{"id":5887,"date":"2026-10-29T07:04:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T05:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogi.eoppimispalvelut.fi\/lumenlehti\/?p=5887"},"modified":"2026-10-29T07:32:22","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T05:32:22","slug":"building-resilience-for-whom-in-the-arctic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogi.eoppimispalvelut.fi\/lumenlehti\/2026\/10\/29\/building-resilience-for-whom-in-the-arctic\/","title":{"rendered":"Building Resilience for Whom in the Arctic?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Download PDF<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lue suomeksi<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tanja Joona, Professor of Arctic Sustainability Science, Arctic Centre, University of Lapland \/ Director of ARCTIC-Program, Strategic Research Council of Finland<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Arctic has become a focal point of global politics in many ways. Discussions increasingly emphasize security, energy, critical minerals, and new economic opportunities. The North is often portrayed as a region whose natural resources and strategic location can help solve problems that originate elsewhere. For the people who live in the Arctic, however, the question is far more immediate: how can they maintain the possibility of a good life in an environment where both natural conditions and societal expectations are changing rapidly?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This question is closely linked to resilience: the ability to cope with disruptions, adapt to change, and build a self-determined future amid uncertainty. In the Arctic, resilience means such things as reliable electricity supply, safe transportation routes, continuity of livelihoods, and trust within communities. Yet resilience also concerns whether people have the power to influence the direction of change. Simply being able to withstand external pressures is too narrow an ambition for a region whose future is often shaped by decisions made far from local everyday realities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Climate change makes this issue particularly urgent. The Arctic is warming faster than the global average, and the effects are evident in snow, ice, waterways, and ecosystems. Unusual heatwaves, wildfires, and changing precipitation patterns create new risks in a region where livelihoods and mobility have long been shaped by a deep understanding of seasonal cycles. While the impacts vary considerably across the Arctic, they share one common characteristic: increasing uncertainty about conditions that were once taken for granted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For local residents, climate change may mean that a familiar ice route is no longer safe to cross, the winter tourism season becomes harder to predict, or flooding threatens homes. For reindeer herders, winter rain followed by freezing conditions makes it more difficult for reindeer to access food, increasing the need for supplementary feeding. At the same time, workloads, costs, and the economic viability of reindeer husbandry change. In S\u00e1mi communities, the consequences may extend beyond livelihoods to language, cultural practices, and the intergenerational transmission of knowledge, particularly if connections to traditional homelands are eventually severed. Economic losses represent only a fraction of what may ultimately be at stake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sustainability transition and the green transition are essential responses to climate change. Moving away from fossil fuels requires renewable energy, electricity grids, and new ways of producing, storing, and using energy. Many of these solutions depend on minerals, whose availability has also become a geopolitical concern. The growing demand for minerals driven by energy technologies, together with concentrated supply chains, raises concerns about availability and security of supply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Arctic encounters this development from two directions. It suffers from the impacts of climate change, yet it is also expected to provide the land, energy, and natural resources needed to mitigate it. Wind power projects, mining operations, and power transmission infrastructure can create jobs, generate income, and open new opportunities. At the same time, they alter landscapes and land use patterns, affecting livelihoods whose continuity depends on adequate space and healthy ecosystems. Global climate benefits alone do not reveal how fairly the benefits and burdens of individual projects are distributed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the perspective of local communities, what matters is the cumulative picture. One project may appear limited in its impacts, but it may be accompanied by another mine, a new road, a transmission line, and expanding tourism. In livelihoods such as reindeer husbandry, the gradual fragmentation of grazing lands can steadily weaken operating conditions, even if each individual project has been assessed separately. Local communities also have limited time and resources to participate in hearings, review technical reports, and defend issues they consider important. Community capacities may become absorbed by constant reactions to external initiatives rather than being invested in shaping their own future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The changing geopolitical landscape increases pressure to make decisions quickly. Energy security, supply chains, and national security concerns all provide strong arguments for new investments. Alongside these priorities, local concerns can be perceived as obstacles, even though they often help identify the long-term consequences of projects. If people\u2019s rights are overlooked or trust in decision-making is weakened in the name of security, the very social foundations needed to strengthen resilience may be undermined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arctic resilience must therefore also be assessed through the lens of justice. Who benefits from investments? Whose living environment is transformed? Who bears the risks if promised jobs fail to materialize or if operations end prematurely? Meaningful participation by local people should begin when alternative options remain genuinely open. Participation requires accessible information, sufficient time, and real opportunities to influence a project\u2019s location, scale, and conditions. In the case of Indigenous Peoples, their distinct legal status and the conditions necessary for maintaining their cultures must also be recognized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Public perceptions are shaped by past experiences. Resource development may evoke memories of lost lands, altered waterways, broken promises, or decisions in which local knowledge was ignored. These experiences influence how new projects are received. Trust is built through consistent action and accountability. It cannot be created at the same pace as investment decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Research has an important role to play here. Long-term Arctic research helps connect environmental change, land-use histories, and intergenerational human experiences. Local and Indigenous knowledge can identify changes and relationships that may remain invisible in project-specific assessments. Research must also make uncertainties and the consequences of different choices visible. Decision-makers need knowledge not only about potential gains but also about what may be lost and what alternative pathways exist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, resilience is built upon very practical foundations. Municipalities need skilled workers, functioning services, and financial flexibility. Households need affordable energy and secure livelihoods. Communities need people who know one another and who can act together during times of disruption. Young people need to see a future for themselves in the North. Economic diversity strengthens these foundations: a community built around a single major investment may be vulnerable, even when growth prospects appear strong in the short term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Local people should not bear the costs of adaptation alone. Climate change mitigation, infrastructure development, and fair investment practices require responsibility from governments, businesses, and international actors. Reducing energy consumption, improving material efficiency, and promoting recycling are all part of the same equation. Growing demand cannot always be addressed by expecting the North to continuously open new areas for resource extraction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Strengthening Arctic resilience requires a broader understanding of what constitutes a sustainable future. Renewable energy and critical minerals are part of the solution, but the continuity of local livelihoods, cultures, and communities must be safeguarded alongside them. The success of the green transition should also be measured by the kind of life it makes possible in the places where its required transformations actually occur.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For those who live in the North, the future is not merely a timeline in a strategy document. It is a question of whether people can continue to live here, work here, and pass on something they value to the next generation. The Arctic becomes stronger when its people have both the resources and the genuine power to shape their own future. That is what resilience should ultimately be about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For those who live in the North, the future is not merely a timeline in a strategy document. It is a question of whether people can continue to live here, work here, and pass on something they value to the next generation. <\/p>\n

The Arctic becomes stronger when its people have both the resources and the genuine power to shape their own future. That is what resilience should ultimately be about.
Kolumni suomeksi<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1658,"featured_media":5753,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[798270,798245,110189],"tags":[110194,115199,43350,798271],"class_list":["post-5887","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-3-2026","category-inenglish","category-kolumni","tag-arktinen-alue","tag-ihmisoikeudet","tag-kestava-kehitys","tag-resilienssi"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7X4tP-1wX","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogi.eoppimispalvelut.fi\/lumenlehti\/files\/2026\/10\/Joona_column_Lumen_3_2026.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogi.eoppimispalvelut.fi\/lumenlehti\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogi.eoppimispalvelut.fi\/lumenlehti\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogi.eoppimispalvelut.fi\/lumenlehti\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogi.eoppimispalvelut.fi\/lumenlehti\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1658"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogi.eoppimispalvelut.fi\/lumenlehti\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5887"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogi.eoppimispalvelut.fi\/lumenlehti\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5887\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5919,"href":"https:\/\/blogi.eoppimispalvelut.fi\/lumenlehti\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5887\/revisions\/5919"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogi.eoppimispalvelut.fi\/lumenlehti\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogi.eoppimispalvelut.fi\/lumenlehti\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogi.eoppimispalvelut.fi\/lumenlehti\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogi.eoppimispalvelut.fi\/lumenlehti\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}