ABSTRACT
The concept of the fragility of the tundra has probably been too uncritically accepted as a convenient shibboleth by conservationists, in order to exclude totally resource development from the Arctic. The potential for damage is obviously great and varied, ranging from physical disruption of the land surface and its flora and fauna to significant changes in the economies and ways of life of native peoples. Because of the broad geographic integrity of the circumpolar arctic lands the discussion is easily focused, whereas the identification of problems in diverse and disjunct alpine areas has remained essentially regional or local. Man and his attendant technology will continue to consume non-renewable natural resources at an accelerating rate at least until world population and consumption patterns have stabilized. Necessarily, therefore, the ‘natural’ biomes form a diminishing part of the biosphere.
