A research team from the ArcticHubs has recently finished two reports which set the ground of the following project steps.
The research focused on Arctic geopolitics and global drivers: an investigation of the tensions and drivers affecting the development of major industries in the European Arctic, namely, aquaculture, forestry, mining and tourism.
Such kind of geopolitical research is quite new for the European Arctic: by geopolitics analysis in the report our researchers mean the investigation of political governance of the area, but also of the geographical and locational imaginaries of what the European Arctic is.
Our approach led to questions of how the European Arctic is narrated, known and therefore actually made in the discourses of different industries.
Plus our research was not only a desk review of political and strategic documents, but it was approached through deep qualitative methods and interviews, says Leena Suopajärvi, senior scientist at the University of Lapland, WP1 leader.
Nearly 70 individual stakeholders participated in interviews to explore how (geo) political factors and megatrends around the Arctic can affect the development of different industries. The interviews also looked at how the stakeholders and main actors in these industries understand their existence in the Global North.
This research is fundamental for setting the ground for project’s upcoming milestones.
The short explainer below summaries what common thoughts about the Arctic are overturned by the report findings.
You can find the reports from WP1 research here.