The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) is the largest wildlife refuge in the country located in northeastern Alaska, consisting of over 19 million acres. The refuge was established in 1960, one year after Alaska became the 49th state.
The ANWR can be divided into three different areas. Eight million acres, a little under one half of the refuge, is the Mollie Beattie Wilderness. As a wilderness, the area is designated for the preservation of the area’s natural condition. 1.5 million acres, the 1002 area, was added in 1980 under the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. As the name suggests, this area was added for the study of the area’s natural resources, especially petroleum. The remaining 10 million acres of ANWR is under “minimal management” but has not been designated as a wilderness.
The Drilling Controversy
After the ascendancy of the global oil market in the 1970s, Congress turned their gaze towards Alaska and its oil resources. Since 1977 there has been an ongoing debate between environmentalists and those in favor of the oil drilling. The question of oil drilling in the 1002 is ultimately a debate between the economic benefits and the harm it might, or should we say would, cause for the areas wildlife.
The ANWR has the most diverse wildlife in the Arctic Circle, and it is now under threat because of both the potential oil drilling and global warming. At the center of the environmental concern is the Porcupine caribou. The potential oil drilling would take place in the caribou calving grounds disturbing the animal’s natural behavior. The Porcupine caribou in turn is central to the culture and spirituality of the Gwich’in Nation.
The Porcupine caribou is not important for the Gwich’in only for its cultural status, but it also makes up a substantial part of their diet. In the challenging terrain of the Arctic, grocery-store food is expensive and in times hard to come by. The Porcupine caribou therefore has pivotal significance for the survival of the Gwich’in.
In the Light of History
The situation of the Porcupine caribou and the Gwich’in can be compared to the mass buffalo killings in the 1800’s continental America. Killing buffalo herds to near extinction was done, in part, as an attempt to force the Native Americans of the Great Plains to assimilate into the Euro-American way of life. It was this type of destruction of wildlife, wilderness and the Native cultures that led to the creation of National Parks in the first place.
When considering what the oil drilling in the ANWR would mean for the Gwich’in, many questions arise. In the grand scale of history, is it unrealistic to think that such a small culture would survive very long? So should the Gwich’in culture therefore just change their ways? Should Gwich’in simply assimilate to a more Western way of life?
Or do these questions miss the point? Does the preservation of the ANWR ultimately point to the issue of the right of Indigenous peoples to their ways of life, a principle clearly identified as a human right in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples?
Any way you look at the issue, the Gwich’in have lived in the area for thousands of years in a sustainable way, maintaining the areas natural condition. So, the next time the debate between economy and ecology is raised, one must define it as more than a contest between economic growth and environmental protection. It’s critically important to also look at its implications for the human rights of Indigenous people, for Native ways of life.