Adaptation Actions for a Changing Arctic: Perspectives from the Barents Area

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Chapter 10 · Synthesis

and identity, and by increasing migration that people would rather avoid such as planned or forced relocation due to thawing permafrost or flood risk (Adger et al.,2014:756-777).In addition, the interacting changes may challenge the ability of states to provide the conditions necessary for human security including critical infrastructure,resourcemanagement,governance,stable geopolitics, managing land use conflicts and pollution risk, and search and rescue operations. In contrast to the SDGs, a human security perspective explicitly emphasizes the multilevel governance challenge of adaptation, linking individual security to that of communities, states and global society. It also directs attention to the highly complex interactions and feedbacks between climate change, livelihoods, industrial development, urbanization, culture, and migration. Moreover, to invoke the termsecurity is also a political act“ to drawattention to‘something’ that should be valued above all other things ” (Hoogensen Gjørv and Goloviznina, 2013:1) and thus a way to guide political priorities. However, human security is still a contested term andwork on linking human and environmental security to larger security concerns is still at an early stage (e.g. Hoogensen et al., 2013). Moreover, there is a need to further develop means to actually measure and assess human security in ways that are relevant for Arctic communities. The normative perspectives underpinning SDGs and human security may benefit from an explicit focus on the social and environmental factors that support the capacity for adaptation (Chapters 8 and 9). Several attempts have been made to categorize and conceptualize these factors, which centers on adaptive capacity and resilience (e.g. Kofinas et al., 2013 and Chapter 8). Social-ecological resilience is a concept that highlights the dynamic relationships between ecosystem processes and society, with special attention to processes that maintain or have the potential to alter the very identity or integrity of the system (Folke, 2006). Resilience has been

SDGs, many of which relate closely to basic human security needs.The 2014 IPCCAssessment introduced human security as a measure against which it is possible to systematically assess climate change risks to livelihoods, cultures and indigenous peoples globally, including increased vulnerability from migration and violent conflict (Adger et al., 2014). While climate change, as such, may not be the main challenge for many communities and sectors in the Barents area, its impacts do exacerbate vulnerabilities stemming from socio-economic, political and environmental conditions (e.g. Keskitalo, 2008; Hovelsrud and Smit, 2010; see also Chapters 7 and 9). It is therefore a logical development to link assessment of adaptation actions to their direct and indirect impacts on human security. Human security can be defined as a condition that exists when the vital core of human lives is protected and when people have the freedom and capacity to live with dignity (Adger et al., 2014:759). Two aspects of human security that have become particularly relevant in relation to climate change in the Arctic are food security and health (Nilsson and Evengård, 2013; also emphasized in Chapter 6). Several aspects need to be included when addressing human security: socio-economic conditions, governance structures, educational opportunities, inequalities and equity, gender balance, the role of culture and values in the society or community, how local/ traditional knowledge is recognized and applied, demographic and migration trends, whether the community has access to human and financial resources, displacement of people and entire communities, and potential for conflict. The consequences and cumulative effects of climate change must be viewed in relation to all these conditions, which cut across most aspects of society. Multiple and interacting changes and challenges (including the consequences of climate change) may threaten human security by undermining livelihoods, by compromising culture

Arctic Council Secretariat / Linnea Nordström

Saami Council delegates at the 10th Ministerial Meeting of the Arctic Council in Fairbanks, Alaska, USA 11 May 2017