ENVISIONING THE NORTHERN DIMENSION:

TOWARDS AN ARCTIC REGIONS

 

Rovaniemi, Arktikum 15.10.1998

INTRODUCTION by Mr. Antti Liikkanen

Chairman of the Regional Council of Lapland

 

The people who live at the global areas of the earth can be defined between the 60th latitude both in north and south.

60th latitude in south is practically the limit of human habitation in "down under" but in the northern we have beyond the 60th latitude still about 10 million people. From these northern latitude groups Finland is the single largest administrative unit with it’s five million people. While living in the extreme conditions the culture and the life habits of Finnish people differ from the usual one.

Several different researches substantiate the believe that in the arctic regions the people have their very own networking system and cultural capabilities. I have named these concepts arctic human and sometimes even arctic personality (disorder).

The arctic circumstances which create this unique phenomena are the lightness of summers, darknesse´s of nights and the coldness of the temperature. Also plentiful background radiation is at least according some researchers part of the arctic life-stress.

In these kind of circumstances hundreds of generations who have lived here have began to adapt themselves to the circumstances in reacting to the circumstances and respecting them.

The social behaviour of people in this human world has adapted both their needs and their moral concept. This has become an arctic ethic which means the amount of the permitted and prohibited matters which the society keeps as basic-norms. These norms regulate the basic functions of the society such as hunting, protection, collection and use of information.

When the global society turns its faces to the northern 60th latitude they should know more about these special values and circumstances. When people get together to discuss the role what the north can offer to our world, they should be aware of the religion, hunting culture, ways of learning, historical wars etc. to understand better these arctic people.

Greedy, stingy, sexually special and knowledge oriented human being might even be more of the result of the arctic regions rather than the person who creates them.

To develop these regions without understanding and listening to the people and respecting their culture is unfruitful and destructive. Mobile phones need people to use them and so does the computer need the human being to program it.

With these words I like to wish you and all the arctic personalities as well as to this unique environment all the best!