Second Essay in Artica Writings 2025 Published: Engaging in the extractive future of Svalbard – a manual by Siri Granum Carson
Siri Granum Carson, photo by Eva Hilde Murvold
Artica Svalbard is pleased to announce the publication of the second essay in the 2025 edition of Artica Writings: Beneath the Surface – Deep-Sea Mining and the Arctic. The new essay, titled Engaging in the Extractive Future of Svalbard – A Manual, is now live on our website.
In this new text, ethicist Siri Granum Carson reflects on the rapidly shifting governance landscape of the Arctic as Norway reassesses its resource policies in Svalbard. Rather than entering the debate from a binary stance of protection versus extraction, Carson offers a framework for ethical engagement — one that acknowledges competing geopolitical interests, environmental vulnerabilities, and the lived realities of those most affected by policy change.
Drawing on her long-standing work in responsible research and innovation, Carson proposes what she calls a “manual for ethical readiness”: a set of considerations for policymakers, researchers, and industries facing escalating pressure to unlock new mineral reserves in an era of climate transition. The essay asks how responsibility should be understood in a region where global ambitions, national sovereignty, and fragile ecosystems are deeply intertwined.
At a time when Svalbard is increasingly positioned at the threshold of emerging extractive futures, Carson encourages a shift from reactive politics to reflective stewardship — not to halt inquiry, but to transform how inquiry is imagined, governed, and justified.
Read the full essay here
About the Author
Siri Granum Carson is Professor of Applied Ethics at the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at NTNU, specialising in business ethics and corporate social responsibility. She has extensive experience in research ethics education and has served on the National Research Committee for Natural Sciences and Technology (NENT). Carson led AFINO, Norway’s national network for responsible research and innovation (2019–2024), and was Director of NTNU Ocean from 2020–2024. She holds several national and international roles in ocean research, including serving as chair of the National Committee for the UN Decade of Ocean Science.
About Artica Writings 2025: Beneath the Surface –
Deep-Sea Mining and the Arctic
Artica Writings is Artica Svalbard’s annual essay series, bringing together writers, researchers, and thinkers to explore urgent questions shaping the Arctic. The 2025 edition examines the emerging deep-sea mining industry and its implications for Arctic environments, governance, and global ocean futures. Essays will be published periodically in both Norwegian and English, and later compiled as a limited-edition book.