Arctic Roads and Railways: Social and Environmental Consequences of Transport Infrastructure in the Circumpolar North

Author(s)

Olga Povoroznyuk, Vincent F. Warwick, Peter Schweitzer, Rosa Laptander, Mia Bennett, Fabrice Calmels, Dmitrir Sergeev, Christopher Arp, Bruce C. Forbes, Pascale Roy-Léveillée , Donald A. Walker

Abstract

Land-based transport corridors and related infrastructure are increasingly extending into and across the Arctic in support of resource development and population growth, causing large-scale cumulative changes to northern socio-ecological systems. These changes include the increased mobility of people, goods and resources, and environmental impacts on landscapes and ecosystems as the human footprint reaches remote, unindustrialized regions. Arctic climate change is also generating new challenges for the construction and maintenance of these transport systems, requiring adaptive engineering solutions as well as community resilience. In this review article, we consider the complex entanglements between humans, the environment, and land transportation infrastructure in the North and illustrate these interrelations by way of seven case studies: the Baikal- Amur Mainline, Bovanenkovo Railway, Alaska-Canada Highway, Inuvik-Tuktoyatuk Highway, Alaska Railroad, Hudson Bay Railway, and proposed railways on Baffin Island, Canada. As new infrastructure is built and anticipated across the circumpolar North, there is an urgent need for an integrated socio-ecological approach to impact assessment. This would include full consideration of Indigenous knowledge and concerns, collaboration with local communities and user groups in assessment, planning and monitoring, and evaluation of alternative engineering designs to contend with the impacts of climate change in the decades ahead.

Organisation(s)

Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology

External organisation(s)

University of Lapland, University of Alaska Fairbanks, University of Washington, Austrian Polar Research Institute (APRI), Université Laval, Universität Hamburg, Yukon University, Russian Academy of Sciences

Journal

Arctic Science

Volume

9

Pages

297-330

No. of pages

34

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1139/as-2021-0033

Publication date

08-2022

Peer reviewed

Yes

Austrian Fields of Science 2012

504017 Cultural anthropology, 504009 Ethnology

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General Agricultural and Biological Sciences, General Environmental Science, General Earth and Planetary Sciences

Portal url

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/7266db76-5564-44a6-9dea-a1ef4bdaf130