New nexus of Arctic security – from elimination of environmental damage to regional security

Organized by: NRF-UArctic Thematic Network on Geopolitics and Security 13. September 2017

Sunday, October 15, 12:45 - 13:45

In security studies, there are discourses, premises and paradigms of security, as well as discussion who are the subjects of security. When it comes to the Arctic region there are on the one hand, heavy military (nuclear weapon) structures of the Russian Federation and the USA, and the other hand, special features of security, e.g. nuclear safety, as well as ‘new’ security threats, e.g. long-range pollution and climate change threating human security.

Sunday, October 15, 12:45 - 13:45

In spite of this, there in the Arctic is high geopolitical stability based on resilient international and interregional cooperation between the Arctic states and globally, which is a precondition for environmental protection, sustainable development and regional security. This session will discuss how the ‘militarized’ Arctic has been ‘environmentalized’ by growing concern on the environment, and how security has been reconceptualized when the environment matters. It will concentrate on environmental impacts by the military, as both a universal and special feature of Arctic security, and how to clean-up after a ‘party’ (the arms race of the Cold War) and eliminate environmental damage in Northern regions.


Speaker: 

  • Lassi Heininen, Professor, University of Lapland: Environmental Impacts and Risks of the Military, in Peacetime – an Overview
  • Michael Byers, Professor & Canada Research Chair, Department of Political Science, University of British Columbia: Toxic Splash: Russian Rocket-Stages Dumped in Arctic Waters Raise Health and Environmental Concerns
  • Anatoly Shevchuk, Deputy Chairman of the SOPS VAVT under the Ministry of Economic Development, Professor of RANEPA, Academician of REA: Evaluation and elimination of accumulated ecological damage in the Russian Arctic zone
  • Alexander Sergunin, Professor, St. Petersburg State University: The Changing Role of Military Power in the High North

Moderator:

  • Heather Exner-Pirot, Strategist for Outreach and Indigenous Engagement, University of Saskatchewan, Managing Editor, Arctic Yearbook