Commentary
“STRATEGIC ASSESSMENT OF DEVELOPMENT OF THE
ARCTIC:
ASSESSMENT
CONDUCTED
FOR
THE
EUROPEAN UNION” –THE EU-ARCTIC NEXUS
AND A
MORE BALANCED PICTURE OF ARCTIC DEVELOPMENTS
FOR THE EUROPEAN AUDIENCES
Adam Stepien
The 2014 issue of the Arctic Yearbook focuses on human capital in the North, and thus, on local
capacities and human development. This resonates well with a number of assessment projects
currently carried out in the region. By the end of 2014, the Arctic Human Development Report
II is scheduled to be published. Within the Arctic Council, projects such as the large scale
Adaptation Actions for a Changing Arctic assessment or smaller activities dedicated for example
to gender equality, take up a number of issues crucial for human capital in the North.
The “Strategic Assessment of Development of the Arctic” report – published in September 2014
– fits well to this increased attention to the human dimension. It is these human-centred aspects
of the assessment that are here highlighted. The readers of this year’s Arctic Yearbook may find
the “Strategic Assessment” chapters dedicated to mining, land use activities and socio-cultural
changes particularly interesting.
The report focuses on the European Arctic (including Greenland and northwest Russia) and
analyses development trends in the region, drivers and impacts of Arctic changes, and does so
taking into account environmental, social, economic and political dimensions. Against this
Adam Stepien is a Researcher at the Arctic Centre, University of Lapland, Finland. Stepien is one of the
Editors of the “Strategic Assessment of Development of the Arctic” report available at
www.arcticinfo.eu/en/sada.