JUSTNORTH

JUSTNORTH is a European Project designed to explore the multitude of ethical systems that coexist in the Arctic, as a starting point to assess the viability of new economic activities in the region.  For the millions of people who live both inside and outside the Arctic and are affected by these economic activities, decisions are made through utilitarian ethical principles:  viability of an activity is based on profitability and technical feasibility, with little regard to questions of whether it is ethically right or wrong for the impacted human populations or the environment.

Global climate change has launched intense speculation on Arctic resources.  Increasing geopolitical tensions among some of the Arctic states increases the importance of respecting different value systems while finding common values to help strengthen the links between Arctic and non-Arctic entities.  Significant practice and policy gaps in existing Arctic economic activities have led to development that is unsustainable.   Through understanding current practices of development in the Arctic through the lens of 18 case studies, JUSTNORTH aims to develop conceptual frameworks, indices and a negotiation tool, for reconciling multiple ethics and value systems.  These will provide a cornerstone for determining the viability of economic activities in the Arctic, as well as clarify policy, legal, and regulatory pathways for implementing ethic-based decision-making principles.

Latest JUSTNORTH news

Justice in Scale & Distribution

Húsavík, Iceland

on 31 March, 2021 by Susan Millar

Case Study 8 of the JUSTNORTH project looks at the implications of social and economic changes in a coastal community that has rapidly changed from a fishing town to a tourism hot-spot. Húsavík is n…

Justice in Transitions

Windpower resistance in Norway

on 24 March, 2021 by Susan Millar

JUSTNORTH researchers Halvor Dannevig and Ragnhild Freng Dale at the Western Norway Research Institute – Vestlandsforsking – investigate the range of controversies surrounding the development of wind …

Justice in Transitions

Energy Transition

on 23 March, 2021 by Susan Millar

Case Study 6, Work Package 2 researchers, Darren McCauley and Ryan Holmes explore the sociopolitical barriers to the energy transition in Russia and Norway in this video on Corporate cultures and geop…

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