Sustainable Development in Canada’s Arctic Territories: Goals and Results

Abstract

The sustainable development agenda is gaining singular prominence in the context of studying development challenges in the Arctic. This region is particularly vulnerable to climate change and its ramifications and faces, due to its geographical remoteness, some of the greatest challenges in terms of the socio-economic aspects highlighted in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. This article reviews the experience of Canada, as a large northern country with vast territories and water areas beyond the Arctic Circle, in implementing national strategies and programmes for the development of its Arctic territories. The article identifies effective policy measures to create favourable conditions for sustainable socio-economic development through an analysis of the actual dynamics of key sustainable development indicators in Canada’s northern territories.Socio-economic development of the northern territories - Nunavut, Northwest Territories and Yukon - is one of the key priorities of Canada’s strategic development plans. These include the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy, the Northern Strategy and the Arctic and Northern Policy document. The following indicators were selected to analyze the implementation of these plans: population dynamics, life expectancy, gross regional product (GRP), unemployment rate, level of education of the population, share of economically active population, labour productivity, balance of regional budgets, federal subsidies in the structure of regional budgets, number of educational institutions, share of new renewable energy sources in the structure of electricity production, greenhouse gas emissions per capita, and hydrocarbons extraction.