ABSTRACT

This chapter takes a more "technical" approach and examines how data availability and quality can set limitations on promoting regional sustainable development in Arctic. It explores the resource curse hypothesis by studying correlations between the social, economic, and environmental indicators and the accelerating hydrocarbon export from the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug (YNAO) during 2005–15. The chapter shows that statistical data conventionally used for regional benchmarking does not allow for locating sustainability in the context of ongoing Arctic industrial development unambiguously. It presents considerations in relation to data and indicators for regional sustainable development in Arctic. The chapter aims to locate local sustainability in the Arctic within the context of ongoing industrial development by exploring the dynamics of social, economic, and ecological indicators vis-a-vis the accelerating hydrocarbon exports in YNAO. Research concentrating on the regional rather than national level has added another interesting angle to the resource curse debate, in particular by probing the relationship between economic growth and resource extraction.