Environmental Security of the Arctic: A Human Security Perspective

The Arctic region has been the subject of immense interest and speculation for the past four to five decades due to its vast mineral deposits and potential as a new sea-route that would connect the West with the Far East. Evidently, massive globalization and infrastructural development are also taking place in this region, affecting the traditional way of life. However, beneath all those potentials and possibilities, the Arctic environment is degrading, and having further reinforced by the negative impacts of globalization, it adversely impacts the human security dynamics of the region, not to mention the harm being repetitively done to the flora and fauna that dwells there. Under the rubric of human security, we analyze the environmental security issues of the Arctic from the standpoints of pollution, climate change, health concerns and natural hazards, respectively.