Food Security Governance in the Arctic-Barents Region

155 Pages·2018·2.93 MB·English

by  Kamrul Hossain

Kamrul Hossain
Dele Raheem
Shaun Cormier
Food Security
Governance
in the Arctic-
Barents Region
Food Security Governance in the Arctic-Barents
Region
Kamrul Hossain • Dele Raheem • Shaun Cormier
Food Security
Governance in the Arctic-
Barents Region
Kamrul Hossain Dele Raheem
NIEM NIEM
University of Lapland NIEM University of Lapland NIEM
Rovaniemi, Finland Rovaniemi, Finland
Shaun Cormier
NIEM
University of Lapland NIEM
Rovaniemi, Finland
ISBN 978-3-319-75755-1 ISBN 978-3-319-75756-8 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75756-8
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018934957
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Preface
This book aims to fill gaps in the knowledge about food security and the coordina-
tion of a legal framework for its governance in the context of the Arctic-Barents
region. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO 1996)
stated that “food security exists when all people at all times have physical, social
and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary
needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.” However, the authors of
this book perceive a wider context, in which “food sovereignty” is an integrated part
of food security. Food sovereignty highlights the food preferences of the consumers.
In the Arctic-Barents region, traditionally available foods are generally preferred
among the communities. The consumption of these foods includes traditional and
local foods, for example, from reindeer herding, hunting, fishing and berry picking.
These foods can be readily accessed, and they are shared among the communities in
the region. These foods also arguably meet the required dietary needs for the healthy
and active lives of the individuals in the communities. In addition, the practice
around the consumption of traditional foods is also tied with many rituals of tradi-
tional communities, such as those of indigenous peoples. Therefore, having a say in
regard to food preference promotes additional value to local food, which eventually
ensures “… the ability and the right of people to define their own policies and strate-
gies for the sustainable production, distribution and consumption of food that guar-
antee the right to food for the entire population, …” as referred to by the World
Forum on Food Sovereignty (WFS 2001).
The proposed book will form part of the main outcome from the Academy of
Finland’s ongoing project on Human Security as a Promotional Tool for Societal
Security in the Arctic: Addressing Multiple Vulnerability to its Population with
Specific Reference to the Barents Region (HuSArctic). By promoting food secu-
rity will enrich the closely overarching concept of human security, which is to
protect the vital core of all human lives in ways that enhance human freedom and
fulfilment. Food security and safety will be better improved in the Arctic- Barents
region by implementing relevant policies at all levels of government. A variety of
challenges remain in many Arctic-Barents communities regarding food security;
it is necessary to promote research and prioritize policies that will promote food
v
vi Preface
sovereignty, as it arguably coincides with food security in the region. The
empowerment from food sovereignty will further help people to identify with
their culture and natural environment and enhance their knowledge about tradi-
tional food systems that can improve health and build community support. In the
Arctic-Barents region, food is a way of life for many people; it helps people real-
ize the importance of maintaining their connections with nature and their own
cultures, and between heart and mind, to reaffirm identity. Food is important for
both indigenous and non- indigenous peoples; the use and consumption of tradi-
tional and local foods will help unite and connect people and their identities,
traditions and cultures within and between communities.
This book, while providing general reference to the Arctic region, will focus
specifically on the Arctic-Barents region, an area of northern Europe containing
Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia, with approximately 5.2 million indigenous
and non-indigenous peoples. The Saami, Veps, Komi, Nenets and Pomors, along
with the non-indigenous peoples of the region, transcend across these national and
international boundaries to maintain their traditional activities associated with food.
Some of these activities include herding, fishing, foraging and hunting, which are
all practiced in cooperation with family members in group atmospheres and in their
communities. Food remains a vital component in the lives of the people living in
this region. However, it is hampered by regional transformations resulting from
climate change and gradually increased human activities, such as mining, oil and
gas developments, tourism and shipping. Industrial food processing has been identi-
fied as a major contributor to global warming and market foods often have to cover
long distances to reach consumers, and as such they need to be well preserved and
protected by packaging materials. Market food prices are often dictated by the sup-
ply and demand from the international market. The limited availability and acces-
sibility of local foods makes people rely on store-bought foods that have been
transported over long distances. Food miles are linked with growing concerns about
the emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from fossil fuel-based
transport. Hence, the promotion of local and traditional foods helps ensure food
security and helps reduce carbon in the region’s food system.
To date, most of the available studies on traditional food systems and their
impacts on food security are from the Canadian, Greenland and US Arctic regions.
These circumpolar regions are similar to the Barents European Arctic in terms of
geographically having a heavy presence of indigenous inhabitants. By focusing on
the Arctic-Barents region, this book offers a more balanced and systemic review on
the role of traditional foods in the less explored Barents-Arctic communities. We
have used the term Arctic-Barents region synonymously with the Euro-Arctic-
Barents region discussed in this book—referring to the region of the European High
North, which is characterized by high latitude, a circumpolar location and pristine
nature.
This book, while highlighting the detailed and all-encompassing picture related
to food security in the regional context, offers an analysis of the existing regulatory
and policy tools in connection with the governance of food security in regional set-
tings. Hence, it presents a number of recommendations based on identified gaps in
Preface vii
order to promote overall food security in the region. It is envisaged that relevant
actors as well as other stakeholders will find the book to be an important contribu-
tion to the promotion of policies and strategies on food security.
Rovaniemi, Finland Kamrul Hossain
Dele Raheem
Shaun Cormier
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to all those with whom we have had the pleasure of working with
while accomplishing this task. During this process, a number of academic scholars
as well as other stakeholders have extended their generous support in terms of pro-
viding us with new knowledge. We particularly thank the following scholars at the
Arctic Centre of the University of Lapland, who have given their time freely for
interviews on topics related to their fields of work—Professors Bruce Forbes and
Monica Tennberg and Senior Researcher Juha Joona. We also gratefully acknowl-
edge Dr. Päivi Soppela’s contribution in providing us with some of the pictures used
in this book. Finally, we thank our colleague Ms. Anna Petrétei, who has been so
kind to read over the manuscript diligently as a final check for any technical errors.
This book would not have been possible without the generous financial support
granted by the Academy of Finland within the framework of the research project
Human Security as a Promotional Tool for Societal Security in the Arctic: Addressing
Multiple Vulnerability to its Population with Specific Reference to the Barents
Region (HuSArctic), hosted at the Northern Institute for Environmental and
Minority Law at the Arctic Centre of the University of Lapland. We are therefore
thankful to both the Academy of Finland and the Arctic Centre of the University of
Lapland.
ix
Abbreviations
AC Arctic Council
ACAP Arctic Contaminants Action Program
AMAP Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme
BEAC Barents Euro-Arctic Council
BEAR Barents Euro-Arctic Region
BWC Ballast Water Convention
CAC Codex Alimentarius Commission
CAFF Conservation of Arctic-Barents Flora and Fauna
CBD Convention on Biological Diversity
COP Committee of Parties
CVD Cardio-vascular diseases
DDE Dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene
DDT Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane
EFSA European Food Safety Authority
EPPR Emergency Prevention, Preparedness and Response
EU European Union
EVIRA Elintarviketurvallisuusvirasto (Finnish Food Safety Authority)
FAO Food and Agriculture Organization
FFN Food Fraud Network
GHG Greenhouse gases
HCB Hexachlorobenzene
ICCPR International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
ICESCR International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
ILO International Labour Organization
IMO International Maritime Organization
LRTAP Long-Range Trans-Boundary Air Pollution
MARPOL International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships
MDG Millennium Development Goals
ND Northern Dimension
NFA National Food Administration, Sweden (Livsmedelsverket)
OHCHR Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
xi
xii Abbreviations
OSPAR Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the
North-East Atlantic
PAME Protection of the Arctic-Barents Marine Environment
PCB Polychlorinated biphenyls
PFAS Perfluorinated alkylated substances
PFDA Perfluorodecanoic acid
PFHpS Perfluoroheptane sulfonate
PFHxS Perfluorohexane sulfonic acid
PFNA Perfluorononanoic acid
PFOA Perfluorooctanoic acid
PFUnDA Perfluoroundecanoic acid
POP Persistent organic pollutants
SDWG Sustainable Development Working Group
SPS Sanitary and Phytosanitary
SOLAS Safety of Life at Sea
UNCLOS United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas
UDHR Universal Declaration of Human Rights
UNDRIP United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
UNECE United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
UNEP United Nations Environment Programme
UNFCCC United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
WIPO World Intellectual Property Organization
WTO World Trade Organization
WWF World Wide Fund for Nature