3.16. Indigenizing Arctic Economics to Attain a Sustainable Future

27 March 2025 | 08:30 - 10:00 (MDT)

Open Session - HYBRID

Room:  UMC Third Floor - 386

Organisers:  Victoria N. Sharakhmatova (ARCTICenter, Department of Geography, University of Northern Iowa, USA); Varvara Korkina Williams (Institute of Arctic Studies, Dartmouth College; USA); Andrey N. Petrov (ARCTICenter, Department of Geography, University of Northern Iowa, USA)

Session Description:

Integrating sustainability into Arctic economic development is an important task to attain prosperous futures for Arctic communities. Indigenous communities in the Arctic have long practiced sustainable economic models, relying on a harmonious connection between humans and the natural world. Our session will address effective policies for Indigenous economies, explore new economic institutions, and discuss the role of Indigenous knowledge and culture in economic development. Contributions from diverse Arctic regions and communities, especially from Indigenous and early-career scholars, are welcome. We encourage presentations on successful experiences and diverse economic models across the Northern Hemisphere. The session will be dedicated to exploring Indigenous Arctic economies in the Arctic, both subsistence and commercial. The following questions will be addressed: 1. What policies and design principles support the development of Indigenous economies? 2. What new Indigenous economic institutions have emerged and what are their defining characteristics? 3. How does Indigenous knowledge and culture contribute to the development of Indigenous economies? 4. How can we preserve unique Indigenous culture in the market context? Results of the session will contribute to the ICARP IV planning process.

Instructions for Speakers:  Oral presentations in this session should be at most 10-minutes in length, with an additional 2-3 minutes for questions (unless more detailed instructions are provided by session conveners). See more detailed presenter instructions here.

Oral Presentations: 

• unfold_moreIndigenous Subsistence Practices of Sakha Horse Herders: Past, Present and Future — Lena Popova 

  Lena Popova ^{1
  1} University of Fribourg

  Format: Oral in-person

  Abstract:

  The preservation of Indigenous knowledge is inherently challenging without the support of Indigenous economic systems. Indigenous economics provides the material basis for the transmission of knowledge. This work focuses on traditional horse and cattle breeding in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), which represents the northernmost form of traditional husbandry in the world. This unique practice has evolved in response to the harsh climatic and natural conditions of the Arctic. It not only forms a substantial part of the Republic's food base but also holds deep cultural, spiritual and historical significance for the Indigenous Sakha people.

  Today, current market system, institutional shifts and climate change are collectively altering these traditional subsistence practices, posing challenges to the local community, threatening the mechanisms that sustain Sakha traditional horse and cattle breeding. Moreover, economic insecurity often forces communities to prioritize survival over the transmission of cultural knowledge, leading to a loss of land-based practices, language and culture. Given the close link between the preservation of Indigenous knowledge and the prosperity and resilience of Indigenous economics, this study discusses two key questions: 1) How can traditional practices of Arctic horse and cattle breeding be preserved among pressing environmental, economic and institutional changes? 2) What might a future effective economic system, including both indigenous and modern elements, look like in the Sakha Republic in the rapidly changing conditions of our time?

• unfold_moreIndigenous-Driven Institutional Change and Subsistence Livelihood in a Reindeer Herding Community — Polina Syadeyskaya 

  Polina Syadeyskaya ^{1 
  1} University of Victoria, BC, Canada

  Format: Oral in-person

  Abstract:

  In the last 30 years, Arctic Indigenous communities in Russia have experienced considerable changes regarding organizational forms in which Indigenous people carry out their traditional activities. In the USSR, the Indigenous Peoples, including Nenets reindeer herders, were required to practice reindeer herding within the state-imposed collective farms. In 1992, some reindeer herders reorganized under a new institutional form of a private reindeer herding cooperative, Yerv, where private property was combined with collectively governed economic activities. Yerv has been touted by the Nenets community as a success.

  Since its creation, Yerv has undergone many institutional changes. Today, Yerv combines traditional family and clan methods of economic management with capitalist forms of organization and administration. Yerv is a uniquely valuable example of an Indigenous-driven organization designed to support traditional Nenets family nomadic reindeer herding and accumulate and distribute wealth from the traditional economy. This experience could be useful and applicable to other Indigenous Peoples of the Arctic and beyond.

  This research addresses the Understanding the dynamics and resilience of Arctic social-ecological systems to foster sustainable futures Research Priority Team’s research priorities such as sustainable and equitable Arctic economy, adaptive management and nature-based solutions, resilience, food systems and sustainable production.

  This research concerns me directly as my Nenets grandfather was one of the reindeer herders who co-led the creation of Yerv. The goal is to improve the understanding of the Indigenous-driven organizations and their impacts on the preservation of traditional nomadic family reindeer husbandry in reindeer herding communities of the Eurasian Arctic.

• unfold_moreTalking about Climate Change When Nobody Believes in It: Ethnographic Experiences from Russian Arctic — Andrian Vlakhov 

  Andrian Vlakhov ^{1 
  1} HSE University

  Format: Oral in-person

  Abstract:

  Throughout my career, I have been balancing between Russian and Western academia conducting numerous field studies in the Arctic alongside many distinguished colleagues from both traditions. However, I have continuously felt myself drifting away from the mainstream discourse of the Western tradition as many of its analytical concepts are perceived as alien in the communities I study. Some examples include sustainable development, human rights and climate change, the latter being the most notorious as the gravity of the ongoing climate change is obvious for any scholar dealing with the Arctic. While the climate change is here and most of my community research partners feel it and articulate their concerns when asked, the societal and political dynamics in Russia (and in the Soviet Union before that) have caused the dominant public discourse to operate in entirely different categories, with Western concepts considered alien, disrupting and dangerous.

  Under the risk of being labeled as climate change denier (which I certainly am not), I argue that a totally different language must be designed and used to discuss the climate change with people whose habitats and livelihoods are to be affected quickest and hardest by it, namely indigenous and local communities of the Arctic. No colonial practices such as “propaganda of scientific knowledge” can be tolerated; instead, scholars should favor co-production of knowledge together with the local communities. In this task, anthropologists should play a pivotal role as the only scholars with relevant cross-cultural communication experience.

• unfold_moreSalmon Harvest Dynamics and Salmon Fisheries Regulations in the Bristol Bay, Alaska: Impacts on Local Small-scale Harvesters — Jesse Hansen 

  Jesse Hansen ¹; Andrey Petrov ²; Tobias Schwoerer ²; Tatiana Degai ³; Victoria Sharakhmatova ^{1
  1} University of Northern Iowa; ² University of Alaska; ³ University of Victoria

  Format: Oral in-person

  Abstract:

  Salmon interception between competing fisheries has been a known and debated issue among coastal communities in Alaska. Of particular interest is Bristol Bay’s Area M Northern District fisheries management area. Area M encompasses several anadromous watersheds that support all five species of Pacific salmon, which are caught by commercial fisheries where natal streams enter the ocean. Salmon return in large schools of mixed origin into Bristol Bay then follow the coast from the northwestern part of the Bay to the southwestern part, subsequently entering their natal rivers to spawn. Consequently, salmon destined for rivers in the southwestern part of the Bay are the last populations to enter their spawning grounds. Thus, fisheries in the southern part depend on fisheries management in the northern part to allow passage of southern salmon populations to their natal streams. The purpose of this study is to explore the connection between salmon harvest by local community-based commercial fisheries in the southern part and the interception of inbound southern salmon by other parties given policy changes. To accomplish this, a multi-faceted approach will be utilized, including the collection and analysis of data pertaining to salmon escapement and harvest across various sections of Area M. In addition, an analysis of relevant changes in salmon management regulations and salmon harvest openers will be implemented. With these sets of information put together, a timeline of possible cause and effect relationships can be created for concerned communities to aid future decision-making and to inform additional research.

• unfold_moreIndigenous Fisheries in Urban Districts of Kamchatka — Victoria Sharakhmatova 

  Victoria Sharakhmatova ¹; Yulia Vasilieva ²; Tatiana Degai ³; Andrey Petrov ^{1
  1} ARCTICenter, University of Northern Iowa; ² Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky; ³ University of Victoria

  Format: Oral in-person

  Abstract:

  Global drivers of environmental, economic, and cultural changes currently influence unprecedented socioeconomic transitions in Indigenous fishing communities in the urban districts in Kamchatka region. In Arctic regions, the Indigenous Peoples have survived and overcome unpredictable economic circumstances. Current challenges facing Indigenous communities in Kamchatka include the economic and legal obstacles for continuing traditional fisheries. The Indigenous social and political institutions serving local communities are undergoing extreme changes: ecological, cultural, political and social. The traditional fisheries of the Indigenous Peoples in Kamchatka have undergone a particularly sharp transformation, which is likely to continue in the following decades. Focusing on the Kamchatka we discuss recent changes in Indigenous fisheries cultures and economies in urban districts, and examine Indigenous community responses to these changes. In order to attain this goal the study collects and analyzes data pertaining to Indigenous fishing in urban districts, including Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Palana and others. We focus on the following issues: traditional subsistence economic activities; change in the environment and its effects on traditional fishing activities; and community responses to environmental changes and economic transitions.

• unfold_moreIndigenous Voices in Arctic Shipping Regulation: Bridging the Gap — Ilker Basaran 

  Ilker Basaran ^{1 
  1} Bahcesehir University

  Format: Oral in-person

  Abstract:

  The rapid growth of Arctic shipping has significant implications for both the environment and the rights of Indigenous peoples, whose livelihoods and cultures are deeply connected to the fragile Arctic ecosystem. While the Arctic Council, established in 1996, has prioritized Indigenous peoples' interests and included them as Permanent Participants, there remain substantial gaps in their representation within international regulatory frameworks governing Arctic economic activities, particularly maritime shipping. For instance, Arctic indigenous pepoles were notably absent during the development of the Polar Code (2009–2015), which governs polar shipping. As a result, Indigenous perspectives were not included in laws and policies that directly affect their lands and waters. Despite some progress, such as the Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC) gaining provisional consultative status at the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in 2021, many Arctic Indigenous groups are still underrepresented. This continued exclusion of Indigenous voices within the IMO leaves critical concerns unaddressed in Arctic shipping, limiting the effectiveness of regulations such as the Polar Code in safeguarding Indigenous rights and promoting sustainable practices. This abstract explores the intersection of Indigenous knowledge, indigenous rights, environmental protection, and Arctic marine governance. It emphasizes the urgent need to integrate Indigenous perspectives into evolving regulatory frameworks for Arctic shipping to ensure that economic development aligns with the sustainable futures envisioned by Indigenous communities. By incorporating Indigenous expertise in law and policymaking, we can create economic models that honor both the cultural heritage and environmental integrity of the Arctic.

 

Poster Presentations (during Poster Exhibit and Session on Wednesday 26 March): 

• unfold_moreSupporting Indigenous Foodways in Alaska: Recommendations for Improving Language and Inclusivity in Food and Agriculture Programming — Glenna Gannon

  Glenna Gannon ¹; Heidi Rader ^{1
  1} University of Alaska Fairbanks

  Format: Poster in-person

  Poster number: #356

  Abstract:

  Climate change is creating ongoing challenges for Indigenous food systems in Alaska. Changing seasons, animal migration patterns, and weather unpredictability make it increasingly difficult for communities to rely on traditional food sources. In response to these challenges, there are increasing efforts to grow and raise more food locally, however, many rural communities lack essential resources like labor, infrastructure, and arable land needed to grow a meaningful quantity of food. Additionally, the high cost of living and short summer months make it difficult to strike a balance between wild harvesting and agricultural activities. This poster presents research that went into creating the 2024 Report, Food Security and Sovereignty in Alaska Native Communities: Recommendations for Improving Language and Inclusivity in Food and Agriculture Programming. This work highlights the crucial role traditional foods play in food security for Alaska Native peoples, the contemporary needs identified by communitties undertaking food production endeavors, and illustrates how many federal food-focused programs are not well-suited for Indigenous communities in Alaska. This is primarily because many federally-funded programs intended to support food production (broadly speaking) emphasize commercial/ western agricultural models, sidelining subsistence food practices like wild harvesting and community food sharing. Through this research, we found that using terms like “farmer” or “rancher” can actually discourage Indigenous participation in programs intended to support food security. Adapting federal programs to include culturally-relevant language and support traditional subsistence activities is a crucial step toward supporting Indigneous food sovereignty.