcticjournal.com/politics/514/frontline-fight-against-tb (accessed 15 June 2015).Google Scholar
Sen, A. K. 1992. Inequality re-examined. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar