Society, Environment and Human Security in the Arctic Barents Region

The Arctic-Barents Region is facing numerous pressures from a variety of sources, including the effect of environmental changes and extractive industrial developments. The threats arising out of these pressures result in human security challenges.This book analyses the formation, and promotion, of societal security within the context of the Arctic-Barents Region. It applies the human security framework, which has increasingly gained currency at the UN level since 1994 (UNDP), as a tool to provide answers to many questions that face the Barents population today. The study explores human security dimensions such as environmental security, economic security, health, food, water, energy, communities, political security and digital security in order to assess the current challenges that the Barents population experiences today or may encounter in the future. In doing so, the book develops a comprehensive analysis of vulnerabilities, challenges and needs in the Barents Region and provides recommendations for new strategies to tackle insecurity and improve the wellbeing of both indigenous and local communities. This book will be a valuable tool for academics, policy-makers and students interested in environmental and human security, sustainable development, environmental studies and the Arctic and Barents Region in particular.

"This edited collection provides a comprehensive assessment of different elements of societal security in the Barents Region. Based on ten sub-categories of security, the book examines the factors that truly make individuals and communities secure in the face of a rapidly changing environment." — Rachael Lorna Johnstone, Professor, University of Akureyri, Iceland and University of Greenland"This edited book provides a timely assessment of the human security challenges faced by the population in the Barents region. As it is now acknowledged that borders do not confine security challenges, this book makes an essential contribution to explain from different angles the various challenges raised by the development of the region at the transnational level ranging from economic to digital security issues. Hence, this book should be considered recommended reading for scholars, students and all practitioners wishing to engage with the particular trans-border issues concerning human security in the Barents Arctic Region." — Timo Koivurova, Director of the Arctic Center, University of Lapland, Finland

Kamrul Hossain is a Research Professor and Director of the Northern Institute for Environmental and Minority Law, University of Lapland.Dorothée Cambou is a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Helsinki.