June 2020 - The Wallace Institute

Particulate Pandemic: Wildfires and COVID-19

As summer heats up, a second faceless killer will join coronavirus in assaulting the Arctic: particulates. Wildfires are an annual annoyance across the High North, but COVID-19 threatens to drastically worsen this year’s burn season.

University of British Columbia researchers recently published a study underscoring the link between wildfires and ambulance dispatches. In just one hour, the release of fine particulates caused a significant jump in emergency respiratory treatment.

Wildfires in the Arctic are potentially increasing deaths from respiratory distress

With coronavirus cases on the rise, wildfire particulates are poised to worsen symptoms and possibly increase deaths. Though evacuations may eventually be necessary, all Arctic citizens can do now is stock up on medication and air cleaners.

Unfortunately, COVID-19 is creating more than just health difficulties this season. Firefighting mobilization and organization has been substantially hampered by the lockdown and its drain on American and Canadian state capacity.

Canada’s Northwest Territories (NWT) are boosting fire management spending by $4 million this season in response to COVID-19. With a smaller number of firefighters available, increased investment in short-term aircraft is now essential for locating and containing bushfires. The supplementary fire crews able to deploy will be housed in ‘bubble camps’, and kept separate from NWT based emergency responders.

In the American Arctic…

Alaska is in a similarly precarious position. Coronavirus restrictions are projected to reduce available manpower and equipment from the Lower 48 by 30%. As a result, wildfire officials are changing tack and focusing on fire prevention. Since May 1st, large swaths of Alaska have been subject to a burn ban. As nearly 85% of American wildfires are caused by humans, officials hope to reduce fire incidence throughout the summer.

In Siberia

A Siberian heatwave has ignited several fires across the Russian Arctic. In conjunction with reemerging ‘zombie fires’ in the peatlands, Russia faces an exceptionally dangerous wildfire season. Their emergency response program is likely to encounter the same COVID-19 logistical difficulties as the United States and Canada.

The Arctic is largely dependent on outside support for its survival. Amid a particulate-pandemic, investment in the region’s self-sufficiency is more necessary than ever.

A Fool’s Gold Deal

In the upper reaches of Canada’s Nunavut province, the Inuit of Hope Bay anxiously await their gold mine’s fate. Shandong Gold (SD Gold), a Chinese state-owned mining megacorporation, has arranged to purchase Hope Bay gold mine.

The owner of Hope Bay mine, Toronto’s TMAC Resources, is selling off the development intensive project at a premium. Though Canada boasts five of the ‘Big 10’ companies, Hope Bay and Nunavut are unique in that they employ primarily indigenous workers. In fact, they’re obligated by Canadian law to meet certain indigenous employment and compensation requirements.

In spite of this, the sale has not received approval from the Kitikmeot Inuit Association. Though not legally necessary, approval is of symbolic importance. Transferring mine ownership outside of Canadian hands may lead to complications in far-off courts with international tribunes.

Are China’s interests in the Arctic benign?

Though some ‘experts’ claim China’s interests are purely commercial, Hope Bay would be yet another link in their ‘Polar Silk Road’. Its position along the Northwest Passage is invaluable for Arctic power projection. Given other recent PRC acquisitions, it is unrealistic to separate commercial interests from geostrategic influence. Money is power, after all.

Rylund Johnson, independent legislative representative of Yellowknife North, has called on Canada’s federal government to block the sale. In a statement, Johnson had this to say:

“If Canada had real economic development corporations and gave the North’s indigenous development corporations meaningful capital, then we could actually own some of our own resources as a country … As it is set up right now, China will keep stepping in when Canada fails to invest in its own development.”

A familiar story. Where Arctic nations fail to provide for their own people, or steward their own resources, the People’s Republic fills the gap. Cash for corporations, and polar power projection for China.

Canada must defend its sovereignty and citizenry: reject the acquisition of Hope Bay.

COVID-19 in the Cryosphere

In the popular imagination, the Arctic is a frigid, barren expanse of silence and snow. However, the region is host to a bustling network of research, trade, industry, and tourism. The High North is subject to similar coronavirus containment measures as the non-polar world, though with some notable differences. COVID-19 is highlighting old challenges and creating new opportunities in the Arctic.

The Polarstern

The German research icebreaker Polarstern was moored in ice for a year-long study of global warming. The Polarstern was to be a ‘drifting observatory’, and represented a leap forward in Arctic climate study. COVID-19 disrupted the operation in April as a result of supply line cutoffs and crew exchange complications. After a three week pause in research, the ship will relocate to another ice floe to continue its mission.

Arctic Wind Farms

The first ever industrial-scale Arctic wind farm will continue development as planned, with no COVID delays. Enel Russia is constructing the plant near the port city of Murmansk, the largest city in the Arctic. The northern Kola region possesses high wind-energy potential, and the plant will connect to Russia’s national grid upon completion.

Local Greenlandic Tourism

Greenland’s state-owned tourism agency is launching a new ‘staycation’ program in an attempt to support the country’s struggling travel industry. The domestic tourism push is geared toward connecting Greenlanders with their rich traditions and natural landscapes. Aside from essential supply trips, the island was totally shut down to defend against the coronavirus. With the tourism sector having grown 20% from 2015 to 2016, the total isolation policy threatens to derail future expansion.

Travel within Greenland is difficult as the island lacks a highway or rail system. Most movement between towns and territories is conducted by air, sea or dogsled. However, a boost in domestic tourism would be a boon for the many Greenlandic businesses that fall outside of the territory’s hegemonic fishing industry.

The Arctic will adapt to a new future post-COVID

COVID-19 has significantly disrupted the Arctic, but long-term investment and development is mostly unaffected. The region is simply too valuable to be neglected or abandoned, and will likely fare well in the post-pandemic world economy.

Russia’s ‘River of Blood’

Today, Siberia’s Daldykan and Ambarnaya rivers are running red with 20,000 tons of spilled oil. In response, President Putin has declared a state of emergency.

Russian President Vladimir Putin at the World Economic Forum in 2009

The epicenter of this environmental catastrophe is Norilsk, second largest city of the Arctic Circle. Norilsk contains the largest nickel-copper-palladium deposits in the world, and is a bustling industrial hub in Russia’s ‘sleeping land’. It is also the namesake of Norilsk Nickel, or Nornickel, the Russian mining and metallurgy giant.

The leak occurred after a fuel tank collapse at Norilsk power plant. Due to exceptionally hot temperatures, Arctic permafrost is melting away out of season. As a result, the ground holding the fuel tank suddenly sunk, causing the tank to rupture. Norilsk’s local environment is infamously polluted, emitting so much heavy metal pollution that the soil surrounding the city can be mined.

Plant managers attempted to resolve the spill on their own, and hid it from local authorities. By the time they discovered the catastrophe, it was too late to contain the bulk of the oil. The plant director is currently in custody as federal authorities work to contain the leak.

This isn’t the first time the Daldykan became a ‘river of blood’. In 2016, Nornickel’s Nadezhda Plant suffered a dam overflow. Investigations were inconclusive as to whether the area suffered from aftereffects.

The situation is complicated further by Nornickel’s considerable political influence. Oligarch Vladimir Potanin took shares in 1995 amidst Russia’s post-Soviet privatization frenzy. Since, he’s gobbled up over a third of Nornickel.

Potanin and Putin are close. However, this hasn’t stopped Putin from threatening him in the past. A decade ago, the Russian President warned he would levy fines against Nornickel if they refused to modernize and reduce emissions. After the 2016 spill, Nornickel was fined an undisclosed amount – but the maximum possible was a paltry $635.

Given the spill’s magnitude and visibility, it’s likely that Putin will make a point of rectifying the issue. Whether this takes the form of serious fines or symbolic punishments is difficult to know.

Despite the Arctic’s relative emptiness, the region is an intricate web of industry, military investment, untouched environments and resource politics. The Norilsk oil spill illustrates the necessity of sound Arctic policy and organization – and what happens when it fails.

Monthly Archives: June 2020