As Portland welcomes the Arctic Council to our state, Mainers are exploring business opportunities in the context of a warming Arctic. It is vital that the economic benefits of increased shipping and other activities in the north accrue not only to southern-based business, but also to the inhabitants of the many small communities of the north.

Maine has an opportunity to reach out to indigenous northern communities and collaboratively establish working partnerships that benefit residents of both regions, thereby altering the one-way flow of financial gain and expertise that’s characterized centuries of Western activity in the north.

Doing so will require paying more than lip service to consultation requirements. We must develop mutually beneficial business, research, cross-cultural exchange and environmental stewardship practices.

The circumpolar north is home to about 4 million people, including some 400,000 indigenous people. This includes Alaskan Yup’ik and Iñupiat, Canadian Inuit and Greenlandic Inuit communities, all with strong ties to the land and waters they and their ancestors have occupied for thousands of years. Families in most of these communities still rely on animals harvested from the land and ocean for much of their diet.

They are daily witnesses to the loss of Arctic sea ice – encountering dangerous travel conditions on weaker sea ice and shorter periods in which to hunt the prey on which their families depend. While Mainers consider new business opportunities presented by this warmer world, we should not lose sight of our responsibility to minimize activities contributing to loss of sea ice and habitat.

Maine’s ties to the Arctic began 4,000 years ago when the ancestors of the Wabanaki were engaged in trade with their northern relatives in what is now Labrador. And Maine shares a maritime and exploration history with northern communities. Let’s build a future that does not limit our relationships to business, but takes advantage of all that northern communities and Maine have to offer.

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Genevieve LeMoine Susan Kaplan

Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum, Bowdoin College

Brunswick

Anne Henshaw

Oak Foundation

Portland


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