Practices of Effective Natural Resource Management in the U.S. Arctic

• In Event: B.E.S.T.: Activism, Volunteerism and Nongovernmental Organizations

Abstract

In the United States, where public opinion on anthropomorphic climate change remains divided and policy action on sustainable resource management is piecemeal at best and severely misguided at worst, the Arctic region—encompassing the state of Alaska—has predictably remained at the periphery of public discourse and/or hampered by political wrangling and corporate lobbying. This paper thus examines how key organizations engaged in the work of natural resource management (NRM) (e.g., for-profit corporations, nonprofits, state and federal government agencies, native Alaskan entities), and how they are able to nonetheless enact practices of effective NRM. Three broad aspects are revealed through this qualitative study - decision-making, communicative nature of NRM, and risk-management. Implications are discussed.

Author

• Rahul Mitra, Wayne State U