Extractive Industry and Inequality in the Arctic

Arctic communities struggle to find economic activities that can help them become sustainable and promote well-being. Under contemporary global conditions there are few alternatives to the recent increased interest in extractive industry in the region. Since the 1970s, communities in some areas of the Arctic have established new governance mechanisms which have the potential to ensure these activities can support the increased well-being of communities. Recent research indicates that increased benefits now flow to Indigenous communities yet problems with these projects remain. One of the important potential negative impacts of resource development identified in the 1970s was that it would increase inequality in Indigenous communities that had little experience of inequality within communities.

Research in Canada has indicated that inequality associated with mining projects is an increasing concern, but concern about inequality resulting from extractive developments is not limited to Canada. International Indigenous organizations like the Inuit Circumpolar Council have emphasized the importance of designing non-renewable resource development projects to enhance the well-being of communities, aligning with their aspirations, priorities, and needs. They also emphasize the need for these projects to be fair and just for the people impacted by them. Understanding inequalities relating to extractive industry developments in the region will help us better understand the dynamics of economic inequalities. It will also help us identify ways of modifying structures and trends so as to favor a more equitable distribution of wealth.

This project will largely build on the interpretive theoretical frameworks of the political economy perspectives and will attempt to examine whether inequality in Arctic communities is increasing (the continuing colonialism hypothesis) or whether it is stable or decreasing (the political empowerment hypothesis). These hypotheses will be put to the test in three stages.

The first stage will attempt to isolate the effects of resource development on inequality in Arctic communities using existing quantitative measures. It will compare a variety of economic and social inequalities within communities and between communities and regions. We will look at income inequalities, poverty levels, housing inequalities, and other forms of potential inequalities identified by partners and communities. This will include an investigation of gender impacts and impacts on subsistence activities. We will start with the existing indicators used in established monitoring programs and compare results from these and other established indicators of inequality such as low-income measures, the Gini coefficient, decile dispersion ratios, and the Palma ratio of inequality. We will examine differences between individuals and households.

The second stage will analyse community perspectives on inequality through the content analysis of existing data sources such as social media, news sources, and environmental assessment hearing statements, but also through key expert interviews. These experts will include those in Indigenous land claim organizations and other organizations dealing with inequality related issues. These interviews will determine general perspectives on extractive industry impacts on inequalities and opinions on the relative usefulness of existing and new potential indicators of inequality, both general and community specific.

The third stage will involve community validation, using techniques tested in particular by the Social Economy Research Network of Northern Canada (SERNNoCA) and the Resources and Sustainable Development in the Arctic (ReSDA). These methods enable communities to react to the findings to see where problems lie and where future research should be focused.

Alaska
Canada
Greenland and Faroe Islands
Russia

Objectives

A. Describe
B. Explain
C. Imagine

Axes

1. Current state of wealth distribution
2. Social transitions and trends in the distribution of wealth
3. Towards a more equitable distribution

Work Packages

1.1. The structures of distribution among agents
1.2. Economic inequalities of gender, ethnicity, and age
1.3. The extraction of wealth
2.1. Development trajectories
2.2. The dynamics of economic inequalities
2.3. Demographic trends and inequalities
3.1. Institutional changes
3.2. Indigenous perspectives on development
3.3. Indigenous and citizens’ practices in the struggle to overcome inequalities
3.4. Social innovation, reconciliation and adaptation