ABSTRACT
Renewable resources in the Arctic, particularly fish and wildlife, are the focus of growing conflict. Marine mammals, caribou, seabirds, and other resources provide a wide array of nutritional, socio-cultural, and economic benefits to Arctic peoples. Yet conservation and management of these resources is problematic. A wide array of stakeholders—including indigenous peoples, multinational corporations, national and indigenous governments, environmentalists, and others—engage in contentious debates about their use and allocation. Conflicts include impacts of industrial development on subsistence foods, barriers to trade in wildlife products, long-range transport of pollutants and contamination of country foods, and indigenous rights to subsistence resources. These are fuelled by the fact that the Arctic is thought to be fragile, where impacts of environmental disruption are long lasting. Biodiversity in the Arctic is limited. Rates of growth and reproduction are slow. Moreover, scientific understanding of the Arctic is limited, and management of resources is plagued by uncertainty.
