Prince George, B.C.- Last year, UNBC Professor Dr. Patrick Maher released a book which raised questions about the sustainability of cruise tourism in polar regions. Now, he’s out with a new publication, “Polar Tourism; Human, Environmental and Governance Dimensions.”

 

In this book, Dr. Maher  ( in photo at right, photo courtesy UNBC) continues on with the theme which looks at the difficult and delicate act of trying to balance environmental concerns with the needs of humans. “We need to recognize that the environment is very important and connected to the human population, but we can’t just lock it up. In Canada's Arctic, the Inuit already know this,” says Dr. Maher

 

He says if humans are discouraged from going to a specific area, they lose connection with that area and stop caring about it  “This supports the notion that you can’t protect what you don’t know.”

 

“There is the need for some development to allow economic growth - some sort of economics for a remote region," says Dr. Maher. "Governments need to stop the endless rhetoric about how important the Arctic is to us and actually put some sensible policy into place."

 

More than a dozen researchers from around the world contributed to the book.