Environmental and Technological Threats in the Arctic Region Infrastructures, Geopolitics and Strategy

Contents

List of Contributors

Acknowledgments

Introduction – Magali Vullierme, Mathieu Landriault, Michael Delaunay

SECTION 1 – Arctic (re)newed  Environment

Introduction Section 1 – Magali Vullierme

Chapter 1 – Impacts of Permafrost Thaw in the Arctic: a (very) Brief Introduction, Frédéric Bouchard

Chapter 2 – Subsea Sensing and Power Politics in the Arctic, Lars Gjesvik

Chapter 3 – The Canadian Armed Forces’ Arctic Pan-Domain Command and Control Cyber Attack Surface, Alexander Rudolph

SECTION 2 – Arctic Infrastructures

Introduction Section 2 – Magali Vullierme

Chapter 4 - Canada’s 2024 Defense Strategy: The Role of Infrastructure and Climate Change in Arctic Security, Katarina Koch

Chapter 5 – Impacts of Climate Change on Transportation Infrastructures in Canada: Risks Classification in Inuit Nunangat and Arctic Subregion, Magali Vullierme

Chapter 6 - The Geopolitics of Quantum Sensors, Security, and the Mitigation of Climate Change in the Arctic and High North, Kristen Csenkey

SECTION 3 – Arctic Geopolitics and Strategy

Introduction Section 3 – Mathieu Landriault

Chapter 7 – The Arctic as a New Strategic Data Route for the European Union, Michael Delaunay

Chapter 8 – The Challenges of Resilience and Sovereignty arising from the Dependence of Canadian Arctic Networks on Satellites and US Infrastructures and Actors, Célestine Rabouam

Chapter 9 – The Arctic Turn of the Russian Cryptocurrency Mining Industry, Hugo Estecahandy

Chapter 10 - Russian Press Agencies on the Arctic: Framing Western Military Initiatives, Mathieu Landriault & Pascal Morimanno

Conclusion – Mathieu Landriault, Magali Vullierme, Michael Delaunay

Index

Biography

Magali Vullierme has a PhD in political science. Her research aims to better understand multi-scalar security issues from the point of view of Indigenous and local populations in Arctic subregions. Magali Vullierme mobilizes the concept of human security and its seven dimensions in research analysing collaboration between the Canadian Inuit and the Canadian Armed Forces, health security in Nunavik, or risks linked to the acceleration of permafrost thaw for Indigenous peoples from the Sakha-Yakoutia Republic (Russia) and for Canadian infrastructures, both civilian and military. She is an associate researcher at the Observatoire de la Politique et la Sécurité de l’Arctique (OPSA, Canada) and at the Cultures, Environments, Arctic, Representations, Climate (CEARC, University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France). Within the OPSA, Magali Vullierme co-directs the annual review L’Année Arctique.

Michael Delaunay published a first article on submarine cable projects in the Arctic in 2013. He completed his PhD in political science at the University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France, which focused on the role of telecommunications in the Canadian Arctic as a possible instrument of power for local populations and control for Canadian authorities. He is now a research associate at the Observatoire de la Politique et la Sécurité de l’Arctique (OPSA, Canada). He is also a research associate at the Cultures, Environments, Arctic, Representations, Climate at the University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines. He is co-director of the annual review L’Année Arctique. He is currently working with the Danish Digital Infrastruktur Think Tank on the development of the digital infrastructure in the Arctic as a research coordinator of the research project Northern Clouds. In 2023, he published “Les Inuit connectés” with Presses de l’Université Laval.

Mathieu Landriault is the director of the Observatoire de la politique et la sécurité de l’Arctique (OPSA, Canada) and an adjunct professor at École nationale d’administration publique. He also lectures at the School of Political Studies at the University of Ottawa and the School of Conflict Studies at Saint Paul University. He researches media and public opinion on Arctic security and sovereignty matters in addition to conducting research on the evolution of Arctic governance in recent years, especially in relation to subnational governments, the private sector, and non-governmental organizations.