Arctic Social Indicators I

160 Pages·2010·3.2 MB·English

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ARCTIC SOCIAL
INDICATORS
ARCTIC SOCIAL INDICATORS
A FOLLOW-UP TO THE AHDR
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Arctic Social Indicators
- a follow-up to the Arctic Human Development Report
TemaNord 2010:519
© Nordic Council of Ministers, Copenhagen 2010
ISBN 978-92-893-2007-8
Print: Scanprint as, Århus
Cover: Joan Nymand Larsen and Jón Haukur Ingimundarson, Stefansson Arctic Institute, Akureyri, Iceland
Layout: Guðjón Heimir Sigurðsson, Ásprent, Akureyri
Photos:
Front-cover: Many people gain extra income from tourism in Eastern Greenland. Two dog sledges on
the way back to the village Kulusuk after they have been driving tourists around at the end of the season
in late May. Photo: Johanna Roto
Back-cover, upper: Town of Akureyri, Northern Iceland. Photo: Joan Nymand Larsen
Back-cover, middle: Sahtugotšine Dene drummers at Deline, NT, Canada June 2007.
Photo: Stephanie Irlbacher Fox
Back-cover, lower: Ice-floe jumping: A challenging sport among adolescents when the ice is breaking
up in spring. Tasiilaq, East Greenland, 1893 inhabitants (2009). Photo: Rasmus Ole Rasmussen
Photos are used with permission
Copies: 500
Printed on environmentally friendly paper
This publication can be ordered on www.norden.org/order. Other Nordic publications are available
at www.norden.org/publications
Printed in Denmark
Editors: Joan Nymand Larsen, Peter Schweitzer, and Gail Fondahl
ASI secretariat: Stefansson Arctic Institute, Akureyri, Iceland: www.svs.is
Nordic Council of Ministers Nordic Council
Ved Stranden 18 Ved Stranden 18
DK-1061 Copenhagen K DK-1061 Copenhagen K
Phone [phone] Phone [phone]
Fax [phone] Fax [phone]
www.norden.org
Nordic co-operation
Nordic cooperation is one of the world’s most extensive forms of regional collaboration, involving Denmark,
Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and three autonomous areas: the Faroe Islands, Greenland, and Åland.
Nordic cooperation has firm traditions in politics, the economy, and culture. It plays an important role in European
and international collaboration, and aims at creating a strong Nordic community in a strong Europe.
Nordic cooperation seeks to safeguard Nordic and regional interests and principles in the global community.
Common Nordic values help the region solidify its position as one of the world’s most innovative and competitive.
Preface 5
The Arctic Social Indicators report is published by
© Nordic Council of Ministers, Copenhagen 2010
Project Leaders
Joan Nymand Larsen
Peter Schweitzer
Editorial Team
Joan Nymand Larsen
Peter Schweitzer
Gail Fondahl
Project Manager
Joan Nymand Larsen
Executive Committee
Joan Nymand Larsen
Peter Schweitzer
Gail Fondahl
Rune Sverre Fjellheim
Acknowledgements
Lead authors, contributing experts, and ASI working group
participants (in alphabetical order):
Andrey Petrov Hugh Beach Lee Huskey Rune Sverre Fjellheim
Anna Sirina Igor Krupnik Leslie King Solveig Glomsrød
Birger Poppel Jack Kruse Magne Ove Varsi Stephanie Irlbacher Fox
Bruce Forbes Jan Henry Keskitalo Matthew Berman Susan Crate
Carl Christian Olsen (Puju) Jens Dahl Níels Einarsson Tatiana Vlassova
Ellen Inga Turi Joan Nymand Larsen Oran Young Torunn Pettersen
Gail Fondahl Jón Haukur Ingimundarson Peter Bjerregaard Vladimir Bocharnikov
Gorm Winther Kathleen Graves Peter Schweitzer Yvon Csonka
Gunhild Hoogensen Lawrence D. Kaplan Rasmus Ole Rasmusssen
Gunn-Britt Retter Lawrence Hamilton Raymond Barnhardt
Arctic Maps
Winfried Dallmann (AHDR map)
Rasmus Ole Rasmussen and José Sterling (Nordregio maps)
Local - and Student Assistants
Søren Bitsch
Brynjar Helgi Ásgeirsson
Olga Sif Guðmundsdóttir
Sigrid Rasmussen
Nikolaj Nordby Thøgersen
Note Taker
Marg Kruse
Editorial Services
Ruth Wilson, West Coast Editorial Associates, B.C.
Thank you to all the invaluable feedback from anonymous peer
reviewers, including review comments received on ASI findings at
numerous international conferences, workshops, and seminars.
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Arctic Social Indicators
The Sustainable Development Working Group of the Arctic
Council: Indigenous peoples’organizations, permanent participants,
international organizations
Aleut International Association (AIA)
Arctic Athabaskan Council (AAC)
Gwich’in Council International (GCI)
Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC)
Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North (RAIPON)
Saami Council
Canada
Denmark/Greenland/Faroe Islands
Finland
Iceland
Norway
Sweden
Russian Federation
United States of America
International Arctic Science Committee (IASC)
International Arctic Social Sciences Association (IASSA)
Indigenous People’s Secretariat (IPS)
International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA)
University of the Arctic
Special thanks are due to Bernard Funston, executive secretary of
the SDWG secretariat and to the Norwegian Chairmanship of
the Arctic Council. Special thanks are also due to the Icelandic
representative on the SDWG, Mr. Ragnar Baldursson.
Financial Support
The project could not have been completed without the generous
financial support received by:
Nordic Council of Ministers’ Arctic Cooperation Programme
Icelandic Ministry for the Environment/Stefansson Arctic Institute
University of Alaska Foundation, USA
Circumpolar Directorate of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada
Canadian Embassy in Reykjavík, Iceland
Department of Environmental, Social and Spatial Change
(ENSPAC), University of Roskilde, Denmark
Vancouver Island University, B.C., Canada
The above list of contributors to the ASI is not comprehensive;
it includes main contributors only. Thanks are also due to the
numerous individuals who have been involved in this project but
who are not mentioned by name.
ARCTIC SOCIAL INDICATORS The Arctic Social Indicators report 7
A FOLLOW-UP TO THE AHDR
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Preface
This report is a result of and follow-up to the Arctic Human Development Report (AHDR), which appeared in 2004 and
had been conducted under the auspices of the Arctic Council’s Sustainable Development Working Group (SDWG). The
AHDR marked processes of maturation within the Arctic Council and beyond. On the one hand, the AHDR represented
the first social science-driven report prepared for the Arctic Council, indicating that various stakeholders, from politicians
to Arctic residents, understood the importance of the “human dimension” for sustainable development in the Arctic. On
the other hand, the processes leading to the AHDR marked new developments in the relationship between Arctic govern-
ance and scholarship, including coordinated support for the report from the Standing Committee of Parliamentarians of
the Arctic Region (SCPAR).
The AHDR was largely met with approval and enthusiasm, signaling that human development in the Arctic had become
a matter of widespread concern and interest. In the years since, Arctic human development has become even more critical
for stakeholders in the Arctic and beyond. One of the reasons is certainly the impact of global climate change on Arctic
environments and communities (see, among many other reports, the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA) of 2004).
As the Arctic has become an “early warning” site for climate-induced changes to come (the figurative “canary in the coal
mine” for much of the rest of the world), the effects of these changes on arctic residents have become a matter of general
concern. Thus, tracking Arctic human development through a small set of indicators becomes a matter of significant
practical and theoretical relevance in times of (climate) change.
While the first thoughts regarding an Arctic Social Indicators (ASI) project reach back to the years 2004 and 2005, the
majority of work for the initiative was produced during the years 2006-2009. Thus, the ASI activities largely coincided with
the research initiatives of the International Polar Year (IPY) 2007-2008, which officially lasted from March 2007 to March
2009. Actually, ASI was recognized as an IPY activity by the International IPY programme office. Given that the IPY 2007-
2208 differed radically from its predecessors – by its inclusion of the social sciences and of arctic residents -, the co-occur-
rence of IPY and ASI was more than pure coincidence. It was indicative of increased research activities in the Arctic (and
Antarctic), as well as of increased input from Arctic residents who consider the study of human development as critical as
the study of changing sea ice conditions.
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Similar to the AHDR, ASI set itself the task of combining state-of-the-art arctic social science research with applied con-
cerns of arctic countries and communities and of arctic indigenous peoples’ organizations, the so-called permanent partic-
ipants of the Arctic Council. While the applicability (and usefulness) of Arctic research to northern communities is the
ultimate test of research that considers itself appropriate within the context of the Arctic Council’s SDWG, this relevance
cannot be achieved without the input from a broad spectrum of scholars and practitioners, representing the best in their
fields. We hope that this report will nourish the growing recognition that the study and tracking of human development is
necessary for understanding the Arctic, as well as necessary for increasing well-being in the circumpolar North.
This first ASI report is, by design, focused on the development of a small set of social indicators in the Arctic and
cannot provide the implementation of these indicators. Data challenges, as outlined in the final chapter of this report, need
to be overcome in order to implement the set of social indicators proposed in this report. Thus, as we are now launching
this first ASI report, preparations are under way for a follow-up focused on the implementation of what is being suggested
here. While we hope to have your undivided attention for ASI-I, we want to communicate that our task at hand will be
incomplete if there were not an ASI-II report in due time.
Joan Nymand Larsen and Peter Schweitzer
Project Leaders, ASI
ARCTIC SOCIAL INDICATORS Contents 9
A FOLLOW-UP TO THE AHDR
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Acknowledgments
Preface
Chapter 1: Introduction: Human Development in the Arctic and Arctic Social Indicators 11
Joan Nymand Larsen, Stefansson Arctic Institute & University of Akureyri,
Iceland; Gail Fondahl, University of Northern British Columbia, Canada;
and Oran Young, Bren School of Environmental Science and Management,
University of California (Santa Barbara), USA
1.0 Introduction ................................................................................................... 11
2.0 From AHDR to ASI ..................................................................................... 17
3.0 Social Indicators: Explanation and Utility .................................................. 22
4.0 References ..................................................................................................... 27
Chapter 2: Health and Population ......................................................................................... 29
Lawrence Hamilton, University of New Hampshire, USA; Peter Bjerregaard,
National Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark; and
Birger Poppel, Ilisimatusarfik,University of Greenland, Greenland
1.0 Introduction .................................................................................................. 29
2.0 Possible Health and Population Indicators in the Arctic ............................ 33
3.0 Selected Indicators for Health and Population for the Arctic ................... 37
4.0 Concluding Comments ................................................................................. 42
5.0 Acknowledgments ......................................................................................... 44
6.0 References ..................................................................................................... 44
Chapter 3: Material Well-being in the Arctic ........................................................................ 47
Joan Nymand Larsen, Stefansson Arctic Institute & University of Akureyri,
Iceland; and Lee Huskey, University of Alaska Anchorage, USA
1.0 Introduction ................................................................................................... 47
2.0 Possible Indicators of Material Well-being in the Arctic ............................ 53
3.0 Selected Indicators of Material Well-being for the Arctic ......................... 62
4.0 Concluding Comments ................................................................................. 65
5.0 Acknowledgments ......................................................................................... 66
6.0 References ..................................................................................................... 66
Chapter 4: Education .............................................................................................................. 67
Rasmus Ole Rasmussen, Nordregio – Nordic Centre for Spatial Development,
Sweden; Raymond Barnhardt, University of Alaska Fairbanks, USA; and Jan
Henry Keskitalo, Sámi University College, Kautokeino, Norway
1.0 Introduction .................................................................................................. 67
2.0 Possible Indicators of Education ................................................................. 71
3.0 Selected Indicators of Education for the Arctic ......................................... 82
4.0 Concluding Comments ................................................................................. 88
5.0 Reference ....................................................................................................... 89
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Chapter 5: Cultural Well-being and Cultural Vitality .......................................................... 91
Peter Schweitzer, University of Alaska Fairbanks, USA; Stephanie Irlbacher Fox,
Fox Consulting, Yellowknife, Canada; Yvon Csonka, Federal Statistical Office,
Switzerland; and Lawrence Kaplan, University of Alaska Fairbanks, USA
1.0 Introduction .................................................................................................. 91
2.0 Possible Cultural Well-being Indicators ...................................................... 94
3.0 Selected Indicators of Cultural Well-being for the Arctic ......................... 105
4.0 Concluding Comments ................................................................................. 107
5.0 Acknowledgments ......................................................................................... 107
6.0 References ..................................................................................................... 107
Chapter 6: Contact with Nature ............................................................................................ 109
Susan A. Crate, George Mason University, USA; Bruce C. Forbes, Arctic Centre,
University of Lapland, Finland; Leslie King, Vancouver Island University,
Canada; and Jack Kruse, University of Alaska Anchorage, USA
1.0 Introduction .................................................................................................. 109
2.0 Possible Indicators of Contact with Nature ................................................ 114
3.0 Selected Indicator of Contact with Nature: Consumption or Harvest
of Traditional Food ...................................................................................... 124
4.0 Concluding Comments ................................................................................. 125
5.0 Acknowledgments ......................................................................................... 125
6.0 References ..................................................................................................... 125
Chapter 7: Fate Control .......................................................................................................... 129
Jens Dahl, University of Copenhagen, Denmark; Gail Fondahl, University of
Northern British Columbia, Canada; Andrey Petrov, University of Northern
Iowa, USA; and Rune Sverre Fjellheim, the Sámi Parliament, Karasjok,
Norway
1.0 Introduction .................................................................................................. 129
2.0 Possible Indicators of Fate Control in the Arctic ....................................... 131
3.0 Selected Indicator of Fate Control .............................................................. 141
4.0 Concluding Comments ................................................................................. 145
5.0 Acknowledgments ......................................................................................... 145
6.0 References ..................................................................................................... 145
Chapter 8: Conclusion: Measuring Change in Human Development in the Arctic ........... 147
Joan Nymand Larsen, Stefansson Arctic Institute & University of Akureyri,
Iceland; Peter Schweitzer, University of Alaska Fairbanks, USA; Gail
Fondahl, University of Northern British Columbia, Canada; and Jack Kruse,
University of Alaska Anchorage, USA
1.0 Introduction .................................................................................................. 147
2.0 Summary and Major Findings ...................................................................... 147
3.0 A Small Set of Arctic Social Indicators ....................................................... 153
4.0 Moving Toward Implementing an Arctic Human Well-being
Monitoring System ........................................................................................ 155
5.0 Arctic Social Indicator Data Recommendations ......................................... 157