REXSAC consortium publishes a new film on sustainable development
We are now proud to present our film “Resource Extraction and Sustainable Arctic Communities”, sharing results and conclusions from our research which is in its final year.
In the film, we unpack the complexities involved in building sustainability in Arctic areas where a multitude of extractive industries are active, where legacies of past actions influence the present, where changes in the climate strongly impact environments and communities, and where people have widely differing perspectives of what a desirable future looks like.
Our aim is to provide decision makers with knowledge and perspectives needed to make informed decisions on how to reach sometimes conflicting sustainability goals – in resource rich areas of the Arctic and beyond. At a time when the Arctic is subject to rapid climate change and at the same time is considered as the promised land for extracting minerals and metals for a future green energy transition, this is more important than ever.
About REXSAC
REXSAC focuses on extractive resource industries in the Arctic as cultural, social, economic, and ecological phenomena – from analysis of why resource extraction commences, to what consequences it has for communities in the Arctic and beyond, and what opportunities exist for transitioning toward post-extractive futures.
REXSAC engages an international network of scholars from across the humanities and the natural and social sciences. Community participation in environmental and social monitoring is also a central part of the REXSAC.
REXSAC is funded by Nordforsk for the period 2016-2021 as one of four new Nordic Centres of Excellence in Arctic research under the programme Responsible Development of the Arctic: Opportunities and Challenges – Pathways to Action.
REXSAC is organized as a consortium with fifteen partners including the University of Oulu as well as affiliated individual scholars from in a range of institutions across the Nordic countries and other parts of the world. Postdoctoral researcher in Cultural Anthropology at the University of Oulu Élise Lépy has contributed to the screenwriting of the video.