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

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Chapter 2 · Status of the natural and human environments

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Rajakoski hydroelectric station on the Pasvik River, northwestern Russia near the border tripoint with Norway and Finland

2.3.5 Mining In the Barents area, mining has long been a core industry with the actors, activities, and resources involved embedded in large socio-technical networks extending far beyond the region (Andrew, 2014). Today, mining in the Barents area is developed as a high technological industry. The Barents area constitutes a relatively mature mining region, with a strategic role to provide the European industry with minerals (European Commission, 2008; Ericsson, 2010; Haley et al., 2011). A substantial part of the mining activities within each country is concentrated in the Barents area (Nordregio, 2009). The mining industry, however, is affected by large fluctuations in the demand for minerals and metals (Ericsson, 2010) with the global demand for metals increasing dramatically, especially over the period 2003–2008, largely due to economic growth in China (Ericsson, 2010).This has resulted in major investments and exploration activities in order to open new mines, re-open closed mines and increase production in well-established operations such as those owned by Sweden’s state-owned LKAB company (Nordregio, 2009; Ericsson, 2010; Knobblock and Pettersson, 2010; Haley et al., 2011). The starting point for the right to assimilate minerals from the sub-soil is essentially the same in Sweden, Finland and Norway, including Svalbard; the discoverer of a deposit has preferential rights to mine the deposit, on condition that the activity meets substantive legal requirements in the form of, for example, environmental considerations. The extent of social impact assessments varies: in Finland, they are carried out as a rule although they are not yet a statutory requirement, in Sweden, they are not required by law and are rare, but to some extent compensated by extensive and stringent environmental impact assessment requirements. Thus, the rising level of globalization in mining and minerals use, coupled with the recent high prices, has attracted investors

authorities. In 2012, the petroleum industry generated more than 50% of total GRP in Arctic Russia, with the Russian company Gazprom having a strong presence for example in the Yamal-Nenets region (Stammler and Wilson, 2006; Glomsrød et al., 2017; Petrov, 2017). Whether this increase in GRP brings real improvements in local living conditions, especially for the ethnic minorities in the area is unclear, despite the improvements shown by quantitative indicators such as worker income (Glomsrød et al., 2017). Climate policy has increased the focus on alternative means of energy production. Expressed as a percentage of total domestic electricity generation, Norway leads with 95.7%, followed by Sweden at 48.3%, and Russia at 17.8% (IEA, 2011). Sweden and Norway have seen a recent expansion of electricity generation systems,although only on a relativelymoderate scale andmainly through the development of small-scale facilities and increased capacity at existing plants. In Sweden, further expansion of hydropower on the major national rivers is prohibited by law, in order to protect ecosystems in the remaining unmanaged rivers. In terms of global installed renewable energy capacity, wind power currently ranks second to hydropower. Until recently, the development of wind power in the Barents Region was modest. However, the need to ensure a secure energy supply and to address environmental concerns,particularly concerning climate change, most states now have policy instruments to support the development of both onshore and offshore wind power, and installed capacity across the region is steadily increasing (Pettersson, 2013). Good wind resources are found, for example, in the mountain areas of Norway and Sweden, and northwest Russia, with estimates that fully developed wind power could contribute 10–20% of the total power capacity in the region,which could also be used off-grid (Pettersson, 2013), although this would involve trade-offs with alternative uses of the landscape and biodiversity.