SUSTAINABILITY, EQUITY, AND NATURAL-RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT IN NORTHWESTSIBERIA AND ARCTIC ALASKA

Today, the search for new energy sources continues unabated throughout the North. At the same time, scientists are increasingly concerned ov er the degradation of the Arctic and sub-Arctic environment stemming f rom fossil fuel and other large-scale energy projects already underway . Similar apprehensions are expressed by indigenous peoples who have o ften suffered from the impact of such development. While the most dram atic evidence of environmental devastation and social disruption is fo und in the Russian North serious problems are by no means confined to that area alone. Nor are these negative effects necessarily limited to the borders of the country in which they originated. Indeed, the dele terious environmental impact of our global industrial economy has beco me sufficiently profound that social analysts are beginning to ask whe ther development strategies that cause such harm to the Arctic and sub -Arctic region should continue; and if not, what should replace them. This article addresses these issues as they relate to questions of sus tainability, equity, political empowerment and human rights in northwe st Siberia and northern North America.