Arctic Tourism and Sustainable Adaptation: Community Perspectives to Vulnerability and Climate Change

Abstract

The role of tourism in local development, combined with globalisation and climate change, are generating both opportunities and threats across Arctic communities. The impacts of climate change are felt more intensely in communities that are dependent on natural resources. This is increasingly occurring through Arctic tourism, which is often based on nature, and is the foundation of the economy of many small Arctic communities. The interplay between tourism and community-based adaptation represents a significant focus in Arctic tourism studies and can bring invaluable information to governments about the local level climate change impacts on livelihoods and on the potential future challenges. The results from a vulnerability study conducted in two case study communities in Finnish Lapland indicate that both external and internal stresses, combined with the impacts of climate change, force the communities to reconsider their current development paths. The communities are still able to absorb the changes taking place in weather patterns, but the current development paths do not fully support the idea of sustainable adaptation, with its concepts of environmental integrity, social justice and participation. Though several adaptation strategies are deployed, future vulnerability may increase due to ineffective adaptation mechanisms and the increasing role of nature in tourism development.

Key Words:

• community-based
• exposure
• climatic variability
• sustainable adaptation
• Northern Finland

Acknowledgements

The research was funded by the Academy of Finland (CLICHE: Impacts of Climate Change on Arctic Environment, Ecosystem Services and Society) and by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Chair in Arctic Tourism. Destination Development in the Arctic, 2010–2012). Special thanks to the anonymous referees for their helpful comments, Janne Pöllänen for assisting with the map and to the people who took part in the study.

Notes

1 Gregow et al. (2011), Gregow et al. (2008), Jylhä et al. (2008), Jylhä et al. (2009), Ruosteenoja et al. (2005), Ruosteenoja et al. (2011), Räisänen and Eklund (2012).