Arctic food and energy security at the crossroads

Adrian Unc; Majdi R Abou Najm; Paul Eric Aspholm; Tirupati Bolisetti; Colleen Charles; Ranjan Datta; Trine Eggen; Belinda Flem; Getu Hailu; Eldbjørg Sofie Heimstad; Margot Hurlbert; Meriam Karlsson; Marius Korsnes; Arthur Nash; David Parsons; Radha Sivarajan Sajeevan; Narasinha Shurpali; Govert Valkenburg; Danielle Wilde; Bing Wu; Sandra F Yanni; Debasmita Misra

doi:10.1038/s43247-025-02122-6

Arctic food and energy security at the crossroads

Commun Earth Environ. 2025;6(1):121. doi: 10.1038/s43247-025-02122-6. Epub 2025 Feb 18.

Authors

Adrian Unc^{1

2}, Majdi R Abou Najm³, Paul Eric Aspholm⁴, Tirupati Bolisetti⁵, Colleen Charles⁶, Ranjan Datta⁷, Trine Eggen⁸, Belinda Flem⁹, Getu Hailu¹⁰, Eldbjørg Sofie Heimstad¹¹, Margot Hurlbert¹², Meriam Karlsson¹⁰, Marius Korsnes¹³, Arthur Nash¹⁰, David Parsons¹⁴, Radha Sivarajan Sajeevan¹⁵, Narasinha Shurpali¹⁶, Govert Valkenburg¹³, Danielle Wilde^{17

18}, Bing Wu¹⁹, Sandra F Yanni²⁰, Debasmita Misra²¹

Affiliations

¹ Memorial University of Newfoundland, School of Science and the Environment, Corner Brook, NL Canada.
² McGill University, Department of Natural Resource Sciences, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC Canada.
³ University of California-Davis, Department of Land, Air and Water Resources, Davis, CA USA.
⁴ Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research, Division of Environment and Natural Resources; Ecosystems in the Barents region, Svanvik, Norway.
⁵ University of Windsor, Civil & Environmental Engineering, Windsor, ON Canada.
⁶ First Nations University of Canada, Indigenous Studies Faculty, Northern Campus, Prince Albert, SK Canada.
⁷ Mount Royal University, Department of Humanities, Calgary, AB Canada.
⁸ Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research, Division of Environment and Natural Resources; Soil and Land Use, Ås, Norway.
⁹ Geological Survey of Norway, Trondheim, Norway.
¹⁰ University of Alaska Anchorage, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Anchorage, AK USA.
¹¹ NILU, The Fram Centre, Tromsø, Norway.
¹² University of Regina, Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, Regina, SK Canada.
¹³ Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Department of Interdisciplinary Studies of Culture, Faculty of Humanities, Trondheim, Norway.
¹⁴ Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Crop Production Ecology, Umeå, Sweden.
¹⁵ Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Plant Protection Biology, Lomma, Sweden.
¹⁶ Natural Resources Institute Finland, Maaninka, Finland.
¹⁷ The Arctic Six, Chair of Arctic Food Citizenship (2024-2026), Umeå University, Umeå Institute of Design, Umeå, Sweden.
¹⁸ The University of Southern Denmark, FoodLab, Department Business and Sustainability, Kolding, Denmark.
¹⁹ University of Iceland, Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Reykjavik, Iceland.
²⁰ Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Ottawa Research and Development Centre, Ottawa, ON Canada.
²¹ University of Alaska Fairbanks, Department of Civil, Geological and Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering and Mines, Fairbanks, AK USA.

Abstract

Arctic food systems blend Traditional Ecological Knowledge with modern, often energy-intensive influences, triggered by colonization. Food systems' future depends on alignment of tradition with innovation, facilitation of resilience and a heritage-driven interaction with the global economy - at a pace determined by local communities.

Keywords: Agriculture; Decision making; Energy security; Environmental studies.