The Arctic is currently under multiple pressures both due to the environmental changes and the increased interest in the Arctic natural resources. Efficielly managing these changes require governance approaches that account for the connections between climate change, biodiversity loss, increased land use, and local livelihoods. This is known as a “nexus approach.”
Our new study reviewed numerous Arctic policy documents to detect how well the nexus approach is adopted into the Arctic governnace. Our results show that although many Arctic policies consider the nexus approach, there’s variation in how much importance they give to different linkages between the climate change, biodiversity, land use and local communities. This variation was in our study estimated for different spatial scales, i.e. from local to international policy documents. Some crucial nexus interactions are overlooked in the documents, especially regarding the agency of local communities and traditional livelihoods.
In addition to providing an overview on the adaptation of nexus approachces in the Arctic policy documents, the study provides a critical review on the practical improvements suggested for nexus approach in the Arctic.
Rasmus S., Yletyinen J., et al. 2023. Policy documents considering climate, biodiversity, and land use changes in the European Arctic reveal visible, hidden, and imagined nexus approaches. One Earth.
Human-Environment Complexity Lab 