The Arctic is demanding global attention. It is warming, melting, and thawing in a manner that threatens fundamental state-change. For communities that call the Arctic 'home' this is unwelcome. A warming Arctic brings with it the spectre of costly disruption and interference in indigenous lives and communal welfare. For others, the disappearance of sea ice makes the Arctic appear more accessible and less remote. This also brings with it dangers such as the prospect of a new era of great power rivalries involving China, Russia, and the United States. Submarine and long-range bomber patrolling are now commonplace. New terms such as 'global Arctic' are being used to capture the dynamic of change while others muse about the 'return of a Cold War'.
The reality is inevitably more complex. The physical geography of the Arctic is highly varied and variable. Environmental change brings opportunities for indigenous and non-indigenous life-forms to survive and even thrive. The Arctic's four million people are not helpless pawns in a game of global geopolitics. The Arctic is not only a resource hotspot but also a place where sustainable energy systems are being introduced. A warming Arctic with less ice and permafrost is not unique in the longer history of the Earth either.
The Arctic is a complex space. In this Very Short Introduction, Klaus Dodds and Jamie Woodward consider the major dimensions of the region and the linkages beyond - from the geopolitical to the environmental. They examine the causes, drivers, and effects of cultural, physical, political, and economic change, and ponder the future of the Arctic. As they show, it is a future which will affect us all.
Chapter 1: The Arctic world
Chapter 2: The physical environment
Chapter 3: Arctic ecosystems
Chapter 4: Peoples of the Arctic
Chapter 5: Exploration and exploitation
Chapter 6: Arctic governance
Chapter 7: The Arctic carbon vault
Chapter 8: Arctic futures
"This book is an excellent introduction to the region and will appeal to almost every geographer." - Robert A. Francis, Progress in Physical Geography (2022)
"This book will be of significant use to students and publics new to the Arctic. The authors have achieved exactly what is suggested by the title: a short but detailed introduction to the Arctic. Accessible and concise but comprehensive, tackling both physical and human Arctic worlds, The Arctic is a strong and necessary addition to the Very Short Introduction series." - Alice Oats, The Polar Journal
ISBN : 9780198819288
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