Bringing people back: Europe’s Arctic communities fight to stay alive

euronews (in English)

Bringing people back: Europe’s Arctic communities fight to stay alive  449 people live on Træna, a tiny archipelago forty kilometres from Norway's mainland. This remote Arctic community faces a crisis shared across the region — people are leaving, the climate is changing and centuries-old ways of life are disappearing.  In partnership with the European Commission  READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2025/11/25/bringing-people-back-europes-arctic-communities-fight-to-stay-alive  Subscribe to our channel. Euronews is available on Dailymotion in 12 languages

Transcript

00:0140 kilometres from the Norwegian mainland, Laistrana.

00:05It's a tiny Arctic archipelago with a population of just 449 people.

00:10And that number keeps falling.

00:13The island of Salver is home to about 50 people.

00:17And a hundred sheep.

00:19Dutch engineer Thijs de Swart moved here a few years ago to become a farmer.

00:24In the past, sheep were everywhere.

00:27They grazed the grass and kept the islands from being overrun by weeds.

00:31But as some people left and others retired, all the other farmers disappeared too.

00:39The communities here are collapsing.

00:43The populations have declined very rapidly.

00:46It's difficult to live here with kids.

00:50It's very difficult to find a job here.

00:53You kind of have to create your own job.

00:56Trane's mayor, Trund Vegard Schletten, says people are leaving because of lack of services and unreliable transport.

01:03Boats and ferries sometimes get cancelled, leaving locals feeling cut off from the world.

01:09We want our communication to go when we need it.

01:13We want to reach the big city when we need it.

01:17The society is in development.

01:19And being a small society is challenging when it's challenging to travel to and from.

01:30Climate change is making the weather increasingly extreme.

01:33Often cutting transport links between islands, weather forecasts are only reliable a day or two ahead.

01:40Today, we're lucky.

01:41The wind is calmed, allowing Trund Vegard to take us by boat from Selvar to Trane's main island, Husaya.

01:49Located precisely on the Arctic Circle, the Trane archipelago faces the challenges widespread across the region.

01:56Severe depopulation, fast climate change, poor infrastructure in remote areas, decline of traditional industries and more.

02:04Climate change has driven many fish away from these waters.

02:08And the water can no longer depend on fishing like it has for centuries.

02:13There are other industries that have taken up, which are partly compensated before,

02:18but the great value that could have been among many, because fishing gave good intake,

02:27is a lot back.

02:29Fish farming is one alternative that's emerged.

02:32But salmon cages worry some locals, concerned about pollution and coastal views.

02:38Small towns across the Arctic face many of the same challenges.

02:42A changing climate, shrinking populations, insufficient infrastructure and jobs.

02:47Many places, like Trana, are looking for ways to preserve their communities,

02:52without sacrificing their culture and their environment.

02:56Over the last decade, Trana has lost almost 10% of its people.

03:04Families leave when children outgrow the local primary school.

03:08Some newcomers struggle to fit in and leave quickly.

03:11Trana knows it must change to survive.

03:14We follow the mayor to an important meeting.

03:17Researchers from a European project called Empower Us

03:20are sharing their findings after three years of work.

03:24Maiken Björkan from the Nordland Research Institute coordinates the project.

03:29Centralization makes it harder to live in the peripheral areas,

03:33maybe particularly in the Arctic.

03:36They need more people to the island, they need more possibilities to work here,

03:41and they need it to be more attractive for young people to come and settle down.

03:45So we've made like a repertoire of different solutions, different tools that they can use in order to achieve this.

03:54One key recommendation is better transport.

03:58The boats need to run on time.

04:00People in remote areas shouldn't miss medical appointments.

04:04They shouldn't feel abandoned and cut off from the mainland.

04:07The worry in Trana is that fewer people will mean fewer boats.

04:13This would make the problem even worse.

04:16Money follows people living in the municipalities.

04:21So when they disappear, it's hard for the county municipality to maintain all of the existing routes.

04:28It's difficult, but it's the lifeline of the coastal community, so it has to be in place.

04:33If you remove it, people cannot live here.

04:36More tourists could help the island's economy, but the Arctic summer is short,

04:41and these small islands can only handle so many visitors.

04:44To attract tourists looking for more meaningful experiences,

04:48the European project helps Trana build a heritage trail.

04:52Visitors can scan codes to learn about the history and culture that make this place special.

05:03I think it's more about having the personality and the history represented in what they are.

05:08They don't want to lose this to something that's too big and just too commercial.

05:12So they want their identity to be represented.

05:15To strengthen that identity,

05:17the Empower Us project commissions new artwork for public spaces on the largest islands.

05:23Local artist Sonja Langtscher is painting murals that reveal Trana's hidden stories.

05:28She shows the once thriving fishing industry, scenes from old legends,

05:33and the vibrant coral reefs that thrive beneath the cold Arctic waters.

05:38To put it on a wall in full scale is a way to show people what they can see

05:45and make them think about what riches we have around us.

05:50Yeah.

05:51Trana is fighting to reverse its decline.

05:55The community is building cultural spaces and improving its port and museum.

06:01The goal is to host more tourists, conferences and start-up businesses throughout the year.

06:08We see a new public sculpture taking shape.

06:11Norwegian artist and architect Hovart Arnhof created it in close dialogue with local residents.

06:18For waves flowing through time and space will greet visitors as they step off the boat onto the main island.

06:26The world is very much connected with waves. It's like, that's energy.

06:33A new luxury hotel with stunning sea views opens next spring.

06:37Trana might become a destination for wealthy visitors,

06:41but the community doesn't want to lose its authenticity or wild beauty in the process.

06:47The pristine environment offers more than pretty views for bird watchers and nature lovers.

06:52It creates eco-friendly business opportunities, like seaweed harvesting.

06:58Anders Buda collects wild seaweed along the coastlines.

07:02He then dries it and sells it to restaurants on the mainland.

07:06So this is the kombu for making broth, and this is the truffle seaweed that we would use as a spice.

07:15For locals like Anders, these remote Arctic communities can only survive if they keep their soul.

07:21The unique identity that has kept people living on these islands for thousands of years.

07:27Yes, we want new development and tourists, but we of course want to keep the place somewhere you want to come and want to live, want to stay.

07:35Yeah, that's the challenge.

07:37Europe's Arctic faces a changing climate, an uncertain economy and rising geopolitical tensions.

07:45These communities must adapt to survive and thrive in this new reality.

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended