The development of energy infrastructure in the Arctic poses serious far reaching justice based questions for local, regional and international communities. Oil and gas rigs, renewable energy sites, shipping and transportation all force us to reflect on how fair and equitable infrastructural expansion is locally and globally. We examine the justice claims of business, government and civil society in an attempt to understand current problems, and their likely solutions. The results suggest that we need to replace the current stakeholder-centred approach of energy policy, with one based upon justice. A widening of procedural justice to include not only the co-production of decisions, but also knowledge should be complemented with new ways of recognising the vulnerabilities of misand under-represented people, as well as exploring the sensitivities around proximity to new energy infrastructures.
Like a teacher's red pen, the jagged line underneath my writing gave me an uneasy feeling. I tried to ignore it, but the overly conscientious primary school pupil in me would not let it rest: The word processor indicates a spelling error; it's unacceptable to continue, my own internal voice nagged.'Arcticness' is a term, though; and a highly useful one -as I told my word processor with the click of the mouse, 'Add to Dictionary'. Adding the suffix '-ness' denotes a state or quality -in this case, the quality of being Arctic.For those of us interested in the Arctic and, in particular, how people relate to it, a word for the 'quality of being Arctic' is a potential cause for agonisingly many jagged red lines. Although my software clearly disagreed, I am, of course, not the first to see the need for it -something to which this book bears testament. As the world is increasingly looking northwards to a region undergoing rapid change, identifying what, who or where has the 'quality of being Arctic' is high on the agenda; for actors from both near and far, their 'Arcticness' becomes a potential asset as they position themselves for Arctic futures.But what does it really mean, 'Arcticness'; what are Arctic 'qualities'? Unlike placating a spell-checker, defining what 'is' Arctic (or feeling, believing, thinking, imagining that someone/ something/ somewhere is) is not as straightforward as it may seem. The region itself is defined in numerous ways depending on topic, context and even interest; and so, determining the qualities of a region that cannot itself be fully determined provides a challenge.Given that claiming an Arctic identity may serve an instrumental purpose -for example adding to political actors' or private stakeholders' credibility -the ambiguity of Arcticness is also in part why the concept is so fascinating, not to mention so important to explore. In relations between the Arctic and non-Arctic, the claim to Arcticness potentially P r e fAC e vi becomes a political one; indeed, it may decide who falls on either side of Arctic and the prefixed 'non-'. In turn, Arcticness becomes a question of who holds rights, who holds responsibilities, and who holds 'true' knowledge of a space in rapid flux … Arcticness does not only matter for political decisions and resource extraction; it seems to have become exotic, interesting -it sells. With northern lights tours and midnight sun cruises, Arcticness is increasingly commodified. With 'Arctic' labels on anything from bottled drinks to cleaning companies, it has become a brand so ubiquitous that it is now simply part of the everyday.This has not always been the case. Having grown up in Northern Norway, the change is clear -not just climatic or economic change in the region, but a change of label. What was only a decade ago Northern Norway is now frequently referred to as 'the High North' [' nordområdene' in Norwegian, translating literally as 'the northern areas'] or the Arctic. A northern identity may now be an Arctic identity -just like our tap water is now 'Arctic wa...
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