Indigenous Peoples, Land-Use Conflicts, and Economic Development in Circumpolar Lands

Abstract

Progressions in the contact between northern indigenous peoples and southern populations who seem to control sovereignty and economic development in the international circumpolar north are reviewed. Current issues surrounding modern, indigenous land-use patterns are seen in relation to the national, international, and global developments. The North is not isolated but rather intertwined with processes influenced by internal and external events. There are three competing and interfering land uses: (1) indigenous “traditional pursuits” based on renewable, mainly animal resources, i.e., herding, hunting, trapping, and fishing/sealing; (2) the introduced wage-labor and service sector based on the southern public services and facilities; and (3) the almost completely independent nonrenewable resource extraction industry for export to production centers outside the North.

The indigenous peoples have fully realized this process and know that choices have to be made in order to accommodate the different interests and goals in the north. However, their expectations center around: (1) sovereignty and territoriality; (2) control and decision making; (3) socioeconomic benefits for the North; and (4) cultural and linguistic survival.