Clive Tesar, Head of Communications for the Arctic Programme, attended the ‘2030 North’ conference in Ottawa, Canada. The challenge of the conference was to try to imagine what life in Canada’s North will be like in 2030, and to devise a plan to deal with that new reality.
By Clive Tesar
There have been lots of media stories over the past couple of years about the ‘cold rush’, breathlessly detailing how the disappearance of Arctic se ice will lead to nations grabbing for the newly accessible arctic resources.
At least one speaker at this conference is not too sure all of the hype is justified. George Braden, a former premier of Canada’s Northwest Territories, said the US Geological Survey’s recent projection about the ‘undiscovered’ oil and gas in the arctic being bigger than Saudi petroleum reserves sounded like ‘snake oil’ (a reference to people who are selling dubious goods).
Braden recalled how a former government of Canada hyped up the treasures of the north with a ‘roads to resources’ programme. The results of that programme? A few mines, but no great riches, and certainly no sustainable future for the people of the north.
In Canada, the talk about the Arctic is all about sovereignty, not sustainability. Canada’s Prime minister has used a much-quoted line about ‘use it or lose it’ in relation to Canada’s Arctic Sovereignty. An Inuit speaker did not take kindly to that approach. Udloriak Hansen said, “Use it or lose it is offensive. We ARE using it!”
Clive Tesar, Head of Communications for the Arctic Programme, attended the ‘2030 North’ conference in Ottawa, Canada. The challenge of the conference was to try to imagine what life in Canada’s North will be like in 2030, and to devise a plan to deal with that new reality.