Arctic meltdown: A problematic property rights structure translates into poor resource management

As access to the Arctic region continues to grow, many land-use issues have become increasingly prominent. The exposure of shorter shipping routes, unresolved maritime boundaries between the bordering states, and most importantly, the plethora of renewable and non-renewable resources in the region have created a strain on international relations between the states bordering the Arctic. Rising global temperatures have created the promise and opportunity of better access to natural resources in the coming years, raising the likelihood of potentially substantial economic gains to the bordering states. However, the current property rights structure in the Arctic, as governed by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), dictates that the jurisdiction of each coastal nation state shall not exceed past 200 nautical miles beyond the coastline of each respective state. The goal of this report is to provide an assessment of the basic property rights that govern the Arctic territory in an attempt to illuminate how current and future inefficiencies in natural resource extraction and management can result from a poor property rights structure. The current property rights structure has led to a departure from an efficient allocation of rights and as a result currently operates under an anticommons scenario, while also setting the stage for a tragedy of the commons in the not so distant future. To move away from these sub-optimal outcomes and toward more efficient resource management, open communication, cooperation, and better defined property rights are important components needed to strengthen resource management among Arctic states. Keywords: Arctic land-use and property rights (assessment of); natural resource extraction and management (inefficiencies in); anticommons scenario; tragedy of the commons; Arctic Council; UNCLOS

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Fragmented Landscapes and Planscapes—The Double Pressure of Increasing Natural Resource Exploitation on Indigenous Sámi Lands in Northern Sweden

Resources ◽

10.3390/resources9090104 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 (9) ◽

pp. 104

Author(s):

Carl Österlin ◽

Kaisa Raitio

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Natural Resource ◽

Geographical Information ◽

Resource Extraction ◽

Northern Sweden ◽

Reindeer Herding ◽

Cumulative Impact ◽

Fragmented Landscapes ◽

Natural Resource Extraction ◽

Holistic Understanding

Human induced land-use change through natural resource extraction has significant ecological, social and cultural effects for indigenous communities. Indigenous rights, cultural practices and identities are strongly interconnected with traditional lands. In northern Sweden, the cumulative effects from natural resource extraction have become increasingly problematic for Sámi reindeer herding. Land use planning and permit processes are organized based on single projects or policy sectors, instead of the needs and rights involving reindeer herding. Existing research has demonstrated loss of ground and arboreal lichen, fragmentation of pastures and reindeer avoidance of otherwise valuable pastures due to disturbance caused by competing land uses. There is however a lack of synthesis of the amount and scale of encroachments on traditional Sámi territories in Sweden so far. Likewise, while research has looked at weaknesses of the sectoral regulations in terms of cumulative impact assessment and the inadequate recognition of Sámi reindeer herding rights, no studies have analyzed the meta-pressure caused by the fragmented planning regime as a whole, as the amount of regulations regarding different land use sectors and permitting processes increases with each new type of competing activity. Through the concept of double pressure caused by the inter-related processes of fragmented landscapes and fragmented ‘planscapes’, this study seeks to capture the actual pressure the affected communities are currently experiencing. Using multiple quantitative and qualitative data sets consisting of Geographical Information Systems, policy documents, workshops discussions and interviews, we study how natural resource extraction like mining and wind energy has increased on traditional indigenous Sámi lands in northern Sweden. By expanding the analytical focus from today’s landscapes to both planscapes and the pressure from not-yet realized future projects, our results highlight the need for a holistic understanding of the situation reindeer herding is facing, calling for more relevant and legitimate land use permitting and planning mechanisms to reduce the industrial pressure on the landscape, and to address the social injustices caused by today’s planscape.

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Trade, Tragedy, and the Commons

The American Economic Review ◽

10.1257/aer.99.3.725 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 99 (3) ◽

pp. 725-749 ◽

Cited By ~ 70

Author(s):

Brian R Copeland ◽

M. Scott Taylor

Keyword(s):

Resource Management ◽

Property Rights ◽

Tragedy Of The Commons ◽

Management Regimes ◽

The Commons

We develop a theory of resource management where the degree to which countries escape the tragedy of the commons, and hence the de facto property rights regime, is endogenously determined. Three forces determine success or failure in resource management: the regulator's enforcement power, the extent of harvesting capacity, and the ability of the resource to generate competitive returns without being extinguished. The model can explain heterogeneity across countries and resources in the effectiveness of resource management, and it predicts that changes in prices, population, and technology can cause transitions to better or worse management regimes. (JEL P14, Q21, Q22, Q23, Q32)

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Property, possession and natural resource management: towards a conceptual clarification

Journal of Institutional Economics ◽

10.1017/s1744137412000264 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

pp. 39-60 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

SABINE HOFFMANN

Keyword(s):

Resource Management ◽

Property Rights ◽

Natural Resource Management ◽

Natural Resource ◽

Common Property ◽

The Other ◽

Economic Literature ◽

Management Regime ◽

The Commons ◽

The One

Abstract:There are few concepts that are more central to natural resource management than those of property and property rights. Given their importance, it might be expected that there would be some consensus in the economic literature about what property and property rights are. However, no such consensus seems to exist. In fact, different authors use the same terms to denote quite disparate concepts and ideas, impeding rather than advancing progress in understanding natural resource management. As but one example, there is hardly a concept that has been as fundamentally misunderstood as that of the commons. That misunderstanding notwithstanding, there is another, less familiar, more common and even more fundamental one: the persistent confusion of possession with property. This article argues that the distinction between possession and property is of particular importance for comprehending the meaning of institutional shifts from one resource management regime to another. It therefore reviews concepts central to natural resource management, by distinguishing between state, private, common property and possession on the one hand and open access on the other.

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