Ensuring food security in northern regions of the world

Issue № 11, 2014, article № 12, pages 74-79

Language: Russian

Original language title: ОБЕСПЕЧЕНИЕ ПРОДОВОЛЬСТВЕННОЙ БЕЗОПАСНОСТИ В СЕВЕРНЫХ РЕГИОНАХ МИРА

Keywords: FOOD SECURITY, FOOD BASKET, INDIGENOUS PEOPLES, TRADITIONAL FOOD, ARCTIC FOOD, ARCTIC, SELF-SUSTAINING ECONOMY

Abstract: The problems of food security of indigenous peoples and local communities in the Arctic and Subarctic are discussed. The specific features of the region is determined by the existence of two economic systems: self-sustaining and market. Main factors determining the food security of the North, are the availability of traditional food and the possibility to purchased imported foods. Typically, half of the food consumed here is a traditional food obtained by indigenous people in the process of hunting, fishing and gathering restricted by the installed licenses and quotas. Arctic food (meat, fish and wild plants) is increasingly recognized as a valuable and "functional" and is in high demand in the world market. Production of environmentally friendly Arctic food is becoming increasingly important for the development of tourism and in general for the sustainable development of the Arctic. Necessary condition for achieving food security and sustainable rural development in Northern Regions is the spread of mixed economy based on a combination of traditional forms of economy of indigenous peoples of the North (reindeer herding, fishing and gathering, etc.) and such branches of agriculture as husbandry, vegetables and grain production which boundaries are expected to move to the North due to global climate changes.

Authors: Volkov Sergei Gennadevich, Vlasova Tatiana Kuzminichna