By Wilfrid Greaves
The circumpolar Arctic is being radically transformed by the interaction between an altered physical environment due to anthropogenic climate change and various economic and political forces that have emerged in the post-Cold War period. The effects of climate change on the Arctic ecology, and the impacts of those changes for human life in the region, are eliciting intensified research attention. For some actors, the concept of ‘Arctic security’ encompasses the most pressing policy questions attending this comprehensive regional transformation. Yet not all actors – including governments, indigenous groups, NGOs, scholars, and private corporations – are responding in the same way to the security challenges and opportunities confronting the region and its people.
