Overview

Class Central Tips

Welcome to Arctic: Development! In this third in a series of Arctic MOOCs, brought to you by a unique partnership between the University of Alberta and UiT The Arctic University of Norway, we will be exploring regional development in a changing arctic. In this 4-week course, you will investigate the role that natural resources play across the Indigenous, Nordic, Russian and North American Arctics, different strategies for resource management in different regions, and how these affect community planning and development efforts in an increasingly populated part of the world. We'll also see how climate change is dramatically impacting the Arctic, and examine a number of adaptations that different arctic communities are implementing to combat rapid, climate-influenced change. By the end of this course, you will have an idea of the opportunities presented to and difficulties faced by members of northern communities, and gain an understanding of just what regional development looks like in a changing Arctic.

Syllabus

Module 1: Understanding the Arctic

Welcome to the first step of your journey in Arctic: Development! In this short, introductory module we'll cover the basics of the Arctic, northern sustainability, geopolitics, resource management and development. To do this, we'll first see how the region is usually viewed through the particular lens of "The Four Arctics". At the end of this module, you'll have the context and vocabulary to tackle some of the issues in resource management, community management, and development, covered in the rest of the course. When it's time to venture north, click on the first video to get started!

Module 2: Resource Management in the Arctic

Welcome back! Now that you have an understanding of the four Arctics and some of the basic concepts affecting development in these regions, it's time to deep-dive into resource management. In this module we'll first take stock of some of the renewable and non-renewable resources in the Arctic, and explore different resource management strategies employed in each of the four Arctics, encountering a number of "tragedy of the commons" case studies. Finally, you'll reflect upon the formation and function of the Arctic Council, and its role in resource management.

Module 3: Community Management in the Arctic

Now that we're aware of some of the resources in the Arctic and how they're managed, it's time to move on to the people that live there. In this module, we'll turn our attention to community planning and development efforts in an increasingly populated Arctic, and how communities in various Arctic regions form resilience to some of the unique problems faced in these regions.

Module 4: Development in a Changing Arctic

If you're reading this, you've reached the very last module of the course- congratulations! Our previous three modules have given us the background needed to finally tackle the largest question posed in the course: what does development look like in a changing Arctic? In this module, we'll see how climate change is impacting the Arctic, and examine a number of structural and non-structural adaptations that different arctic communities are implementing. Finally, we will look at the strategies and policies directing and maintaining development across the four Arctics in the face of immense environmental change.