While Canada’s HDI has long been one of the highest in the world, Nunavut ranks alongside Occupied Palestine and Paraguay with respect to health and educational outcomes. With their stunning recent election victory over the Conservatives, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s new Liberal government may now have the chance to change that. Prime Minister Trudeau has already sent a strong signal by appointing Nunavut MP Hunter Tootoo as Minister of Fisheries and Oceans. He should now direct his government to take the necessary steps to make Nunavut a full partner in Canadian Confederation.
The remoteness of the Arctic region can be costly and stunt economic opportunities, a new path north from Canada is currently being built to aid trade, but not everyone agrees that it’s a road to progress. David Biette talks with CCTV America’s Asieh Namdar about how climate change is impacting the Arctic in this latest installment of CCTV America's series: On Thin Ice.
The Wilson Center’s newest initiative is focusing on the changing environments at the Earth’s poles. From melting ice to energy production and the daily lives of residents, the Arctic and Antarctic will be receiving increased attention and the Wilson Center’s Polar Initiative will be ahead of the curve on many of those emerging topics. We spoke with the David Biette, director of the new initiative, and that discussion provides the focus for this edition of Wilson Center NOW.
Wilson Center Polar initiative Director David Biette describes the implications of Shell Oil’s decision to halt Arctic drilling. Is this a victory for environmentalists or does it have more to do with the price of oil?
This interview originally appeared in the Yale Journal of International Affairs (online, September 15, 2015).
An Interview withDavid Biette, Director of the Polar Initiative and Senior Advisor to the Canada Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for ScholarsSep 15, 2015
WASHINGTON, DC – Geopolitical tensions between Russia and the West have been high in recent years, but there remain areas where constructive cooperation and dialogue remain possible. These include not only acute questions like Iran’s nuclear program, but also long-term issues critical to the Arctic region, such as maritime safety, energy development, responses to oil spills, and fisheries management.
Rumors that President Obama would visit Alaska have floated for six months. In mid-July we learned why: the U.S. Department of State hastily announced that the Conference on Global Leadership in the Arctic: Cooperation, Innovation, Engagement and Resilience (GLACIER) would take place on August 31, and the president planned to attend.
With melting polar ice caps and increasing oil and gas exploitation, the relationships among Arctic nations is becoming more complicated. And with tensions between Russia and much of the rest of the world over Ukraine continuing, will Arctic cooperation give way to conflict? That’s the focus of this edition of REWIND.
Speakers Irvin Studin, Founder, Global Brief Magazine and President, Institute for 21st Century Questions Kenneth S. Yalowitz, Former U.S. Ambassador, Republic of Belarus (1994 – 1997), Georgia (1998 – 2001)
As the Arctic gains importance socially, politically, economically, and environmentally, the Polar Initiative will address, among others, these topical issues:
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