Eye on the Arctic news roundup

A roundup of some of the most discussed stories from the circumpolar world this week.

Photo: Jonas Ekströmer, Scanpix. Radio Sweden.

SWEDEN

In Sweden, more developments in the ongoing wolf controversy. Nobody seems to agree just how many wolves the country should have. It’s led to heated debates between animal rights activists and conservationists who say wolf numbers are too low and need to be protected from over-hunting, and hunters and farmers who disagree.

This week, the issue flared up again when Sweden’s Environmental Protection Agency proposed a new policy that would allow people to shoot wolves in cases where there is “a strong possibility” that they would attack domestic animals. Many environmental groups are opposed to the new proposal.

To read the Radio Sweden report, click here.

 

UNITED STATES – ALASKA Image courtesy of Alaska Dispatch.

Oil and gas were big news in the state this week. BP and ConocoPhillips renewed calls for tax cuts on their Alaska operations.

Meanwhile, the United States Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced that Shell Oil’s revised plan for exploration and drilling in Alaska’s Arctic was accepted and can now go to public comment.

To read Shell’s Chukchi Sea Exploration Plan, click here.

 

Reindeer couture. Image: Laura Juslin. YLE.FINLAND

In Finland, the fashion industry was in the spotlight with a story about how reindeer suede has become a popular high-fashion material. Reindeer herding has been an important part of the indigenous Sami culture for centuries. The boom in reindeer suede is now leading to talk of setting up a Sami training program on reindeer hide treatment in Northern Finland

CANADA

And in Canada, the tensions between resource development in the North and the rights of the aboriginal communities living there made headlines throughout the week.

In Canada’s north-western Yukon territory, the Yukon Supreme Court issued a ruling on the dispute between Yukon’s mining industry and the Ross River Dena Council, that wants to be consulted before mining claims are registered in their areas.

Next door in the Northwest Territories, an update on the Encore Renaissance Resources diamond project. The Yellowknives Dene have been resistant to the project until a solution can be worked out to protect their archaeological sites.

And today, the signing of a land deal in Labrador, Canada that guarantees income to the region’s Innu people from an upcoming hydroelectric project.

RUSSIA

And in Russia, the country’s regional ambitions in the Arctic were again under the microscope after a speech from president Medvedev last Friday promising to protect Russian Arctic interests and invest more money in the region.

You can read more about it here.

Write to Eilís Quinn at eilis.quinn(at)cbc.ca

Eilís Quinn, Eye on the Arctic

Eilís Quinn is an award-winning journalist and manages Radio Canada International’s Eye on the Arctic news cooperation project. Eilís has reported from the Arctic regions of all eight circumpolar countries and has produced numerous documentary and multimedia series about climate change and the issues facing Indigenous peoples in the North.

Her investigative report "Death in the Arctic: A community grieves, a father fights for change," about the murder of Robert Adams, a 19-year-old Inuk man from Arctic Quebec, received the silver medal for “Best Investigative Article or Series” at the 2019 Canadian Online Publishing Awards. The project also received an honourable mention for excellence in reporting on trauma at the 2019 Dart Awards in New York City.

Her report “The Arctic Railway: Building a future or destroying a culture?” on the impact a multi-billion euro infrastructure project would have on Indigenous communities in Arctic Europe was a finalist at the 2019 Canadian Association of Journalists award in the online investigative category.

Her multimedia project on the health challenges in the Canadian Arctic, "Bridging the Divide," was a finalist at the 2012 Webby Awards.

Her work on climate change in the Arctic has also been featured on the TV science program Découverte, as well as Le Téléjournal, the French-Language CBC’s flagship news cast.

Eilís has worked for media organizations in Canada and the United States and as a TV host for the Discovery/BBC Worldwide series "Best in China."

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