ABSTRACT

This chapter discusses the issue of energy security within the broader framework of societal security in the Barents Region. As a 'master resource', energy penetrates and crosscuts all aspects of broadly understood human security: economic, food, health, environmental, personal, community, and political security dimensions and concerns. The indigenous peoples have historically been deprived of access to their traditional land and resources, and despite current progress still suffer from the consequences of colonisation and assimilation policies. Assessing the energy security situation in the Barents Region must equally include the diversity of Barents as a geographical, political and sociocultural region, as well as the diversity of energy in its own right. The acceptability dimension of energy security is heavily involved in weighing the potential gains of energy-related decisions and measures against the harm that they may cause. The affordability component of energy security intertwines the explicit issue of energy into a broader societal whole.