Knowledge and Natural Resources: a Crucial Connection for Local Benefits and Sustainable Arctic Development

Arctic economies are generally natural resource based economies, whether they are indigenous economies largely dependent on living on the land or industrialized economies depending on marine resources, mineral resources or fossil or renewable energy resources. However, the central role of knowledge for Arctic communities to secure local benefits and achieve sustainable development around their natural resources is often overlooked in the literature. This chapter will look at the knowledge-natural resources link for local benefits and sustainable Arctic development. For doing so, the chapter will focus on the Icelandic and Faroese experiences with marine resources and renewable energy resources in geothermal, hydro, tidal and wind power. Iceland and the Faroe Islands are selected because they are examples of very small Arctic societies, which particularly well illustrate how the combination of human capital and marine resources and renewable energy can contribute to socio-economic and political-constitutional development.