The Arctic as a Mining Frontier: Sacrifice zones or sustainable development?

ARCTICFRONT project, about the Arctic as a "mine frontier", examined the connection between mining development, knowledge policy, landscape valuation, and sustainable development. The goal is a better understanding of how environmental policy, management and practice can help in ensuring sustainable development in the Arctic - especially parts of Northern Norway, South Greenland and North-West Russia. There has been an introduction of a large number of new investments in mining in recent years, and the industry is expected to be an important driver in the high north. During the past hundred years mining has had a significant impact on social and ecological systems, labor and income, living conditions, demographic patterns and welfare. However, the mining projects have also adversely affected the environment and the ecosystem in the High North, created social conflicts and challenged a more traditional way of life based on renewable natural resources. The introduction of alternative understandings of sustainable development and power enabled to illustrate production and use of knowledge in political processes. Cultural and democratic legitimacy is essential to understand acceptance of social and ecological changes in the north. The term "sacrifice zones" proved to be appropriate in clarifying the distribution of burdens and benefits in major nature intrusions. Case Studies analyzes different social processes that leads to acceptance or not acceptance of the nature interventions that mining activity entails. Here we see that belonging, trust, social and economic benefits, as well as historical and cultural relations to the mining industry, are important. The studies show that the legitimacy of mining is connected to development potential, landscape valuation, cultural belonging and the experience of democratic legitimacy. The project's analyzes and results are published in its total in the book "The Will to Drill - Mining in Arctic Communites" at Springer Publishing in 2017, providing a unique insight into processes related to mining in the Arctic.

This project will investigate the connection between development of mining activities, knowledge politics and valuation of landscape, aiming at a better understanding of how environmental legislation, management and practices may assist in ensuring a sust ainable development of the northern regions of Northern Norway, South Greenland and Northwest Russia. New investment in mining is now taking place, and the industry is foreseen to become a major driver in the high north. These industrial projects have sub stantial impact on social-ecological systems; the subsistence, livelihoods, demographic patterns and welfare of human populations, as well as environmental conditions and on the ecosystem services of the northern regions. ARCTICFRONT aims at enhancing awa reness about how knowledge generated and applied through political decision making processes enables the considerations of acceptable versus non-acceptable changes in social-ecological systems of the north. In environmental management, the concept of area can be considered as an empty category wherein most natural resources and environmental values can be placed. At the same time, area management is a multi-level governance task that involves a number of interests (economic, recreational, subsistence), ad ministrative/political levels (municipal, national, federal), values (landscape value, welfare, well-being) and rights (indigenous, property). Our hypothesis is that these many stakeholders generate a multiplicity of knowledge traditions which are not fav ored in the decision making process. Through a multi-national comparison including four cases of mining projects in Norway, Russia and Greenland, the social processes connected to the production and knowledge application in area management are scrutinized with the help of analytical concepts derived from three theoretical approaches; sacrifice zones, ecosystem-services and a broad value concept (including economic, environmental, social and cultural value creation).