Self-determination and indigenous governance in the Arctic

Abstract

This chapter describes social, economic and environmental changes affect Arctic environments, wildlife, and communities in profound ways. Some Arctic states have recognized the need to settle some of the claims indigenous peoples advance for land and self-government, or have sought to pass legislation that recognizes the need for dialogue on land claims and resource rights. The arrangements where indigenous peoples have the greatest autonomy are to be found in the models of tribal sovereignty/self-government and land claims in Alaska, in comprehensive land claims agreements in Canada, and in the system of extensive self-government in Greenland. Greenland has often been considered a model for indigenous self-government, but it has been a process of nation-building rather than an ethno-political movement. Indigenous homelands, people&s;s livelihoods and traditional resource use in the Arctic are also being challenged today, however, by environmental change such as witnessed in the effects of climate variability and a rapidly warming Arctic.