Film launch: Resource Extraction and Sustainable Arctic Communities

The Nordic Centre of Excellence REXSAC has conducted research with the overall aim of contributing with new knowledge needed to develop practices and processes that ensure the sustainability of Arctic communities in a rapidly changing social, political, cultural, and ecological environment.

We are now proud to present our film “Resource Extraction and Sustainable Arctic Communities”, sharing results and conclusions from our research.

Why did we make the film?

The global processes of change that are impacting the Arctic region – climate change and resource interests – require action and holistic ways of thinking about how to build a responsible future in the region. Based on our research we want to communicate about this issue to a wider audience: from the general public to state and corporate decision makers.

We unpack the complexities involved in building sustainability in Arctic areas where a multitude of extractive industries are active, where legacies of past actions influence the present, where changes in the climate strongly impact environments and communities, and where people have widely differing perspectives of what a desirable future looks like.

The filming processes

We shot most of the film in the Swedish and Finish Arctic during an intensive week in August 2020. From early mornings to late evenings our film team lugged around a massive amount of equipment for filming – cameras, lights, reflector screens, microphones and various tripods and armatures – often in places far from easy to walk even without any luggage, such as muddy tailing ponds and mining tunnels. The biggest challenges for the filming however, was the ongoing pandemic. We needed to act in a responsible way in order to not infect each other or worse, the people we interviewed and interacted with. Crossing the border to Finland required considerable paperwork and diplomatic skills.

Who the film is for and what we want them to do?

First and foremost, we want to provide decision makers with knowledge and perspectives needed to make informed decisions on how to reach sometimes conflicting sustainability goals – in resource rich areas of the Arctic and beyond. At a time when the Arctic is subject to rapid climate change and at the same time is considered as the promised land for extracting minerals and metals for a future green energy transition, this is more important than ever. We want reach the actors who have the power to influence policy and natural resource management in the Arctic. These actors are state and corporate, but also a broader general public, who’s opinion and engagement on these issues will influence the future.